Ubisoft Reveal 6 ways Watch_Dogs Will Surprise You

Watch_Dogs Will Surprise You In Six different Ways

March 11th, 2014, By Maya Mayfield

We got an opportunity to talk with the development team behind the eagerly anticipated Watch_Dogs game coming to Playstation 4 this month and were able to get some much needed insight into the ambitious project set in Chicago's open world arena. First of all we now know from the latest trailer way down below that Watch_Dogs release date will be the 27th, of May, 2014, but beyond that initial trailer little else was revealed by Ubisoft until today.

Read on to discover the 6 things team Ubisoft say will take you by surprise when you play Watch_Dogs this upcoming May 27th.

1. Chicago is your cybernetic playground




The Open World of Chicago is your playground to do with as you please. Gamers will be able to explore the environment at will and partake in several of the cities various activities, like playing chess, going to bars for a drink, to taking down the bad guys.  “We have catered for all styles of play,” says Colin Graham Animation Director. “Feel absolutely free to explore Watch_Dogs, as the more you do the more  fun things you will discover with it."
If you are more of a stealthy gamer, then go right ahead and use those Assassin's Creed abilities. If you are more of a shoot now ask questions later type of player, then blast your way through the levels as there will be no punishments or consequences for it. If you like driving, then get behind one of the many hot-wheels in Watch_Dogs and drive through the city, however make sure to press the O button to duck underneath the dashboard to hide from the cops.

The advantage of the hacking technology, does take your gameplay to a whole new level as it can help to create some very interesting twists in the environment. For example, you could distract a guard by sending him a SMS that allow you to sneak past his line of sight. Or you could shoot an enemies belt grade, allowing his panicked wailings to draw his allies close before watching them all get destroyed by the follow up explosions. While being chased by police vehicles, you can take control of the traffic light systems, using them to your advantage to evade the law.


2. You are the cause and the effect


Gamers will be glad to know that the citizens of Watch_Dogs aren't just cannon fodder, or target practice to play with. Each character you come across has their own background information, easily accessible via your handy little spy tool profiler. Walk around and just listen and you will be able to hear them having phone conversations or text messages that can be hacked and read, with each and every single one being different to the next. We are also told these very random citizens react differently to your interactions with them too.

“We have developed a system for their mental state,” says Colin Graham. “So if you attack someone in the streets, they may not always react in the same way. For example smashing someones mobile before they can call the police may result in them running away, while others may stay and fight back."
"A state of panic can also spread in a chaotic situation as a person runs down the street creaming for help, will obviously arouse suspicion and curiosity from others to go and investigate the source of the commotion, and even this action from the people creates different reactions as well.

3. Everyone is your puppet to control



Part of the fun of watch_Dogs is being able to get on peoples nerves by messing with their emotions. One example of this is hacking a garage door to randomly go up and down on its own, could result in the person seeing this to either get spooked, or rage against the garage door itself. You can pretty much tamper with most equipments to cause various reactions in people, unless you are obvious, they won't real know that it is you playing games with them.  Getting under the skin of non-player characters and enemies is all part of the fun, especially as you can really toy with their emotions. For example, if you hack a garage door to go up and down several times, a watching person could get spooked and eventually fly into a rage against the door itself. Equipment can be tampered with to similar effect. And unless you’re being obvious about your intentions they won’t necessarily know it’s you playing games with them.

Josh Morin Watch_Dogs creative director suggest players be a demon to the games AI, by hacking stuff to blow up, you can manipulate your environment causing people to react a way you want.

4. It’s the little things that count…



The world of Watch_Dogs is buzzing with life and its these unique little details that truly make Watch_Dogs an enjoyable immersive experience. For example take a moment to observe the hustle and bustle and you may see tourists asking the citizens of Chicago to take picture of them. The cool little animated detail of Aiden casually sliding his mask over his face before any action or even the way Aiden's hands go up in surrender if you choose not to run away for the police. (Which we suspect will be on the rarest of occasions.)
The development team left no details on turned explained Kevin Short the lead writer, as they travelled to Chicago to capture thousands of voices just to get the accent right and authentic to the windy city.

5. Become judge, jury and executioner



Players will be able to make assumptions about the non-playable  AI character within Watch_Dogs based on their profiles. For example, a security with military training background, should be able to unclip his explosive grenade belt just before detonation, but an inexperienced donut eating guard may not be so lucky. Collin tell us that the profiler tool is a useful equipment to have when it comes to these random judgment calls, however enemy equipment will vary so you still have to think on your feet and adapt to the scenario.

6. Watch your back, you may be getting hacked

The world of Watch_Dogs also allows you to invade other players games, but you may not know who or where they are. If you hack a Blume Agent, but fail to get to them on time, another player will be alerted to track you, stalk you, hack your phone and ultimately kill you, so make sure you stay alert and watch out for suspicious behavior.

One great example of this explains Collin during Watch_Dogs testing phase was of a player walking down the street who randomly shot and killed another person driving in their vehicle without first profiling them. His reasons for doing this was simply that the sports branded vehicle being driven was far too nice to be from that poverty stricken neighborhood, so it must have been another player stalking him.

As bizarre and funny as this maybe, it's those special user created experiences that Collin believes is what will really make Watch_Dogs such a special game to play. Ubisoft have promised more information will be coming soon for Watch_Dogs as we head towards May 27th, so make sure you stay tuned for that.

You can Pre-Order your copy of Watch_Dogs on Amazon now.

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