Tipped for an appearance on next-generation consoles, Watch Dogs did not disappoint, and turned up at Sony's PlayStation 4 announcement with another slice of gameplay video.
Having made an entirely unexpected debut at the close of Ubisoft's E3 2012 presentation, Watch Dogs instantly generated a huge amount of buzz.
Though it uses the Assassin's Creed III game engine and shares its penchant for conspiratorial themes, Watch Dogs is not set in ancient times but rather the present-day U.S.
The five-minute clip follows main character Aiden Pierce as he phone-hacks various information networks to check up on passersby, extract money from cash machines, prevent a violent crime and then escape the local police aboard a passing train.
Mechanically, too, similarities with the Assassin's Creed games abound -- slick animation, well-telegraphed interactions, and a focus on free-flowing movement through an urban environment, with elements of parkour evident.
It's the little details that set Watch Dogs apart, with clothing that sways convincingly, lens flares and reflections, litter and leaves blowing in the wind, wet tire tracks and footprints around puddles, smoke and sparks in a cluttered urban environment.
The presence of Watch Dogs at Sony's PlayStation 4 conference confirms suspicions raised by its initial 2012 showing that this late-2013 arrival will be a game that looks its best on PlayStation 4, the next Xbox, and contemporary PCs, while accompanying equivalents on current generation machines may not look quite as slick.
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