June 6, 2012 by

I'm not going to lie, there are other games at E3 that I'm more excited to play than Watch Dogs. But Watch Dogs was the most refreshing game at E3. E3 has become a showcase of predictability, and Watch Dogs is anything but. Here is why it's my Game of the Show

It's a new IP

As we reach the tail end of this console cycle, we're seeing fewer and fewer original IP in the retail console space. Not only is Watch Dogs not a sequel or a reboot, but it doesn't look like a clone. It looks genuinely different.

It Was Unexpected

Watch Dogs isn't the only new IP at E3. There have been others that I'm really looking forward to, including The Last of Us and Dishonored. But even Beyond:Two Souls, which was newly announced, was expected. We all saw it coming. Absolutely nobody saw Watch Dogs coming. That's what E3 should be about. I understand that it's difficult to keep secrets nowadays, and more and more news gets leaked months beforehand, but evidently, the developers of Watch Dogs did a great job of keeping this one a secret.

People are Interested

This might be one of the most important things. People are actually talking about it. Among all the other massive games that have been shown and announced, Watch Dogs has a significant mindshare, and that's really impressive. It's great to see people this interested in something new. Book of Spells is also an unexpected new IP, but nobody is interested in it.

It Looks Different

As I mentioned, Watch Dogs doesn't look like a clone of anything. Sure, the initial scenes of a man walking around a city reminded me of GTA IV, but as the demo played on, it was clear that Watch Dogs is something different. Combat obviously plays a role, but there seems to be a whole lot more to it. You can hack anything, and according to the developer, you might spend a significant portion of the game spying, breaching and staging crimes to manipulate a powerful figure. That's a lot more subtle and a lot more interesting than shooting all of his bodyguards and then more dramatically shooting him.

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