E3 2012: Why Watch Dogs is My Game of the Show

An unexpected new IP changed the landscape of gaming’s biggest show. 

Every day I read about various accounts and sites being hacked. I hear about people being spied on or harassed online. News spreads of computer failures that lead to the loss of innocent lives, or the inconvenience of thousands more. I read this information, this data, on my phone. On my iPad. On my computer. On my dedicated portable gaming device - on my home console for that matter.
It’s with my modern day, fast-paced lifestyle that I see Watch Dogs, not only remarkable and visually stunning open world game, but one that has the clever hook of exploiting the vast network of technology that permeates our lives. This is relevant in a way that Assassin’s Creed never could be. This feels more real than anything we’ve seen in Call of Duty. Ubisoft has found something remarkable here, and if it succeeds, the publisher will add another powerful franchise to its extensive roster. Make no mistake about it, the presence of Watch Dogs nearly tipped the scales of E3 2012 towards Ubisoft all by itself. That takes something special. While this show hasn’t featured many surprises, it is still packed with quality software from established, excellent franchises. Being new isn’t necessarily enough to completely steal the show. Gameplay is king.

Watching Ubisoft demonstrate its vision of a hacker with the power to control and influence anything attached to a network, to the “CTOS,” Ubisoft’s version of Skynet, is remarkable. Layers unfold as lead character Aiden Pearce stalks his prey in digital and physical form. Like a ghost that has somehow found the ability to become corporeal, Pearce can shut down your phone, or invade it and discover your life story - while he’s standing ten feet away, gun in hand. Pearce moves with a shuffle and a slight awkwardness, a hunch that is no doubt born from years of trying to keep a slightly smaller profile. A leather overcoat, baseball cap and occasional handkerchief over the mouth keep our so-called hero anonymous, a shadow that can fade into the darkness when the moment calls for it.
Like many modern games, Watch Dogs seems to borrow a variety of elements from all around it, but watching a battle amongst cars (after Pearce had caused a ten-car pile-up through some sort of electromagnetic pulse) in the open world of Chicago, I was immediately reminded of Grand Theft Auto. I was reminded of GTA because, in its current state, and from what I can see, Ubisoft might have found a way to outdo Rockstar’s iconic franchise.
Watch Dogs lacks the flippant, pseudo-playful nature of GTA, but it makes up for it with details of its own that are too incredible to ignore. Pearce’s abilities immediately set this game apart. You’re no criminal slinking your way through the underworld. You’re a vigilante, guided by a ruthless code, unafraid to kill your enemies. There is a larger strategic gameplay element here. GTA requires you confront people and blow them up with a rocket launcher. In Watch Dogs you can invade someone’s privacy, discover their darkest secrets and then blackmail them until they submit to your will. Not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with the GTA approach, but I find what Watch Dogs is doing to be far more fascinating.

Ubisoft’s ambition for this game, which has no release date or specified platforms (though it could come to any of them, including Wii U), doesn’t just limit itself to taking place on whatever console you have. It extends to the iPad as well. In a behind-closed-doors demonstration, members of the development team pulled up a map of Watch Dogs' Chicago, and proceeded to highlight how this extra program could tie to your game.
Not only can players interact with a fully 3D map of the city, and scout locations via building blueprints, they can track targets and even spend money to fully investigate subjects ahead of time. Post-mission, you’ll be able to scrub through an interactive timeline of your actions, watching your gunfight with the police and escape by propelling a car over a raising river bridge. But that’s not all. Ubisoft doesn’t just want you to gain intel on your own world, but the world your friends occupy as well.

Like any good spy, players will be monitor what others are doing. Not only can this be useful for learning tricks or potential sticking points for future endeavors, but it can be used in a competitive manner as well. Challenges can be issued, and under the right circumstances (if both players agree to the scenario, it sounds like), you’ll be able to manipulate technology around your friend, attempting to shut down some of their options and force them to improvise as they react to your actions.
That’s why Watch Dogs is my game of E3 2012. It not only has the ambition of scope and detail that few games have, it’s finding a way to twist that, to find a clever way of bringing innovative gameplay into that large-scale setting. Few games really try to do both of those things. In development for two years, and with seemingly at least another year to go, Watch Dogs has dared dream big. And it has paid off. This is definitely one to keep an eye on, folks. Just be warned - it might start to make you a little paranoid.