2. *Watch Dogs
At this point, there isn't much I can say about Watch Dogs that hasn't already been said. The game stole away the spotlight at last years E3 and it is doing the same this year. Already the recipient of multiple awards and congratulations, the only thing Watch Dogs has to do is stick its landing. Something that I have minor worries about just because the game looks that good. You play as Aiden Pearce, an especially skilled hacker who lives in an alternate version of Chicago. The city is wired up to the CtOS, or the central operating system. This system is connected to everyone and holds information on all of Chicago's residents. With the ability to hack the system, you can control the city from your phone. The game boasts that you can follow anyone, watch them live their lives and you can do with them as you see fit. With an open world inhabited by many hundreds of NPCs, that is seriously impressive. In a closed door preview, Watch Dog creators showed me how this work. Identifying a woman, who has a restraining order on someone, as a possible victim. The devs then followed her to find her confronted by a man, before they stepped in to break it up, thus leading to a foot chase and an eventual shoot out. It is promised could happen with any NPC in the game and if you don't want to do the central story mission, it won't be long until you find some other crime to put your mind to. During the demonstration the developers also showcased the games really interesting multiplayer. At any point you could jump into a buddy's game world. You will be disguised an any other NPC and can do as you please. But the real benefit would be to go in and try and take something from their world and take it back to yours, the most likely resource being money. However, as soon as you start hacking, the friend whose world it is will be alerted and they will have time to run after you and stop you. However, if you get away, you get to take your stealings back into your own game. It is a really smart multiplayer dynamic and one that could create a ton of fun situations between you and your friends as you try and take things from one another. Add on top of that the tablet integration, for other players to help or hinder a players game and Watch Dogs has created a really deep and robust connective experience. However, you do have to ask at some point, with all these cool little additions and connected elements, at what point does the game stop being about the dangers of connectivity. It is the James Cameron dynamic, where many of his films are about the dangers of technology while also showcasing the film with some new and exciting technology. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but just an interesting musing going into the game. I almost feel like I am making a punt on Watch Dogs. If it really an achieve all the promises it is making, Watch Dogs will be a game worthy of owning two E3s in a row. I am inclined, from what I have heard from some of my little birds, that the game will be great and everything it is promised. However, if it doesn't, it could become one of the biggest disappointments ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1DS3RAAofc