| Watch Dogs | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Ubisoft Montreal[a] |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Director(s) | Jonathan Morin[5] |
| Producer(s) | Dominic Guay[5] |
| Designer(s) | Danny Belanger[5] |
| Programmer(s) | Francis Boivin[6] |
| Writer(s) | Kevin Shortt[7] |
| Composer(s) | Brian Reitzell, Peter Connelly[8] |
| Engine | Disrupt, with Havokphysics[9] |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 Xbox One Wii U |
| Release date(s) | Win, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO 27 May 2014 Wii U
|
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Distribution | Optical disc, download |
Watch Dogs (stylized as WATCH_DOGS) is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide on 27 May 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, while a Wii U version was released on 18 November 2014 in North America, 21 November in Europe, and 4 December in Japan.[10] Set within a fictionalized version of Chicago, Illinois, the single-player story follows a hacker and his efforts to seek revenge after the accidental death of his niece. The open world design lets players freely roam Chicago, which includes the urban city, open countryside, and slums.
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| Aiden Pearce |
The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Players control Aiden Pearce, a highly skilled grey hat hacker who can hack into the "ctOS", a centralized operating system which manages the hyper-connected city of Chicago, and formed after a Northeast blackout of 2003 was caused by a hacker. An online multiplayer mode is also provided in the game, allowing up to eight players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting.
Development on the game began in 2009. As part of their research for the open world, the developers conducted field research around Chicago throughout development and captured footage for the design team. Development duties were shared between many of Ubisoft's studios worldwide.
Following its announcement in June 2012, Watch Dogs was widely anticipated. At release, it received generally positive feedback, with praise particularly directed at the game's hacking elements and mission variety. The game also received criticism concerning the gameplay and some technical issues. Watch Dogs was a commercial success, breaking the record for the biggest first day sales of a Ubisoft game, and becoming the biggest launch of a new IP ever in the United Kingdom at the time. Within a week, the game sold over 4 million copies.
Gameplay[edit]
Watch Dogs is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. Outside of missions, players can freely roam the open world of Chicago. The world may be fully explored from the beginning of the game without restrictions, although story progress unlocks more gameplay content.
In the main game, players take control of Aiden Pearce, a vigilante who can hack into various electronic devices tied to the city's central operating system (ctOS), allowing various methods for the player to solve numerous objectives.[12] The hacking mechanic in the game is performed directly from Aiden's in-game smartphone, which is equipped with multiple applications, namely the "profiler" and the "crime prevention system"; the former allows the player to access information on any citizen in the city, while the latter notifies the player when a crime is likely to occur in the vicinity. The phone is also equipped with applications that interact directly with the environment around the player; for example, players can hack into NPC's phones to retrieve bank data and steal funds as well as unlock new cars, weapons, and in-game music, or they can hack into traffic lights to cause collisions.[13] Players can also receive information on civilians viaaugmented reality feeds, providing them with information on demographics, health and potential behaviour. Equipment is also provided by smartphone apps, which can be used to summon cars and weaponry. Players can stop trains, raise security barriers, and black out the entire city and can slow down time to shoot. |
| Aiden hacking a device |
As the game proceeds, the player can improve Aiden's skills either by expending skill points or earning skills and perks by completing side missions and collecting various items from the in game world, such as finding QR codes on the sides of buildings or finding ctOS servers collecting information on the citizens of Chicago. |
| ctOS logo |
Synopsis[edit]
Setting and characters[edit]
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| Jackson Pearse |
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| Nicole Pearce |
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| Jordi Chin |
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| Clara Lille |
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| Raymond T Bone |
Plot[edit]
In October 2012, Aiden Pearce and his mentor Damien Brenks launch an electronic bank heist at the Merlaut Hotel, with Aiden transferring the funds through his smartphone.[20] When they come across a strange file and alert another hacker, Damien tries to find the hacker, giving them both away. Unable to talk Damien out of it, Aiden stops him by leaving.[21] Fearing for the safety of his family— sister Nicole, and her children Lena and Jackson—Aiden decides to drive them to safety under the guise of a surprise trip. However, on the way, two hitmen are hired to intercept the car and take Aiden out. One of the hitmen, Maurice Vega, fires the shot that crashes the car and puts Lena in a coma, and she dies two months later.[22]
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| Delford Wade |
With the help of Clara Lille, a member of hacking syndicate DedSec, Aiden tracks down the second hacker: ex-military gang leader Delford "Iraq" Wade.[28] Aiden obtains the electronic key to Iraq's server room and obtains a sample of the data from his servers.[29] He and Clara find that Iraq has secrets on almost every citizen of Chicago, effectively protecting his gang from the authorities.[30] When they come across encrypted data beyond Clara's ability, she directs Aiden to seek out Raymond "T-Bone" Kenney.[31][32] After Aiden completes some tasks for him, T-Bone agrees to help decrypt the data.[33] |
| Dermot Quinn |
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| Damien Brenks |
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| Maurice Vega |
Development[edit]0.
