Watch Dogs

9 minutes of Multiplayer Gameplay

Ubisoft has just had the good graces to gift us another trailer for Watch dogs, the multi platform open world game that puts you in the guise of super hacker turned street vigilante Aiden Peirce, only this time they have shown off some of the games multiplayer features.

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Let’s start with the obvious its looks really fun! Being able to pop in and out of someone else’s game world and causing havoc in someone else’s city, will more than like triple the time it takes me get through the games story and, I’m sure I’ll make a few enemies by trolling and invading other players games(I’m hoping so but I can see it being me who gets trolled!).

On a more serious note this demo is the first real look at the games multiplayer gameplay we have seen, before now we knew you could enter other players cities and we knew a companion app was going to be released with the game but it’s good to finally have some context with the rumours and hype. At what points in gameplay you’ll be able to enter someone’s city isn’t mentioned, but you can probably bet you’ll have to wait till there off mission and if they are allowing you to enable multiplayer with them, on one hand I hope it’s something that can be done without permission allowing you to pop up in your friends game uninvited with no warning, would add to the fun and gameplay brought with you being able to get hacked at anytime.

Let’s look at the three multiplayer options available to you discussed in the video;

Getting hacked/hacking another player(hacking contracts):

This looks as though it could happen at any time to you, your walking around looking for an unsuspecting npc’s bank account details to grab yourself some easy cash then BAM there’s a contract out on you. At this point a bar appears on your HUD showing the other players hack progression, it’s here when you have to verify each individual so you can find the player(remember only you look like Aiden to you, and he looks like Aiden to him/her). Now here’s where the competitive bit comes into play either you find the person hacking you or you don’t, simple.

If you don’t find them then they will get an abundance of skill points and you’ll get nothing and your both free to go and play the game more, if you do find them however it’s a case of you take the whole pot of skill points or you both share them. Once the enemy player hacker has been discovered you must kill them in order to get a boost of skill points or if they manage to evade you then both of you get a small boost in skill points to spend. This mode looks really good to me and I like the hide and seek factor it brings to it.

The companion mobile app:

Now before we go any further I have to say I’m not a big fan of companion apps in general, most of the time they seem like an afterthought by the developer in order to plaster the main games name on absolutely anything electronic they can get their hands on. This one however seems abit more thought out though so ill reserve judgement until release.

In the demo the main game player is challenged to a race created be an app player and the main game player accepts. The aim of the app player is to get Aiden killed or arrested by using the very same hacks you can do in the main game and controlling the city’s police force. This seems to be a more strategic game play mechanic suited to a touch screen control interface.

The player must win the challenge by evading the police and app user hacks. If the player wins they receive skill points but it’s unclear if the app player will get anything if they manage to stop them.

Competitive decryption combat:

Here is the classic team death match or capture the flag multiplayer game with a twist. This is where two teams of four players each have to reach a file, capture it then hold it for long enough to hack it from before the other team.

In this mode it still looks like you have full access to Aiden’s hacking abilities which makes me want to see more of how you’ll be able to use them against other players with the same abilities. What excites me more still is that it ‘looks’ like after you get control of the file you’ll have access to the full city still which begs the question how much damage two player controlled teams can do on the city streets of a Chicago where near enough anything can be hacked and manipulated….

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I have to say last year I wasn’t that hyped up about Watch Dogs, but as we move ever closer to May 27th I’m starting to see why it’s as anticipated as it is, and having already pre ordered my copy I hope to see you all in Chicago come release day.