Watch Dogs: Bad Blood Hands-on Preview – You've Been T-Bwned!
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Monday, September 15, 2014
Did you like Watch Dogs? Then you're probably going to love Bad Blood; Watch Dogs' first proper chunk of story-driven DLC. Didn't like Watch Dogs? Then this probably isn't going to appeal to you either. Move along. Still here? Good. Watch Dogs: Bad Blood sees you assuming the role of charismatic dreadlocked hacker extraordinaire, Raymond 'T-Bone' Kenney and sees the narrative picking up directly after the conclusion Aiden Pearce's hacking escapades in the main game. It's also got a bunch of new stuff.
Consisting of ten new missions, our hands-on look at Bad Blood sees us playing through the first four, before being let off the leash with the additional co-op mode. Playing as T-Bone, you're presented with a bunch of new hacks, perks, weapons and new locations to visit in Chicago, as you go about infiltrating the shady Blume company, in order to hack into their systems and plant a false trail. The action picks up as Monsieur Bone seeks a weakness in Blume's infrastructure and gets caught red-handed. Cue a fraught escape followed by a phone call from a frightened Tobias Frewer, who you'll know from Aiden's story.
Frewer finds himself in very real and immediate danger as a gang of Fixers are looking to rub him out. As T-Bone's former ctOS colleague, Frewer turns to him for help and the story builds momentum from there, as both find themselves in the firing line. It's worth noting that if you haven't finished Watch Dogs, there'll likely be a great deal that you won't understand about Bad Blood's narrative. It's strongly recommended that you complete the game's central narrative before playing the DLC. Suffice it to say, T-Bone and Frewer blew the whistle on Blume's dealings back in 2003, and now their history together is catching up with them.
With a new criminal contingent also on the rise in the city known as the Chicago South Club, there are new Gang Hideouts to tackle, giving you the chance to enjoy more of what were arguably Watch Dogs' most enjoyable side-missions. As for the story, it treads a similar path to Aiden's tale, as T-Bone takes no prisoners and handles enemies with the same kind of no nonsense vigilante justice as his masked, trenchcoat-clad counterpart. Except where Pearce had a baton to beat down bad guys, T-Bone uses a dirty great wrench and a taser.
He also has a handy remote-controlled car known as Eugene, which has its own skill tree to upgrade, adding functions like the ability to stun and neutralise guards. Eugene handles smoothly and provides a nice break from Watch Dogs' usual hacking action, as you navigate the car through the BlumeForge's ventilation systems, past laser traps, over ramps and around patrolling guards. T-Bone also finds himself having to carefully make his way through lasers that when tripped result in instant failure, which proves a little frustrating during our hands-on.
Beyond the addition of an RC car, Bad Blood is essentially more of the same, which is of course no bad thing; and it seems that there's a good chunk of content stuffed into the DLC. Other additions include hacking puzzles that are now integrated into the game world, rather than taking you to a separate screen, and a new secret HQ inside an old silo for T-Bone, where you'll not only find Eugene, but also any natty new outfits you've acquired.
Co-op stands out as a major new gameplay mode for Bad Blood, and comes in the form of several 'Street Sweep Contract' side-missions. You and your partner work together to eradicate Chicago's gangs, which you'll quickly discover requires a great deal of co-ordination and teamwork. Steam in and you may end up accidentally executing a valuable target that should have been knocked out, rather than served a lead salad in the brainpan. Some objectives require simple elimination of enemies, while others demand downloading files. Communication is key, so playing with friends is certainly recommended.
Successfully completing certain co-op missions will earn you a spot on the leaderboards, as well as 'Street Tags' that result in unique perks. Some of these co-op contracts are also procedurally-generated by Bad Blood's mission manager, which Ubisoft tells us will enable you to replay each one numerous times against different enemies in different positions. We played a number of missions through a few times and failed to see these differences come into play, but then perhaps we were doing something wrong. We're not really sure what that might be, but the idea is an interesting one if it works.
And in case you're wondering who T-Bone's co-op buddy is, it's T-Bone. Kind of. Both players play as T-Bone in their own world, but see their partner as some random dude in a plaid lumberjack shirt and cap. It might be nice to have some different characters to choose from, although we're not sure there are any plans to include such an option.
Watch Dogs: Bad Blood seems like a generous package that ought to justify the asking price for the game's Season Pass. Boasting ten story missions with all of the fripperies and accoutrements you'd expect to accompany it all, as well as a host of (potentially) infinitely replayable co-op contracts, it certainly sounds like a fair deal. Add to that the ability to play Watch Dogs' Hacking and Tailing modes alongside a new narrative yarn in new locations, and Bad Blood might well be essential for anyone who enjoyed hacking their way through Watch Dogs.
Watch Dogs: Bad Blood will be launching on September 23rd for Season Pass holders and on September 30th for everyone else.