Ubisoft Montreal began development on Watch Dogs in 2009.[45] Ubisoft Montreal's creative director Jonathan Morin noted that Watch Dogs is designed to "go beyond the limits of today's open world games", referencing both its use of information as a plot point, and allowing players to control the entire city through its hacking mechanics. In order to achieve realism in the game's hacking mechanic, the game production team worked with Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab. The developers sent some of the game designs to Kaspersky, who then gave feedback. "Sometimes they say, 'Yeah, that's possible, but change that word,' or, 'That's not the way it works'", said senior producer Dominic Guay.[46] When developing the hacking mechanic, the team focused on reducing it to one button; "You want to have one button, so that people don't have to swallow 'how' on top of 'when' and 'why' to use those things", said Morin.[47] The team travelled to Chicago during development to record non-player character (NPC) dialogue, to achieve the distinct accent. To record the dialogue, two studios ran simultaneously in Chicago for about six weeks. "You will never see exactly the same profile on any NPC anywhere in the game", said lead story designer Kevin Shortt.[48]
When developing the game, Ubisoft prioritised development for the eighth generation consoles and PC.[49] For Watch Dogs, Ubisoft Montreal built a new game engine called Disrupt.[50] The engine was originally intended for a different game focused on driving. Ubisoft North American president Laurent Detoc explained that the team working on the project realized an open-world game was a better fit than their original vision.[51] Watch Dogs runs in 900p on PlayStation 4 and 792p on Xbox One; both versions of the game run at 30fps. Creative director Jonathan Morin explained that he's more concerned with the overall experience rather than the technical minutiae. Morin added that people tend to forget that achieving higher fidelity visuals is easier for corridor shooters than it is for open-world games.[52]
Watch Dogs was officially unveiled by Ubisoft during their press conference at E3 2012. They released the debut trailer on the same day.[53][54] The game missed its original projected 19 November 2013 release date, pushed back to early 2014 to allow for further polishing.[55] The release date was later confirmed as 27 May 2014 for all platforms except Wii U,[56] which was delayed to the fourth quarter of 2014.[57][58] On 14 May 2014, Ubisoft announced that Watch Dogs had "gone gold", and was officially sent off to manufacturing.[59] To encourage pre-order sales for the game, Ubisoft collaborated with several retail outlets to providespecial edition versions of the game. The "Dedsec Edition", for example, includes a unique case packaging for the game, a game map, a figurine of Aiden Pearce and unlock codes for additional content for use in the game.[60] On 15 February 2013, a leaked promotional image suggested that Watch Dogs would launch in December 2013 for "all home consoles",[61] which led to speculation about whether the game would launch on eighth generation consoles.[62][63][64] During the Sony press conference on 20 February 2013, Watch Dogs was confirmed to be coming to the PlayStation 4.[65] Shortly afterwards, Ubisoft confirmed that the game would also be released for the Wii U,[66] after some retailers had listed it for pre-order.[67] On 21 May 2013, Ubisoft revealed that an Xbox One version of Watch Dogs was also in development.[68] The Wii U version of the game was released on 21 November 2014.[69] Guay stated that the Wii U GamePad is considered a "natural" fit for Watch Dogs.[70] However, on 19 August 2014, Ubisoft revealed that Watch Dogs would be the company's last "mature" title for the Wii U.[71]
The exclusive GameStop pre-order poster for the game was created by illustrator Alex Ross, a native of Chicago, where the game is set. Ross emphasized that setting in the image by placing the Willis Tower and the elevated train tracks in the background.[72]
Soundtrack[edit]
The official soundtrack for the game was composed by Brian Reitzell and released by Invada Records.[73]
| [show]Watch Dogs Soundtrack | ||||||||||
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Other media[edit]
E-book[edit]
On 17 April 2014 Ubisoft announced that an ebook titled Watch_Dogs //n/ Dark Clouds authored by John Shirley will be released on the same day as the video game's release date. The novel is set after the events of the game and features a new hacker called Mick Wolfe. The book was released on 27 May 2014 as a standard version ebook and as an enhanced version with interactive videos and images. It was released in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.[74][75][76]
Film[edit]
Variety reports that Ubisoft is developing a Watch Dogs film, along with Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Splinter Cell and Raving Rabbids films.[77] Sony announced at their 2013 Gamescom press conference that Ubisoft will work with Columbia Pictures and New Regency to make the film, Sony will distribute the film in the US and 20th Century Fox will handle the international distribution rights.[78] On 24 April 2014, Deadline.comreported writing and producing partners Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese will write the film.[79]
