When you think of Watch_Dogs, you think of Aiden Pierce hacking Chicago and delivering hard justice. You can see the streets bending to your will at the press of the phone as you fight human trafficking and other illicit crimes. Now out of nowhere, a giant robot spider runs head long across the street. Because obviously giant robot spiders were what everyone was expecting from Watch_Dogs.
No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. No, this is not some April Fool’s Day prank that took nearly a month to come out of hiding. This spider-tank is part of a series of mini-games called “Digital Trips.” You can activate them at seemingly any time by dialing them (after which, Aiden will fall unconscious until the mini-game is over). Not only will they offer very different experiences from the main game, but they’ll also be miniature game experiences all on their own. The spider-tank will be fully upgradable in the final game. There’s no word about what other mini-games we’ll get to play but if the spider-tank is any indication, nothing is off the table.
There’s something Ubisoft seems to have not considered though. By putting this out on the web, when someone looks up Watch_Dogs, this may be what they see first. They’ll think it’s some cyber punk third person shooter action game. Even the earlier preview Eurogamer advertises in the video looks nothing like the announcement trailer in terms of focus. While Ubisoft swears guns and other standard gameplay elements were built after all the hacking aspects of the game, it doesn’t help that they are making the public image less consistent. As much as a game should be judged on its own merits, marketing can make or break some games. This reveal may also make some fans less interested in action aspects of the game more wary.
My Spider-Tank senses are tingling…
It’s not all bad though. Personally speaking the mode and idea behind the “Trips” looks quite intriguing, and additional mini-games with this kind of detailed work could give Watch_Dogs some refreshing breaks between core missions. What’s more, this is a mini-game, so you don’t have to ever bother with it. Playing as a spider-tank will not be as important in Watch_Dogs as, say, playing Mass Effect 3‘s multiplayer was in Mass Effect 3. For all the potential issues it might cause Watch_Dogs, it just as easily could absolutely not matter at all and never appear again in any Watch_Dogs game.
What do you think? Is Ubisoft pandering to the lowest denominator or are they just trying to add a little more fun into the game? Does this make you more or less interested in getting Watch_Dogs? How many Spider-Man jokes do you think this mini-game is going to get before the day is out? Speak your mind in the comments below!
