Watch Dogs

[Kchrpm]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/06/how-watch-dogs-wisely-separates-itself-from-gta-5

Sounds pretty great, not just because you get more tools for interacting with NPCs and evading cops, but also the crazy potential freedom in missions.


Thankfully, missions in Watch Dogs play out similarly to those in a Hitman game, as they encourage experimentation and multiple routes to success. Using Aiden’s unique hacking abilities, I decided to try to complete the mission without ever even entering the building. This started with a quick hack of a security camera. From there, I could hop from camera to camera around the entire ring of the building. This sensation of swapping viewpoints felt incredibly similar to the great iOS game Republique. Eventually I found the phone I needed to hack and did so remotely. With the first bit of info in hand, I decided to start causing some mayhem.

I spotted a fuse box that I could remotely detonate at the touch of a button. I waited for a guard to walk by and took him out in a massive explosion of sparks and smoke. His partners quickly rushed over to see what happened, which was when I spotted a specific guard whose cell phone camera was hackable. I jumped from the security camera to his phone, and once he resumed patrol, I was able to have a mobile first person view of the entire the compound. After a bit of waiting, the guard entered the room where the computer node was housed, and I jumped from the phone to the computer. The final step in this cyber invasion consisted of completing a series of hacking puzzles where I had to manipulate the intersections of a maze so that an energy wave could make its way from point A to point B. Though the concept was simple, it was just tricky enough to really pique my interest. And with that, I completed the mission without ever even entering the building in the first place. It’s a new definition of stealth, and one that I can’t wait to continue playing around with on May 27.

Here's another writer that went through the same level: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/06/watch-dogs-preview-distractions-in-dystopia/?ncid=rss_truncated


Utilizing a lure device that distracts one guard, I sneak up behind him and take him out with a quick button press. I move slowly through a parking garage, carefully taking guards out one at a time. Suddenly I'm spotted and the remaining guards immediately know my location, an issue with AI awareness that came up often during the demo and one I hope can be tweaked before launch. Once I've infiltrated the area and get to the computer system the guards are alerted to the presence of an intruder. I bang my head against this moment for a few attempts, engaging in firefights – and dying often – before finally escaping to the street where the police pursue me. As I drive down the busy streets of Chicago, I employ the use of my super-powered cell phone to tweak traffic lights, giving me the ability to control the flow of civilian movement. With a single police car in pursuit, I hack a barricade in the middle of the street as I pass the intersection, which raises bollards from the ground causing the cop car to crash spectacularly. It's only later that I realized I could have simply engaged a craftable item I unlocked in my skill tree: The ability to power down an entire city grid. Using this method, I could have blacked out the building and strolled out without ever being detected, completely bypassing the firefight.

That article also has more details about the world outside of missions


The world is riddled with distractions. There are gang hideouts for Pearce to clear, specific NPCs that he can target for assassination or information, and even AR Games that project mobile-game graphics into the world. One AR Game I stumbled across places 8-bit gold coins and skulls in the world, and it scored me based on my quickness to collect one while avoiding the other. There are drinking games, card games, multiple ways to spy on people outside of simply hacking their phone. One random encounter allowed me to tap into a building from a outlet box outside, giving me access to a camera tracking two women as they exercised in their living room.

[thesameguy]

I am excited about this game, but a little cautious. I don't much like Ubisoft as a company, and while their games tend to get rave reviews, for whatever reason I don't tend to like them. I think the last Ubi game I genuinely enjoyed was Oni! I'll wait for it to come out before doing anything, but I have been following the news... the concept is definitely intriguing!

[21Kid]

Sounds good. :up:

[Kchrpm]

I am on the wait and see side because I would be getting it for Wii U, which will get the least attention/investment.

[Kchrpm]

The multiplayer (so far all they've shown is another player being in your world and being able to watch/hack you) is optional.

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/10/optional-multiplayer-prevents-games-from-being-overrun-by-watch/?ncid=rss_truncated

[Drachen596]

the new PS4 commercial for this game makes it look like GTA with computer hacking..

[Kchrpm]

In many ways it is, but the hacking is often just hitting/holding some buttons and can open up a lot of possibilities.

[21Kid]

Explosions are exciting. You can play the game more like Deus Ex as well, where you can accomplish certain tasks without hurting anyone.
But, watching someone hack a PC to get access to an area and go undetected isn't as exciting for a commercial. ;)

[Kchrpm]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DHPy9IpHOj8

[GreatScawt]

Microsoftstore.com has a sweet deal where if you pre-order, you get release day delivery and $15 MS credit. However, they don't seem to want to take my money. I keep getting errors when processing the orders. Whether I use Firefox, IE, or different cards, it doesn't go through. I've only ever had this problem with MS. Fucking annoying. I'll try again later, but if it doesn't work looks like I'll be waiting for Watch Dogs. I have enough shit to play anyway.

[thesameguy]

Hmmm... I might go check that out. I have an expiring balance at MS anyway!

[thesameguy]

Dammit! Only if you preorder the console version.

