Gaming Spotlight: Watch Dogs

     If you've read my "Final Thoughts on E3 2012" blog you know that Watch Dogs was one of my "games of E3" this year. There are several things why this game ranked so highly on my radar. The first thing that grabbed my attention is the story. Taking place in an open world alternate Chicago, you play as Aiden Pierce. Pierce is out for revenge and he's going to use any means necessary. This will mainly take shape in the form of surveillance technology and hacking. Basically you will be able to hack or tap into any form of technology/electronic and use it to expose your enemies' secrets and use it against them. The reason this was so interesting to me is in our world people are constantly connected online and to social medias. You always hear about identity theft, hackers, and cyber crime. That's what you will use as your main means of weapon in Watch Dogs. Just being able to have access to that kind of power is both interested (in a gaming concept) and frightening. The fact that in a way it's a possibility for this to happen now just makes the game that more real and hard hitting.

     Now don't worry all you shooting game fans out there. Watch Dogs will also incorporate guns into the gameplay. So of course the story is very intriguing, but how are the visuals? Great! This is one fine looking game. The character models move fluidly and the gorgeous lighting effects make the world come to life. At one point in the E3 demo there was a large shootout outside in the rain. Suddenly the game went into a kind of slow motion or "bullet time" state. While this was happening you could see all the individual rain drops falling to the ground. It was pretty awesome. Another thing that I liked about this game is that it had so many people confused and wondering if it was going to be a current or next generation game. Ubisoft has said the demo was running on a PC but is "official for the PS3 and Xbox 360." Ubisoft has also said the game is not going to be coming out for another year or longer, and other platforms are a possibility. There's also been some talk of the implementation of a form of multiplayer in the game. In the meantime I'll definitely be awaiting more news and videos for this game. Check out the E3 demo below (complements of VG 24/7) and keep a watch out for Watch Dogs.

Written by: Alter Ego 83