WatchDogs preview: Welcome to the future

The Electronic Entertainment Expo also known as E3 has become somewhat of a drudgery where innovation and excitement have given way to sequels and casual gaming. It’s why a new IP like WatchDogs can come out from nowhere and drop kick everyone in the face. After the Assassin’s Creed series (Assassin’s Creed not included), Ubisoft Montreal have become veterans of the open world genre, a genre previously ruled extensively by Rockstar Games and their Grand Theft Auto franchise.  And this time, Ubisoft is basing their game in the very same century taking on Rockstar’s behemoth Grand Theft Auto V head-on. Unlike GTA V however, WatchDogs has a nice science-fiction/futuristic twist to it but it is still grounded in present day reality. We’re also very grateful the game takes place in Chicago as opposed to New York or Los Angeles, cities done to death in games as well as movies. You step into the boots of a hacker called Aiden Pierce, a guy who’s not really good or bad. He’s more of the neutral sort who goes where he pleases. His hacking ability is basically what sets WatchDogs apart from the usual open world fare. Jonathan Morin, creative producer explains it further, “Watch Dogs goes beyond the limits of today's open-world games by giving players the ability to control an entire city. In Watch Dogs, anything connected to the city's Central Operating System becomes a weapon. By pushing the boundaries, we can provide players with action and access to information on a scale that's never been seen in a video game before.”This means Aidan can use his l33t jacking skills to not only hack into any device in the city but he can even glance into people’s lives (via their cell phones or the Central Operating System) learning all their deep dark secrets in the process. He could then maybe use those secrets to get his way or extract information from people. It’s not a revolutionary concept but having such options in an open world game does impress. I mean this could open up the doors to a ton of replayability. Do you just run and gun your way to a mission or do you hack someone’s computer, find out their schedule and then ambush them as they enter a dark alley. The possibilities are endless.

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