[GreatScawt]

Damn, that blows. IIRC, the game has a "main page" where you can select which version to jump into and it seemed to show that deal for all. Guess it changes when you click on PC. Bummer.

Also, I DID try to order this game again on MSstore's POS site and it finally went through. So it looks like I will be playing this game release day. I'm excited.

[Alan P]

Full release not out until Tuesday. Available for download, already cracked, on XBone, PS4 and PC now. Ubisoft fail. Now do I get tempted to see if it's good or bad?

[SkylineObsession]

Wife has been waiting for this for ages, so much so that she has all next week off work to play it.

I haven't really been at all interested in it for some reason (not to say i won't play it at some stage) so i'll still be working. :(

[drew]

If it's set in Chicago, I may just get it.

[thesameguy]

Full release not out until Tuesday. Available for download, already cracked, on XBone, PS4 and PC now. Ubisoft fail. Now do I get tempted to see if it's good or bad?

I'm tempted for you.

How are cracked games available much less playable on new platforms so quickly???

[Blerpa]

It has been always the case.
Back in the day of Gumball we put our hands on the gold disk of one of EA F1 games for PC, for example. Like 3 days before it would arrive on the market and in stores. Back when there was not even digital delivery of videogames.
Do try it out and in case buy it.

[Alan P]

Pardon me, I just looked again. PS3 and Xbox 360 console versions and several options for PC.

[Tom Servo]

Picked it up and got a chance to play for an hour this morning. I got it on the PS4 because, frankly, I've been dying for a new game on my next-gen consoles since launch day. This is only the third game I've bought for them, and the second for the PS4. I figure eventually I'll probably get it on a Steam sale for $10 too.

For what it's worth, given all the freakout about the lower resolution and framerate I expected to be underwhelmed. So far, it looks pretty good to me. The main characters look pretty fantastic, significantly better than AC4's to me. Surprisingly, I saw some people commenting on how the water was one of the things they thought looked good, compared to AC4 it looks like ass to me. Admittedly, AC4's needed to look pretty fantastic since you spend most of the time tooling around on a boat, but I was pretty underwhelmed with the water.

I really haven't gotten far enough into the game to comment too much on the gameplay. I do like that you can scan pretty much anybody in the area, it makes the civilian population feel a lot more alive than other games like it. They're slightly more than just obstacles, though it's still not like they're all these fully fleshed out people. Also, the game highlights for you which NPCs are really worth scanning, so I can see that eventually I won't bother looking at most of them.

So far, the stealth is just as confusing an annoying to me as in most games, only now you can cause a blackout and basically just get to run around wildly with no-one seeing you. I'm immediately making a bee-line in my skill tree to be able to cause blackouts as often as possible.

At any rate, I ended up spending too much time playing it this morning and ended up getting to work late, so at least so far, I'm liking it.

[GreatScawt]

Yeah, I played about an hour and a half last night. If the first mission is a good indication of the story, it'll be a lot of fun.

I found the hideout and did a couple of missions where you hack a potential crime location and stop it. I also did a mission where you have to transport cars back to back for someone in a certain amount of time. Tip: unlock the shortcut hack so you can cut through garages and find quicker routes on those missions :up:

Maybe I'm not fully used to the controller, but the driving physics are pretty awful. And the trigger vibrators didn't seem to work consistently. I thought they vibrated when I lost traction, but I still felt extremely disconnected from the road. May just take more time getting used to.

[Tom Servo]

I've heard from many sources that the driving is pretty awful. I found it pretty unpleasant when doing the "find your hideout" thing, though that probably has something to do with the fact that I ran into a sign and next thing I know, I'm trying to escape from the cops with all four tires gone. I figure it's one of those driving physics models that I'll get used to, ala Saints Row and GTA, but for now it feels wrong and weird.

[2ndMoparMan]

PC version isn't that well optimized from all reports. People running titans can't get it to stay above 60 fps on near max setting at 1080p.

[Tom Servo]

I'm hearing that might be due to the Uplay issues that the game hitches waiting for a response from Uplay when doing the multiplayer stuff. It's why I'm also hearing that the pirated version, which doesn't connect to Uplay, apparently runs great.

[Tom Servo]

The driving is becoming easier to me. Seems like the triggers on the controller have a massive deadzone starting at about 50%, so if you've pulled it halfway, it's essentially like stomping on the pedal. Really light touches and the cars actually behave themselves, for the most part.

I really hate the invasion-style multiplayer.

[Blerpa]

I really hate the invasion-style multiplayer.

Can't you deactivate it?

[Tom Servo]

Yeah, you can. Just amazed at how incredibly irritating it was, so the next thing I did was turn it off. It was basically "Hey, you're having fun? Got something you're doing? Too fucking bad, now you're doing this!"

[Tom Servo]

Getting a little annoyed too and the random instant deaths. I just got about halfway through a story mission, right as I'd cleared one goal and my character was mumbling to himself about the next one. I was in a car slowly rolling, and as soon as my character was done talking, the car exploded. No reason that I could see, it just exploded. That's not the first time.

I am still having fun though. Just started hacking various ctOS towers, some of those are interesting puzzles.

