Watch Dogs: Gameplay Announcement Trailer Breakdown [E3 2012]
Ubisoft ended it big this year with their announcement of upcoming title Watch Dogs, a brand new ip from the developer. Unfortunately Ubisoft did not give any clues as to a possible release date yet but judging from the demo they showcased the show seemed extremely polished despite it being an unannounced title. So if you did not catch it live I will give you a breakdown of the gameplay demo.
The demo opens on the back of an unknown man’s body, controlled by the player, as he walks down the sidewalk in a busy city. He takes his time as he meanders up the block, moving around his fellow pedestrians. Wind blows across the scene and the trees and other various scene elements such as the player’s trench coat actually move with the wind. The world is richly detailed and all of the other actors appear extremely lifelike in the way they act and move. As the man sees an art gallery across the street, with a marquee that reads dotConnection by Joseph Demarco, he moves crosses, after looking both ways of course.
When he reaches the other side he walks right past the line of people crowding to get into the club and moves slightly off to the side of the bouncer. The player then opens an interface menu and selects “Disrupt Communications”, the character then pulls out his phone and with the touch of a button disrupts all of the calls in the nearby vicinity, including the bouncer. The bouncer, thinking he’s lost connection under the marquee moves from his position to see if he can reconnect his call. The player slips by unnoticed thanks to the distraction.
After he enters the club the player moves through the crowd apparently looking for someone. He finds the man who finally reveals the player’s name, Aiden Pearce. After a conversation and some sort of exchange it is discovered that Aiden is being watched and should find out who the tail is. Aiden pulls then moves around the room checking displays that show up over the NPC’s bodies. The overlays show very specific information from age, occupation, debt, and even, in one poor guy’s case, that he is HIV Positive. Aiden finally finds his target however, a Demarco employee. After listening to the conversation on her phone, Pearce decides it’s time to leave and moves to avoid the security moving to hold him there until Demarco arrives.
After he moves to a back exit he is confronted by a guard with a violence probability prominently displayed in red over the guard’s body. The guard tries to stop Pearce, big mistake. Aiden pulls a retractable police baton and beats the man either to death or unconsciousness. This appears to be done with a very small number of button presses on the controller. But it’s time to leave. Pearce leaves and enters the street just in time to see Demarco’s SUV heading towards the building a block away. Aiden moves to the intersection and whips out his phone again. This time he focuses on the stoplight. Timing it to right before Demarco passes the intersection, Pearce flips all the lights to green causing a massive car accident and stopping Demarco in the middle. Unfortunately it looks like he’s brought company.
The thugs begin to fire at Aiden, who through an unexplained action slows down time, giving the viewer a breathtaking view as he shoots the enemy as the raindrops slow to a near stop all around him. As he takes cover behind a car the fire continues and a civilian is shot and killed in the driver seat of the car Pearce is using as cover. He then gets the option to rescue the passenger of the car, hinting at a possible morality system in the game. After mopping up the rest of the bad guys Aiden watches as a nearby gas station explodes in a large fireball, he confronts Demarco and kills him.
The camera however shifts away from Pearce to a rooftop overlooking the whole scene to a man whose only moniker is “Bixxel_44” which appears over his head. He is talking to another unknown person who tells him to track Pearce. Bixxel moves away and the demo ends.
This title made a huge splash as the closer to the Ubisoft Event at E3 leaving everyone stunned and ecstatic. Looks like the bar has been set and Ubisoft is top of the heap so far. Do you think anyone will be able to top it? Because if so, it is going to be one hell of a week for gaming.
