Driver: [on phone] There’s a hundred-thousand streets in this city. You don’t need to know the route. You give me a time and a place, I give you a five minute window. Anything happens in that five minutes and I’m yours. No matter what. Anything happens a minute either side of that and you’re on your own. Do you understand?
[pause]
Driver: Good. And you won’t be able to reach me on this phone again.
From Ryan Gosling starrer Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘Drive’.
[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG8dp6UsluE]
With the best moments from E3 still stuck in my head, there is not a single doubt that the game that I’m most keen on unboxing post that ceremony is Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs. The game looked neat on the level designs, creative in the gameplay section, and definitely looks like having a strong plot to substantiate all that hacking. Our Editor Sahil Arora did a piece on Watch Dogs gameplay impressions, which is highly recommended for all Watch Dogs fans. Every moment inside the gameplay reveal was like an ‘Awh!’ moment for me, and I was left perpetually jaw dropped. Aiden Pearce (the protagonist in Watch Dogs) looks like the dude who is going to prove the Ubisoft magic this year, sorry Kenway.
However, my affection for the game comes from roots that you couldn’t have second guesses. I love ‘sleek and minimalist’ thriller flicks, and one iconic example would be Drive. The film was a pure joy to whoever loves story plotting and hardcore characterization. Ryan Gosling as the Driver outshone everyone before and after him in the same genre. Minimal dialogues, maximum action. And going by the gameplay trailer of Watch Dogs, I think Aiden Pearce works the same way. Pearce’s swag in Watch Dogs precedes him, and we get to see how smoothly he enters and exits the crowded streets, executing one plan after another. He has no friends within the city, similar to the Driver. He mostly keeps off the distraction, and the major part of such a similarity would be, the car chase!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iADaqvcJr94]
Remember the opening scene of Drive when Ryan Gosling takes this job of helping these two bank robbers escape the eyes of the cops by simply driving his car around the city? Chromatics’ Tick of the Clock playing in the silent background, as he waits in the dark shadows of the city, while the cop cars pass by unaware of their slightest presence. He slowly picks up the vehicle speed through narrow lanes until he is back on the safe side again. Just as he is about to cross the bridge, something happens. A chopper suddenly spots his car and flashes the high beam right on top of it. And then he stomps down the accelerator, fleeing into oblivion, dragging out the two nut jobs out of his car, parking it in a random parking lot, changing the jacket side, putting a cap, and walking past the cops on duty like nothing ever happened. Its really cool, check it out in the video above.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPYgXvgS6Ww]
If you remember your E3 well, you will definitely know what I’m meaning by this recap. The gameplay trailer of Watch Dogs may not have voluntarily copied the sequences, but it is co-incidentally and gladly in the same order, sans some nut jobs. Aiden drives this car around Chicago, pretending to be a stranger, almost escaping cop attention by keeping to the shadows, until he too gets spotted by a patrolling chopper. He runs down an under bridge, parks the car in some random parking lot, hacks open a door and enters a public place wherein he too can blend in with the crowd.
If the game developers intentionally wanted all Drive lovers to jump to this conclusion, then here I am claiming that yes, they’ve won my heart. I am practically throwing money at my screen but nothing ain’t happening! Drive has one of the perfect blends of action and storyline in the history of thriller movies, and if Watch Dogs can even repeat a 50% of it, I’d call this game as the best thing that happened post The Last Of Us! Also my huge love for PS2 title – Driver 3 is keeping my hopes high for Watch Dogs. The hacking plot seems interesting, but what is even more interesting is the kind of person Aiden is shown to be. Clearly in my opinion, Aiden can be a gamer’s Ryan Gosling, and Watch Dogs can be a gamer’s Drive.
Worth of mentioning, even if this does happen, Watch Dogs will not be the first ones to enact the Drive madness. Watch how the fans of GTA made an entire replica of the iconic opening credits scene:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbNvhY4f3M8]