[thesameguy]

That would be frustrating and hilarious.

Kinda like real life.

[GreatScawt]

There was one "potential crime" activity I did where I pulled the gun out on the suspect and then started chasing him. Then he called for back up. I did an "in-cover" takedown where I slid across a car and decked him out. But I kind of got stuck on a bunch of parked cars parked close to a building. 8 guys show up, guns blazing. One throws a grenade and I wasn't agile enough to get out of the way in time. Instantly wasted. I was kind of mad because it escalated quicker than I expected. But at the same time it was kind of neat. It gave me a loading screen and I spawned back in at what I'm pretty sure is a location nearby.

I've been meaning to say this and I'm not sure if it was mentioned before, but this game is really fun if you want to play it like Assassin's Creed. Which is an obvious connection. Between the ctOS towers (a la viewpoints in AC that give you the points of interest), activities and collectibles, it has a very similar addictive style.

Not going to lie though, the driving physics just kill it a LOT for me. They are just that bad. The steering has this weird progressive turn in and drives me up the fucking wall. I was accessing a ctOS tower and you had to drive up this winding dirt road with rock on each side. I hit all the things on the way up.
And there's something else about the game that is quite striking on occasion, and that's how the game looks when it's day time (in game, of course). I can't put my finger on it, but between the textures and lighting it seems ultra bland. I feel like it was meant to be played when the game clock is at night.

I don't know. I haven't played it in a while, and I'm getting the itch. But I think I rather finish Tomb Raider first.

[Tom Servo]

I just did that ctOS tower and yeah, driving on the dirt road at night was an interesting chore. That said, I guess it's kinda supposed to be, I don't often go hauling ass on unfamiliar dirt roads in the dark.

I've just taken to braking early with about half a trigger throw, then powering out of the corner and so far, it's working really well. I know exactly what you mean about that progressive steering thing, but if you approach the car more like an iracing car than a GTA car, it actually drives okay.

I haven't noticed the blandness, but there's something about the way they modelled the thunderstorms at night, it looks awesome. That, and the burst steam pipes under the road look just brilliant. And agreed that it is basically a modern day Assassin's Creed with a smartphone vs. that eagle vision or whatever it is.

I'm still really enjoying it, but I've also been mostly just doing side missions (kinda like how I usually play AC). That reminds me, I really should finish the main storyline on AC4. I don't know that I'm ever going to develop the patience to take down all four of the legendary ships, but I should at least finish the main mission one of these days.

I'm also still really enjoying just buying my games for console online. I know it sucks that you can't sell your used copy, but I never did that anyway. It's awesome never having to fish out a disc.

[GreatScawt]

I was crawling up the dirt path :lol:
The X1 triggers vibrate. Which I'm assuming means I'm breaking traction... but whenever I start to accelerate from a dead stop - no matter how gentle a touch - it always seems like the car is trying to peel out. Paired with the weird wheel turn-in, that dirt path was the most difficult part of the tower activity :lol:

Yeah, definitely early braking seems to be a must. I'll try to switch to more of a sim mentality. I've barely put in 3 hours, I'd guess... so I've got plenty of time to adapt a bit.

Maybe day time seems bland because the night time is just so beautiful. I encountered a cloudy mid-day storm, but no full blown nighttime thunderstorm. Can't wait for that :up:

The downloads are definitely really nice. That's all I've had until this game... though it is nice to have a physical copy for once :lol: :up:

[GreatScawt]

I've been enjoy this game... but last night I really started warming up to it more. The driving has become more tolerable and the flow of the game continues to be as addictive as AC. I've been going around and "checking in" around the city. Sometimes you'll see cash gifts left at check-ins and you can leave things too. I'm afraid I'll accidentally plop all 30k of my money there so I haven't bothered yet. :p

Did the first post-tutorial mission... a car chase that I ended by causing an accident. Fucking awesome feeling :lol: The chases are really fun. :up:

[Tom Servo]

Once you get even the first of the ATM upgrades, $30K will be nothing. I got the second of the two, the rich accounts are getting me around $15k a pop.

For all the complaints about the car chase missions in the reviews, they're definitely fun for me. It's obvious that you cannot ever lose the cars who are chasing you without doing some sort of hack intervention. Total rubber-band stuff, it doesn't matter how fast you drive, they will be right on you. It is awfully fun blowing up a steam pipe right underneath a pursuer, though.

Some of the QR code puzzles are pretty challenging, though that's starting to hit me with one irritating feature - I'll highlight a camera and the game just refuses to give me the "hack" icon. I'll have to aim slightly off center, then it'll pop up.

[GreatScawt]

Finally did some more campaign. Second and third mission I think? They make you buy an M416 and hack the server room in the big central area. I killed all the guards stealthily using a silenced pistol... aaaaand maybe accidentally hacked a crate to fall on two dudes.

BUT APPARENTLY I COULD HAVE HACKED IT REMOTELY WITHOUT KILLING ANYONE. Ugh. I wish I could go back and redo it!

[Tom Servo]

Some of those Criminal Convoys can blow me.