Google Shoot View is the creepiest use of Google Maps ever

A Dutch advertising firm has created what might be the scariest use of Google Street View ever with its “Google Shoot View” project, which lets you walk the streets of many real-life cities with an M4A1 assault rifle and shoot up the scenery.

Pool Worldwide, the Dutch agency, used the Google Maps API and added an assault rifle and some disconcerting sound effects. When you shoot at people, cars and buildings, nothing actually happens. It’s not as visceral an experience as playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 or the latest Grand Theft Auto, because when you shoot people in those games, they bleed and die.

But if you ever wanted to see what it was like to go around shooting up your neighborhood, this “game” gives you vague sense of what it’s like. I briefly tested the project by running around downtown New York City, where I live. Google Street View shows tons of people and landmarks in crisp enough detail that it makes the experience equal amounts bizarre and creepy. The game lets you go around killing pedestrians and police officers, who are real people unwittingly captured by Google’s cameras.

A teaser for Google Shoot View can be seen below: