Ever since its cryptic but well received debut at its pre-E3 press conference last Summer, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs has been turning some heads. It’s got a knockout of a story, where society relies on electronics to get them through their day-to-day, and a supreme hacker by the name of Aiden Pearce looks to turn the tables on the CtOS (Central Operating System) by using it to his advantage to fight the powers-that-be.
Since that time, we’ve seen bits and pieces of gameplay footage pop up during presentation during Sony’s PlayStation 4 press conference and at Ubisoft’s booth at PAX East. We’re not done yet, as E3 will no doubt have some new stuff for us to see.
Even now we’ve got a great idea of what Pearce is capable of doing with his electronic know-how, and it’s left us with a list of things we can’t wait to do within the game. If you’re like us, you’ve thought of all kinds of ways to do damage using this electronic initiative. We know we can’t wait to see what we can do later this year.
Create the Mother of All Traffic Jams
With a simple flick of your phone, you can turn a smooth flowing street into a destruction derby. First demonstrated with gameplay revealed last year, you can create a traffic jam at will by screwing with a traffic light or manipulating a car. When this play tactic was first introduced, it was as an assassination tool for ambushing a target when he was in the exact spot you wanted him to be. The idea of doing this anywhere just has us tempted to see what kind of pile-ups we can create. Can’t be any worse than what Los Angeles residents face on the 405 with their daily commute can it?
Learn a Person’s History In a Matter of Minutes
One cool thing about the online universe you access with CtOS is the information is stored on its citizens. With everyone turning to electronic necessity for their daily living, their whole lives (bank accounts, criminal records, personal errata, etc.) are accessible online, and since Pearce’s hacks have basically no limits, he can look up the history of a person with just a few button presses. Sometimes you don’t learn much from an intended target as they live a dull day-to-day life. Other times the information you learn can be vital towards your goals, whether you’re accessing bank numbers to bleed them dry from a local ATM or learning of a potential threat that could bury them unless you step in.
Case in point: during a more recent gameplay demo we were introduced to an woman who was constantly being badgered by her ex-husband, as he simply refuses to let her go. Before she could be injured (he pulls a gun on her), Pearce manages to step in and prevent a shooting.
A Distraction That Serves in Your Favor
Sometimes you’ll run into areas around the alternate city of Chicago that you can’t get into, like a nightclub that’s being guarded by a rather big bouncer. With Pearce’s hacking skills, this isn’t too big of a problem. You can simply look up devices that are easily within your reach, activate a switch, and you create a distraction that takes them away from the door for a few precious seconds. Sometimes it beats picking a fight with someone that you could easily end up losing to.
Use Surveillance to Your Advantage
Surveillance plays a huge part in Watch Dogs’ world, as your actions are consistently monitored along with every other citizen within the city. Pearce can easily turn these cameras to his favor, keeping an eye open for potential targets and then working his way to that location. It kind of gives him an eyes-on approach to his mission, since he can’t be in all these places at once.
End the Foot Chase With a Bang
One other cool aspect to the gameplay we saw at PAX East a couple of months ago was a foot chase where Pearce was pursuing that ex-husband we mentioned earlier. In order to stop him, Pearce short-circuited nearby electronics disable him. This allowed Pearce to subdue the target and then run off before the police can get a hold of him. That leads us to…
Running Wild and Loving It
With its wide-open world to explore with plenty of chaos to can create, from bringing a moving tram to a halt to lifting up security pistons to cause a police car to crash. You’ll roam through Watch Dogs for hours on end, just to see what all you can do. It’s an ideal sandbox experience from what we’ve seen thus far, and there are probably even more things that Ubisoft hasn’t revealed yet that just adds to its intrigue. One thing’s for sure – Ubisoft Montreal is cooking up another gaming delight.
Look for Watch Dogs on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U on November 19th, and shortly thereafter on next-gen consoles.
