Posted on Monday, August 13th, 2012 at 4:43 PM by Guest
Movie-goers and gamers often have differing opinions on what actually makes for an entertaining version of the media they enjoy. When companies attempt to combine the two, we often get an unholy mess regardless of which franchise existed first.
With the movie version of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney being reviewed by movie sites all over the net, I felt it was a good time to take a long hard look at movies based on a successful movie franchise, and when the opposite happens, when a movie gets a “tie-in” computer game to appease fans.
The worst Game to movie translations:
- Lara Croft – Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
While strictly not a direct interpretation of a game, it represented the game franchise, and while the first movie was passable as a weak introduction to the series, this movie did little to represent Lara as a credible character, and it lacked the adventure, grace and wit of the archaeologists’ gaming series up to that point.
- Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Again, not strictly a version of a single game, this used the Final Fantasy name to create another universe (as the game has done before), but removed anything that made the games special. There was no magic, no summons, no epic battles, and worst of all, no soul.
- Bloodrayne
A female vampire in leather fighting with blades should automatically be a hit movie. Basing it on a relatively successful game series should only solidify that fact, however in the wrong production hands, this turned into a horrible, and virtually unwatchable mess.
- Street Fighter: The Movie
I shouldn’t really need to comment on this. It was just cheesy and painful to watch, and made me fear for the future of gaming movies when this was released. Fighting games do not make good movie plots, as they rarely have one to begin with. It’s only highlight? Kylie as Cammy and kicking ass!
- Super Mario Bros.
The cartoon world of the games that still attracts fans of all ages was not presented in the movie. Instead, a dark, realistic world of New York and a parallel universe which has a different evolutionary strand than our own. If you are a fan of the games, please do not watch!
There are more that could be mentioned here if I had the time, such as Hitman, Mortal Kombat and Dead or Alive (DOA).
The worst Movie to Game translations:
- Thor: God of Thunder
Thor is potentially the least believable of all of the Avengers characters, and the movie chose to go down the intergalactic alien route, rather than the traditional Norse God mythology, which left the game without a strong story to create. Despite this, the game tried its hardest and became the least amusing hack-and-slash game imaginable. The Nintendo DS version was marginally less painful to watch or play than the home console versions, but still made me want to burn the game card with a blowtorch.
- Catwoman
While arguably one of the worst movie experiences anyway, the game of the movie is painful to play. Enemies can only be disposed of in special zones on the screen, the combat on foot or with the whip was unresponsive, and the voice acting was worse than the acting in the movie.
- The Green Lantern
Another mediocre movie makes it onto the gaming consoles, and tries hard to make a lasting impression. It does, but I fear it isn’t the right one (unless it was aiming for repetitive and dull).
- Ironman 2
A weaker sequel movie = a weaker sequel tie-in game. Although it looked pretty, and handled reasonably well, it was like they weren’t even trying to create something fun!
- Saw
Finally, a non-superhero themed game in the list! The movies are a bit of a guilty pleasure, and cleverly linear in design. The game was also linear, but less cleverly so, although the visual style of the films was faithfully retained.
Again, this is only a brief list, but most of the truly terrible releases tend to be superhero themed games, as that is where the tie-in market is usually targeted, and also most James Bond games (except the original Goldeneye on the N64).
So, how hard is it to move between the two forms of media? There have been some successful transitions, and while not always faithful (or loved by fans of the series), movies such as Resident Evil, Prince of Persia and Silent Hill proved that box office success could be garnered from choosing the right franchise and the right plot to go with. Failing that, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children proved that making the movie into a beautiful (if shallow) sequel will be more than enough to win over the fans. Fan-made movies are often more enjoyable for other gamers, such as the fan-made Tomb Raider: Ascension or the Metal Gear Solid themed short film, “Philanthropy”.
The hardest transition appears to be from creating games of the blockbuster movies. There are the odd few games which are enjoyable, faithful and worth the time and money invested (Batman Begins, Alien Trilogy and the Die Hard Trilogy), but often they either tend to be short and unimaginative, or ugly and virtually unplayable, and this is often down to the time scale involved. When a movie is announced and a game contract is won to produce the tie-in, a timer starts that is rapidly counting down to the movie’s release date. Movies seldom get delayed, so release dates are often very rigidly set, but with game creation there are more steps, more things to consider, and more potential pit-falls, so people often end up just trying to make the easiest game they can within the time constraints.
Unfortunately, this means that it is almost always the gamers that suffer.
i agree with most of it especially the fact it overall effects gamers more thenmovie lovers. i disagree with a few things like some of the films i personally liked the super mario film and i love the mortal kombat films. i think games and films should be split it never works out well except for golden eye (n64) which i think still is the only best film to game adaption ever. great read though and i like how you mentioned some of the most awful examples their are.
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