WATCH DOGS PLAYSTATION LAUNCH TITLE

■ Developer: Various 

■ Publisher: Ubisoft  

WHO LET THEM OUT?   

We already saw Watch Dogs when it stole the show at last year’s E3, and Ubisoft’s newest killer franchise made a return at the PS4 presser. We saw more of the  central themes of hacking, surveillance and information warfare as protagonist Aiden Pearce (who we swear bears more than a passing resemblance to John Cusack) takes down a bad guy and makes his escape from the encroaching cops. 

                                It’s amazing stuff – Pearce uses his hacking skills to take control of electronics throughout the city, making traffi c blockades pop up and total speeding cop cars, shutting down security cameras, even stopping a train so he can hop on top before starting it up again to make his escape. Pretty handy to have a phone that controls everything, huh? 

                          It looks phenomenal, as true to life as any game we’ve seen yet, and the totalitarian state and inter-connection of people and technology presented seem dangerously close to our reality . Watch Dogs is coming to PS3 and  360 as well as Wii U and PC, but you can get that the defi nitive  version, and the only version worth playing, will be on PS4.

KILLER FEATURES

 


■  WATCH DOGS WAS, by many people’s accounts, the standout game of E3 last year, and we are extremely happy to see it as part of the PlayStation 4 showcase.

■  THE SETTING IS a slightly cyberpunk near-future where connected technology and a strict government have cracked down on people’s individual freedoms.

■  HERO AIDEN HAS a phone capable of hacking into almost everything electronic, from traffi c lights to trains. Needless to say, it comes in handy.

■  WE STILL HAVE so much to learn about  Watch Dogs, with only a tentative release date of Q4 2013 given so far.