Watchdogs

Watchdogs

Apearance(s):	Manhunt 2
Name:	The Watchdogs
Type:	Hitmen
Front(s):	Project Laboratories, Cortex Storage, Bees' Honey Pot (Brothel)
Weapons:	Crowbar, Chained Baseball Bat, Shovel, Sickle, Stun Prod, Nightstick, Revolver, Sub-Machine Gun Sawn-Off Shotgun, Light Handgun, Assault Rifle
Vehicle(s):	Kuruma
Allies:	Dr. Pickman, Judy Sender, The Pervs
Enemies:	Daniel Lamb, Leo Kasper
Voiced by:	Brennan Brown Michael Cullen Richard Easton John Heffernan Ted Koch Matt Walton

The Watchdogs are a group of hunters appearing in Manhunt 2.

Overview[]

The Watchdogs are a faction of professional hitmen who are closely affiliated with The Project. Leo describes them as "The Project's clean-up crew", implying that they function as the organization's enforcement arm. In Manhunt 2 they are dispatched by The Project with orders to apprehend Daniel Lamb and Leo Kasper, preferably alive. The first time they eventually succeeded, and Danny ended up in Dixmor Asylum. However, after Danny escaped 6 years later, the Watchdogs were all but wiped out as the manhunt escalated.

As the name suggests, Watchdogs hunt in packs of many operatives; Watchdogs are rarely encountered alone and if they are, it means back-up is nearby or en-route. As trained assassins, they all wear identical black suits and ties with black leather gloves and a variety of face coverings to obscure their identity and to avoid leaving any forensic evidence behind. They travel in unmarked black Kuruma sedans. They seem to favour Light Handguns, Revolvers and Shotguns in open combat, but in lower intensity situations opt for "less lethal" melee weapons including the Crowbar, Nightstick and Stun Prod to subdue their opponent.

The Watchdogs' dialogue indicates that some members are quite familiar with the history and past violence of their main target, Daniel Lamb, as one of their employer's scientists who fell from grace, as well as suggesting working knowledge of The Project's operations and management, for example criticizing Dr. Pickman for creating a "mess" by letting Lamb escape. However some of the junior members do not seem to have been fully briefed, and can be heard saying things like "You never told me we were hunting a psycho! Not cool guys, not cool!" By contrast with Bloodhounds and Project Militia, the Watchdogs are entrusted with hunting Lamb in locations deemed sensitive by The Project, and where discretion is required, including their high security document storage facilities; Lamb's former residence; the Safe House and the Bees' Honey Pot Brothel; and they make their final stand on the defensive from within The Project's headquarters and laboratories.

Appearances[]

Watchdogs appear in the levels: Ghosts, Red Light, Safe House, Bees Honey Pot, Most Wanted, Ritual Cleansing, Origins, and Personality Clash.

Their first chronological appearance is in the flashback mission, "Ritual Cleansing", where they arrive at the Project Warehouses after Leo burns his/Danny's records and sets off the fire alarm.

But their first in-game appearance is in the mission Ghosts, after Danny and Leo escape and they are ordered to catch them. Danny kills the patrolling hunters and makes his way to his old house and shortly after more watchdogs arrive who are also killed.

They later appear at the end of Red Light, where they set a trap for Danny in the "adult specialty shop", but they lose sight of him and makes it into his old safehouse.

In the mission Safehouse the Watchdogs search the entire complex after losing him, to prevent him from leaving, which ends in a shoot-out at the old Porn Theatre where the remaining Watchdogs are all killed and Danny escapes.

After they receive a call from the hotel manager, they get over to the Bees Honey Pot to stop Danny from finding Judy, but fail. At some point the Bloodhounds arrive and take over the hunt.

The Watchdogs are then ordered to protect Dr. Pickman, when Danny arrives in Origins. Most are assumed to be wiped out by Danny's murderous rampage through the facility.

Their last appearance is in Personality Clash. They are ghosts created by Leo, in Danny's mind.

Members[]

Trivia[]

There are six Watchdog "personalities" with distinct character models and matching voices. The first type has a Mid-Atlantic accent and sounds older and more superior than the others, suggesting he may a kind of squad leader. Another seems somewhat unhinged in that his dialogue suggests that he believes he is an actual dog, a pun on their faction name.
Watchdogs often refer to each other simply by their last names, e.g. Grimmins and Vencheck. These may be their real names but are most likely to be aliases.
Sometimes watchdogs may greet each other by saying, "Agent 74!". This is most likely a reference to Agent 47 from the Hitman series given the similar attire and occupation. The bald Watchdog closely resembles Agent 47 from the Hitman series and may be a direct reference.
A scientist in The Project laboratories calls a Watchdog over, asking "can I have a word, Sergeant?". This implies that the Watchdogs may have ranks similar to the police or military.
The Watchdog "ghosts" seen in Personality Clash are in fact figments of Danny's subconscious created by Leo. Unlike regular Watchdogs, there is only one character model that appears to be based on the fedora-wearing agent, but lacks the hat, bandana and dark glasses. Instead he has a surreal stretched mouth, revealing a menacing grin of sharpened metal teeth, and sinister black goggles replacing the eyes. This may be due to Danny's mind "filling in the blanks" that are usually hidden by the glasses and bandana. Leo probably chose them to hunt Danny in his own mind because Watchdogs are the hunters that Danny fears the most of all.
Unlike regular Watchdogs, the ghosts never speak or make any kind of vocalisation. They may not be capable of it due to their weird mouths, and it makes evading them more difficult since the player can't hear where they are or what they are going to do next. They also use weapons such as the Shovel, Sub-Machine Gun and Assault Rifle which are never used by the regular Watchdogs.
The reason for Watchdogs' choice of "less-lethal" weaponry, i.e. no blades or firearms in the earlier levels, despite them being assassins, is that their mission objective was to preferably capture Danny alive. In addition, it could have been a tactical choice, to make less noise and draw less attention, or they may have underestimated (wrongly) that Danny would find it more difficult to disarm them and use their own weapons against them in a lethal capacity.
One of the Watchdogs has an appearance that's a reference to The Phantom of the Opera, as he is heavily scarred on the right side of his face and wears a prosthetic mask to cover it up.
The concept of the Watchdogs is likely based upon conspiracy theories involving the Men in Black; secretive US government agents wearing black suits (as well as sunglasses, masks and hats to hide their facial features) who interrogate, assassinate and extort UFO witnesses.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Manhunt 2 - All Watchdogs Dialogue