Review: Watch Dogs’ “Bad Blood” DLC

Let’s be frank: Watch Dogs failed to live up to its hype. It was always going to be a monumental task after the game’s E3 2012 reveal, but the simple fact of the matter is that Watch Dogs didn’t deliver.

It’s hard to pin down exactly why Watch Dogs failed to light a fire under gamers because everything seemed equally as bad; the pacing, the narrative and a dull-as-dishwater protagonist didn’t help. Thankfully, “Bad Blood” — the game’s first DLC — rectifies each of those problems.

Watch Dogs is like a Flaming Homer, but before being set alight. It mixes all  “the little bits that were left in every liquor bottle”, and, like Moe says of Homer’s creation,  is “not without its charm.” It’s not until Homer suggests that Moe “try lighting it on fire” that the drink becomes a hit. It’s the same thing with “Bad Blood,” except the fire is new the playable character T-Bone. And boy, does he vastly improve the experience.

Putting the improvements squarely on T-Bone’s shoulders would be a disservice to Ubisoft. The 10 missions featured in “Bad Blood” are tightly scripted and action-packed. The pacing is spot on for the entirety of its five hours and not once do the missions veer into the pointless busy work that permeated Watch Dogs campaign.

Ubisoft has also become better at using Watch Dogs core gameplay in more interesting and creative ways. Jumping between cameras, hacking terminals, arming grenades etc are all still present, but there’s a new fluidity to it all that was missing from Watch Dogs proper. Everything happens more quickly without annoying bottle-necks or restrictions.

More importantly, the DLC stays on point with a simpler narrative that’s driven by survival rather the revenge. T-Bone isn’t a broken shell of a man trying to avenge anything. He has blood on his hands and it’s come back to haunt him. He’s torn between fleeing Chicago and spending his days on a tropical beach somewhere or staying to do the right thing.

He begrudgingly stays and the plot that unfolds is one of “Bad Blood’s” greatest assets. It’s a serious story — albeit still set in the silly hacker world of Watch _Dogs — but Ubisoft don’t let it wallow in misery and shadow. Some much needed levity lifts “Bad Blood” head and shoulders above the main game. The interplay between T-Bone and Frewer — essentially T-Bone’s sidekick  — generates plenty of laughs and keeps things ticking along. Frewer occasionally joins T-Bone on missions adding an extra layer of gameplay and tension to proceedings as you’ll need to protect him.

Additions to the formula include Eugene (T-Bone’s RC Car) and cooperative missions known as Street Sweeps. Eugene is a fun distraction and a great long-range stealth weapon. Unfortunately, the DLC does a poor job of reminding the player about Eugene after he’s been introduced and I kept forgetting he was even an option. It doesn’t make him any less fun to use, but it’d be nice if there were some more missions that revolved around using the RC Car.

Street Sweep missions are essentially stronghold clear outs. Go in, kill all the baddies, tag the ones you need to tag and you’re done. These can be played in single player and co-op and are great fun either way. Co-op is a real strength in “Bad Blood.” Pulling off a synchronised hack and take-down is a huge thrill, as long as you find a partner that’s willing to work together. My advice, stick with your friends. Randoms are just too unreliable.

Aside from the 10 new missions, Eugene and Street Sweeps, “Bad Blood” has a range of side content to experience. Investigations and collectibles return as do Digital Trips and mini games. T-Bone also has his very own upgrade and skill tree.

There’s plenty to do in “Bad Blood” and thanks to T-Bone being a much more enjoyable character it kept me hooked. “Bad Blood” is good enough that it makes me want to play Watch Dogs again, despite being disappointed the first time around. It fulfills much more of the potential of the IP and hopefully the inevitable Watch Dogs 2 will follow down the same path.

Watch Dogs’ Bad Blood DLC

The good T-Bone Excellent pacing Mission Structure

The bad Makes the proper game seem worse by comparison Eugene is underutilised

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