Watch Dogs review journal #2: how to be an ass online

Dave Cook continues his appraisal of Ubisoft's blockbuster with a look at online play, as well as diving deeper into the campaign's mission arc.

Looking for part one of my Watch Dogs review? Hit the link for perhaps the most detailed write-up this side of the internet.

This is a game about our digitally-connected world, so it makes sense that Ubisoft Montreal has worked some interesting multiplayer modes into its sandbox. I sensed that a lot of people were a bit like, 'What? No deathmatch' when the studio confirmed a lack of basic gunplay modes, but I like that approach. The old form of tacked-on TDM, CTF and other modes has been done to death. I'm bored, and chances are you are too.

So here's a look at what Watch Dogs does differently, along with more discussion about new things I've experienced in the overall campaign.

Eye Have You

There are Fixers like Aiden Pearce all over Chicago, and from time to time you'll get a warning that says one of them has invaded your world. I touched on this briefly in part one, but this forms the basis of Watch Dogs multiplayer, and if you're a fan of Dark Souls PvP then just know that this is right up your street. Of course, you are entirely able to switch invasions off if you don't want to be bothered, or if you'd rather focus on the campaign.

”There’s tons going on in Watch Dogs multiplayer, and I’m still thankful that Ubisoft hasn’t peddled out a lot of overly-familiar modes that try to ape the likes of Battlefield or Call of Duty.”

I've been putting all my efforts into online play recently, just to determine if it's really good or not. From the invader's perspective, you simply bring up the online contracts menu and select a job type, then wait for matchmaking to find you a suitable opponent. My typical wait time was two minutes and it only failed to connect twice, but bear in mind I was playing pre-release. It's a straight-forward system that seems to work well.

The standard job type is Online Hacking, which sees you invade another player's city as an NPC. You have to get close to them and hack their phone to download data. Once it's done you must then escape a radial on the map to win the round. Simple. The trick is in not getting caught, and because you both look like NPCs to each other, you need to walk slowly and mechanically like pedestrians to avoid drawing attention to yourself. This makes for a genuinely tense game of cat and mouse.

Once the hack begins, a green overlay is placed over the map depicting the rough area of your opponent. I've failed spectacularly a few times already, but won some triumphant victories as well. However, my main concern is that once your attacker gets into their getaway vehicle and speeds off, you may as well give up. I found that a lot of hackers approach your location in a souped-up car and leave it nearby. Unless you're smart enough to have done the same, you'll find yourself eating their dust.

Other rounds saw my invader hacking me from a high up rooftop entirely out of sight, in one of those 'how the hell do I get up there?' kind of places. If that happens to you I guarantee you'll frantically start scanning all the pedestrians on street level to expose the perp - because the streets are always well populated - leaving very little time to scour up high. The mode has good and bad points, but I reckon you'll have a better match if the game drops you in a fair location.

”Decryption is the kind of mode Twitch streaming was made for, and although it’s early days yet, I guarantee we’ll start seeing some pretty hilarious videos coming out of the community down the line.”

The saving grace is that as you participate in competitive multiplayer events Aiden will earn Notoriety, and this unlocks new skills that are incredibly useful online. The first skill can be earned quickly, and gives all of your weapons anti-vehicle rounds, which are perfect for bringing down cars before your invader makes a break for it. That's one potential solution for the problem I mentioned above.

Precision Scanning will make the hacker location overlay shrink with every step to give you a clearer indication of where they are, while Security Footage displays an image of the person hacking you, so you can pick them out of the crowd. It just means that online has a purpose in both the campaign and multiplayer; which of course is incentive for those who can't be bothered interacting with others.

Cheese It!

By far my favourite PvP game mode is Online Decryption, and this is the closest Watch Dogs gets to traditional Team Deathmatch play. It sees up to eight players fighting for control over a decrypted file. The longer you hold it, the further it will decrypt, and whoever's holding it once it hits 100% the round is over, so what you have is a bunch of players desperately scrambling for control of the file while destroying everything in their path. It's carnage.

