Ubisoft has revealed new details surrounding its upcoming open-world game, Watch Dogs, in the first UK preview.
The Watch Dogs preview shows that the hacking-themed open-world adventure will incorporate features such as a Reputation system, character-driven AI, creative combat system and control centres like the Outposts in Far Cry 3 or the Assassin’s Creed series.
Based in a not so distant future version of Chicago, players will have to hack Control Centres in order to access citizen profiles or the Central Operating System (CtOS) of Chicago in that district. Patrolled by sentries, players will have to choose how protagonist Aiden Pearce tackles the posts, either by force, hacking, stealth or a unique combination of the three.
“When you’re doing an open world game, I think one of the best practices is to connect your fantasy, the fantasy of the game to the world itself,” said Jonathan Morin, Ubisoft’s Creative Director. “For example, us, we’re talking about monitoring the entire city of Chicago, it makes no sense whatsoever if you don’t have to do something in the world to eventually get access to the system.”
“It’s how it works in real life, and it also connects the player with the world a bit more with its progression. That’s pretty much where it stops in similarity between Watch Dogs and Far Cry 3 with those things.”
Watch Dogs will also utilise a Reputation system that is based on the media’s perception of Pearce and the way the player completes the missions and side quests, including the amount of civilian casualties.
“Every time you intervene and how you play, your Reputation is going to sway in different ways, and that’s now going to have an impact on the entire city and [how] they will perceive you,” said Morin. “It’s not a judgement call on how you play. There’s a lot more depth in that to our system.”
As for the storyline and the AI, Morin says Watch Dogs is partly being created as “homage to humanity”.
“You’re going to see mundane, funny situations, see very dark secrets, we really want to make sure we pay homage to humanity, and we’re not critiquing them 100 per cent of the time. That would be bad.”
Watch Dogs will be available on Xbox 360, PS3, PC and Wii U on November 22 in the UK. The game will also launch on the PS4 and potentially the Xbox Infinity or Xbox 720 when they come to market too.
Watch Dogs is definitely one to watch this year and certainly features in our roundup of the best games of 2013.
Via: Digital Spy