Reception[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
| [hide]Reception | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Watch Dogs received generally positive reviews. Among its strengths, reviews cited its hacking elements, mission variety and online multiplayer mode. Review aggregatorsGameRankings and Metacritic respectively gave the PlayStation 4 version 81% and 80/100,[80][86] the Xbox One version 78% and 78/100,[81][87] the Xbox 360 version 78%,[82] the PlayStation 3 version 76%,[83] the Microsoft Windows version 76% and 77/100[84][88] and the Wii U version version 63% and 62/100.[85][89]
Reviewers praised the hacking elements of the game. Both Jeff Marchiafava of Game Informer and Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot particularly noted its improvement to the combat.[93][94] IGN's Dan Stapleton named it one of the best features of the game.[96] Joystiq's Ludwig Kietzmann called the hacking "remarkably refined, reliable and precise", and expressed his belief that the feature improves the game overall.[97] Chris Carter of Destructoid felt less impressed by the hacking feature, saying that it "isn't nearly as revolutionary as Ubisoft Montreal wants us to think".[91] The Wii U version of the game was criticized. Roger Hargreaves from Metro gave the Wii U version a 4/10, saying that "Watch Dogs's low frame rate and lack of new features makes it [The Wii U port] almost entirely pointless."[99]
Sales[edit]
Watch Dogs broke the record for biggest first day sales in Ubisoft history.[103] Watch Dogs had the biggest launch of a new IP in the United Kingdom ever, beating the previous record holder by more than half its sales.[c] Overall, Watch Dogs is the 17th biggest game launch in the United Kingdom of all time.[104] A week after its release, Ubisoft announced that the game had sold 4 million units worldwide.[106] Watch Dogs sold more than 94,000 copies during its debut week in Japan.[107] As of 10 July 2014, the game has shipped 8 million copies.[108] On 30 October 2014, Ubisoft revealed that Watch Dogs has shipped 9 million copies, and has helped Ubisoft sales rise more than 65 percent.[109] However, the Wii U version of the game performed poorly in its launch week, debuting at No. 14 on the Wii U chart in UK.[110] Watch Dogs has sold 10 million copies as of February 12, 2015. [111]
Awards[edit]
Prior to release, Watch Dogs received more than 82 awards and nominations for its display at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 (E3 2012),[112] and won two Game Critics Awards for Special Commendation for Graphics and Special Commendation for Innovation.[113] Later that year, the game was nominated for One to Watch at the30th Golden Joystick Awards.[114][115] In 2013, Watch Dogs received over 90 awards and nominations for its display at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013 (E3 2013),[116] and won one Game Critics Award for Best Action/Adventure Game while receiving four additional nominations for Best of Show, Best Original Game, Best Console Game, and Best Online Multiplayer.[117][118] Later that year, the game was nominated for Most Wanted at the 31st Golden Joystick Awards,[119][120] and was also nominated for Most Anticipated Game at the VGX 2013.[121]
| [show]List of awards and nominations for Watch Dogs |
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Controversy[edit]
Controversy was caused a month before release when it was uncovered that at a PR event in the UK, game journalists were given free Nexus 7 tablets as gifts, a move that has been seen by many as amounting to a bribe in an effort to improve the game's review scores after mounting negative press over delays and alleged lies over graphics/video changes (such as missing or modified environment effects) from the demos at E3 in 2012 to release in 2014.[124]
On 7 June 2014, a modder called "kadzait24" discovered that the original effects and graphical improvements shown at E3 were hidden within the game's files, and that re-enabling them caused very little loss in performance.[125][126] A mod patch was later released, enabling players to access these settings, bringing the game's graphics quality up to what was originally advertised.[127] A Ubisoft PR representative responded to the event on Twitter, stating "I recall replying saying that the game was not downgraded, I still stick to that yes".[128]
Sequel[edit]
Tony Key, senior vice president of Ubisoft, said at E3 2014 that Watch Dogs is now officially a franchise. Though he wouldn't confirm if a sequel is in development, he said the commercial success of the first game shows that the brand has staying power. "Any team that's going to make a sequel is going to have to come up with something innovative and entertaining," Key said. "Otherwise, the brand doesn't grow. That'll be the challenge for the guys, if and when they start talking about making another game."[129]
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Dogs
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