The trick is that the file will stop decrypting if a rival players is in the vicinity, so victory is all about moving while not being seen and gunning down anyone who crosses your path. As you're always visible on the other players' mini-map, this is easier said than done. In one match you'll likely see players driving over each other, hacking traffic lights to create a pile-up then using the mass of vehicles as a make-shift fort, and other fly tactics.

”The plot has taken a few significant twists and turns so far, and the stakes have been raised considerably, but I’ll leave you to find out what happens yourself.”

Although each Decryption round results in total madness on the streets, there's a tangible glee to be found in mowing down your target to hack the file, or leaving them in your wake after a well-time bridge hack or bollard raise. It's the kind of mode that Twitch streaming was made for, and although it's early days yet, I guarantee we'll start seeing some pretty hilarious videos coming out of the community down the line.

There's also load-outs that offer mid, short and long range firearms, although the sniper rifle seems to be the go-to tool for taking out hackers as they advance on your location. Health is slim, so you need to exert caution and ghost your way to the target unless you want to be slotted. This is genuinely great fun, and it reminded me of GTA 4's suite of objective based modes. The fact that Chicago is so large means there are plenty of environments to wage battle across.

Once the dust settles you can vote on the next location or back out. Online Tailing is another mode that basically sees the invader keeping another player in their sights until a gauge fills, and there's online races for up to eight players to keep you busy. There's tons going on in Watch Dogs multiplayer, and I'm still thankful that Ubisoft hasn't peddled out a lot of overly-familiar modes that try to ape the likes of Battlefield or Call of Duty.

How's the campaign holding up?

I'm still trying to avoid spoiling plot points for players, but my first journal briefly touched on the fact that Aiden's quest for revenge seems to cross the line between personal vendetta and a destructive obsession that could threaten whatever family he has left. I'll keep the spoilers at a minimum here, but at the time of writing I'm now much further through the story, and my interest is actually raising as I progress. That's a good thing.

”There’s an inert mystery lurking beneath the plot that I just know is waiting to expose itself. It’s a shadowy game full of liars, deception and double-bluffs. Where’s it all heading? I’m still not sure.”

This is partly because the quests keep throwing new, interesting things at my face. One mission sees Aiden walking into a police station with gun in hand, willingly giving himself up to the authorities.

He smuggles his phone in with him and uses it to alter his arrest documents to display a fake name and photo. The idea is that the cops are detaining someone with a positive ID on Aiden, and so begins a race to get to him before he testifies. It's a great mission that throws in stealth sections, a prison escape, lots of espionage and of course, plenty of gunplay.

Once you deal with the witness and emerge in the Chicago sun, you'll engage the cops in a tense car chase. As you scream along streets at breakneck speed, you can't help but feel powerful as an APB goes out over radio for 'Jon Smith;' the false name you hacked onto the system. Moments like this really do make you feel like a ghost in the ctOS machine, an invisible threat capable of wreaking utter chaos at any given time. In this moment, technically, the police are hunting for nobody, a phantom.

The story gets really interesting once Watch Dogs brings in an arc concerning the first ctOS data bank ever built. Again, I wont spoil the specifics, but this is essentially Aiden's personal 'Bat-Cave' of sorts; a place where he can exert full control over the city and its information without detection. I can already see how the story is setting up Aiden's presence in the world for future instalments by essentially giving him more power.

So in a way this entire arc is Aiden's origin story; his rise from invisible hacker to feared vigilante. Where I am in the story now, people recognise and cheer me on in the street, while radio reports speculate about my true identity. The plot has taken a few significant twists and turns so far, and the stakes have been raised considerably, but I'll leave you to find out what happens yourself.

In closing this chapter, I just want to reiterate that each of Watch Dogs' story missions so far has refrained from the boring 'go here fetch this,' or 'go there kill that guy' routine. Granted, much of your campaign time will be spent either being stealthy or shooting the place up, but the context is at least interesting enough to drive you on.

There's an inert mystery lurking beneath the plot that I just know is waiting to expose itself. It's a shadowy game full of liars, deception and double-bluffs. Where's it all heading? I'm still not sure, but one thing's for sure; I'm still willing to keep going to find out.

Stay tuned for my final instalment tomorrow.

Disclosure: To assist in writing this review series, Ubisoft sent Dave a copy of Watch Dogs on PS4.