Culture

Watch Dogs, another intriguing title from this year’s E3, is about killing people using Facebook. Aiden Pearce, the painfully generic protagonist, wields dystopian “Google-goggles” to identify his target. In an instant, a juicy fact is revealed about every person he scans: “HIV positive”, “charged with plagiarism”, “newlywed”. Whether facts like this can be used to blackmail or target NPCs outside of heavily scripted story sequences remains to be seen. Either way, Watch Dogs promises to be an interesting critique on 2012’s ever-connected, ever-posting, ever-liking culture.

Pearce has somehow hacked into the omnipresent network of a futuristic Chicago, allowing him to eavesdrop on any cellphone call, see through the eyes of any security camera, and even render any set of traffic lights completely useless. A brutal vehicle pile-up happens during the live-demo. Pearce is kind enough to rescue one frightened, perfectly innocent, driver during the ensuing shoot-out, despite having blatantly caused the death of the lady sitting in the passenger seat. He is a typical male action protagonist – gravelly-voiced and cynical, striding around with his collar popped around his throat and a tacky cap shading his face.

The shoot-out itself is best described as “GTA” – right down to the shuffling around behind car bonnets and taking pot shots at other humans with a plain white dot-crosshair. Watching it gave me flashbacks to the astonishingly bland shooting sequences in LA Noire. In 1950s Los Angeles I want to interview people and solve puzzles, not battle in time-wasting skirmishes. I’m scared that, in near-future Chicago, I’ll want to spend most of my time causing train accidents and none engaged in hand-gun combat.

A car chase follows. Surprise surprise. But at least this time it’s integrated with the hacking mechanics that make the game stand out – Pearce raises a drawbridge to block off his pursuers and escape.