Watch Dogs Bad Blood – T-Bone Steps Up
The first thing you’ll notice is the swagger. T-Bone is a very different kind of hero than Aiden Pearce – and it’s easy enough to argue that he’s no hero at all. The star of the Watch Dogs Bad Blood DLC begins his campaign seated at a terminal, inside a secure office where he clearly doesn’t belong, and he’s merrily hacking away when two armed guards intervene. That’s when T-Bone’s trademark bravado kicks in. Using a combo of wits, machismo, and a hot cup of coffee (really), T-Bone disentangles from a sticky situation with humor and attitude. He’s lewd, he’s rude, he’s crude – and he’s a total badass.
And therein lies one of the biggest differences between the main game and Bad Blood, out on now on PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and PC for Season Pass holders, and on September 30 for all other players (coming soon to Xbox 360). One of the goals for the DLC was to lighten the mood, and within the first few minutes of Bad Blood it’s easy to see that the the team at Ubisoft Paris has succeeded. “T-Bone has a rock-n-roll aspect,” says Game Designer Aurelien Chiron. “He makes more jokes, he’s wittier than Aiden.” While this is apparent, perhaps, to everyone who’s played the main game, it also important to the overall tone of the entire DLC campaign. “T-Bone’s not really fighting for vengeance like Aiden,” Chiron says. “He’s fighting for his survival. He just wants to deal with his past and move on. So he’s quite careful – but if you mess with him he can go crazy.”
Me and My RC
It’s not just an abundance of attitude that makes Bad Blood stand out. The gameplay sees some significant changes too. Sure, the core is the same: Chicago is still Chicago (with some new places to explore, naturally), the vehicles and weapons are largely unchanged, and the hacking remains as vital to the experience as before. But – if this makes sense – Bad Blood feels simultaneously both more stealthy and more “actiony.” On the action side, T-Bone definitely brings it with his new takedowns. Carrying an oversized monkey wrench and a taser, T-Bone dispatches those who stand in his way with a new kind of effectiveness. And when it comes to the hacking, he has a new toy at his disposal: Eugene.
“T-Bone really fits the fantasy of Watch Dogs because he’s an engineer, he’s a crafter, and he’s a very experienced hacker,” Chiron says. “That’s why every aspect of gameplay is possible.” In the main game, when players first visit T-Bone’s junkyard, his crafter roots are clear. His hideout is loaded up with giant scorpions and spiders that look like amusement park rides but are deadly to anyone who gets to close. In Bad Blood, some of the campaign revolves around infiltrating Blume, which is heavily guarded by high-tech security measures. “We wanted to merge these two elements by allowing T-Bone to have a toy – something he can craft that is very sophisticated but looks like T-Bone’s handmade stuff.”
A weaponizable remote-control car, Eugene is perfect for dealing with tight situations. These Blume locations not only have patrolling guards, but all kinds of lasers blocking the paths. That’s where Eugene comes in. The car can sneak around guards and find paths (including through the vents) that T-Bone can’t otherwise access. Using Eugene is as fun as you’d think: it’s easy to control, and it’s a total hoot scooting around the guards and disabling security measures.
Eugene is also upgradeable. “You have three upgrades for Eugene,” Chiron explains. “You can stun people, attract people, and make it self-destruct. I personally like the self-destruct option. You do all the stuff you have to do, and then in the end you go kamikaze. Or, if things turn wrong, you just self-destruct and kill maybe four guards and then continue your adventures. Because the good thing is that T-Bone can craft as many Eugenes as you want.”
Taking It to the Streets
Eugene isn’t the only thing that’s upgradeable in Bad Blood. T-Bone himself has a full progression path – although the DLC starts off with some of the basics already unlocked. “We wanted to give the player some of the starter skills,” Chiron says. “Since the player already knows a bit about the game, he doesn’t start with nothing. And then he can unlock all the remaining skills by playing the DLC campaign and all the DLC side activities.”
Bad Blood also has 10 new perks. One is unlocked at the outset: Eugene. The additional nine perks are unlocked by doing Street Sweep missions. These are gang takedowns that are generated by an in-game “manager,” so every player will have a unique experience. There are three gangs in total, each representing different aspects of the gameplay: crafting, hacking and weapons. The first unlockable perk in each branch is designed to help speed up progression in each of these three paths – that way, players can experience the whole progression in the shorter timeframe of the DLC. The additional perks in each path will help T-Bone become more powerful – for example, granting a specific unique weapon or new hacking software. Every Street Sweep mission can also be played co-op, doubling the fun. In our own playtest, we had a grand time with another player, trying out some ad hoc techniques like flanking, serving as a decoy and taking turns profiling the gang members from a safe point while the other player rushed in.
“There are a lot of possibilities in the co-op mode,” Chiron says. “You can use all the hacking tools while the other guy is just using brute force. Or you can both use brute force, or both use hacking or crafting. That’s what we really like. We don’t want to force people to use a specific method to deal with a mission. There are always lots of choices open to you.”
Street Sweep missions aren’t just endless opportunities to play solo and co-op. They’re also competitive. The game will generate Challenges that are shared by every player in the world and will stay live for a set period of time. At the end of the cycle, the player with the highest score will get the coolest reward (along with bragging rights). The best part? You can replay these Challenges as much as you like while they’re live, trying to top your score or maintain your leaderboard position if you’re unseated by a friend.
Big Hack Attack
While the Street Sweep missions will give players a reason to keep coming back long after they finish Bad Blood’s story, the DLC’s campaign has plenty to keep Watch Dogs fans thoroughly entertained. My favorite part of the first couple of hours: the weaponized cameras outside of Tobias’ shop. (Tobias, by the way, is the co-star of the campaign, and the reason for T-Bone’s current predicament. Without giving any spoilers, let’s just say they make quite the pair.) Jumping from camera to camera and shooting down several waves of goons using camera-mounted machine guns and grenade launchers easily counts as one of my top-five funnest moments in all of Watch Dogs.
My other favorite gameplay enhancement I noticed during the first couple of hours: the hacking puzzle has left the confines of cyberspace and now exits in the real world, as an overlay around, say, a series of lasers blocking T-Bone’s path. It’s both dizzying and more engaging, adding a nifty twist to something familiar. “This was to reinforce the hacking fantasy,” Chiron says. “The hacking puzzles were cool, we knew they were working, but we wanted to really show the player that what they’re doing is connected to the world. You turn one of the nodes, and then it unlocks stuff before your eyes. You understand what’s connected to what and you really feel that you can manipulate the network.”
It’s those kinds of enhancements – along with new missions, new co-op, and new ways to compete – that makes Bad Blood more than just a starring role for our favorite junkyard lunatic. Sure, T-Bone himself brings the attitude, but Ubisoft Paris has brought the gameplay as well to this upcoming Watch Dogs DLC. “It was great working on this DLC,” Chiron smiles. “We are all proud in Paris – along with all the studios that participated in it. We are eager to see what the players think of it.”
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