Screen versions have always been a painful topic for gamers. There is even an opinion that it is simply impossible to make a good movie based on a video game. The closest to success came the anime series on Netflix Castlevania – He got 71 points out of 100 on Metacritic. Other paintings rarely managed to overcome even the mark of 50 points. We decided to inspire the online cinema to new exploits and offer ten games, which is high time to get on the screens.
Mass Effect – Prequel
One can argue endlessly about the “traffic light” ending of Mass Effect 3, but one cannot but admit that it put a bullet in the history of the series. Only a very talented team could organically and efficiently continue this story. Fortunately, film adaptations do not have to do this – the ME series may well become a prequel!
Only a few decades passed from the beginning of the active space expansion of people to the finale of the original trilogy – but they were very eventful. During this period, the War of First Contact, the painful development of biotic technologies and the long process of recognizing equality with older civilizations took shape. Modern television is sorely lacking a good flagship website, and the Mass Effect series would fit perfectly into that niche.
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Far Cry – universal adaptation
The Far Cry series has already had several adaptations: a film from Uwe Boll, a series and a short film. However, the first belongs to the “Krytek” era and has little in common with the current series, and the second two are prequels to the third and fifth parts of the game, respectively. The latter did not disclose the source, but only served as a promotional material for him – these are not at all the adaptations that the series deserved.
From the third part in Far Cry, several features began to be traced that would perfectly fit into the script of the film or series. In each of the “modern” parts of the series there is a hero who finds himself in a hostile environment and embarks on the “path of a warrior”, inevitable narcotics and situations in which the line between good and evil is very blurred. Producers do not even need to choose a specific part to create a film – the recognition of the franchise will remain in any setting.
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Overwatch – ENT through the film adaptation
The legendary creator of Wolfenstein, Quake and Doom, John Carmack, somehow dropped that the plot in video games is not at all important – just like in porn. His followers made a real commandment from these words: for a long time, in most session shooters, the ENT was limited to two paragraphs. However, then the situation began to change.
For example, after the release of Overwatch, the universe of the game continued to be revealed through cartoons, stories and comics. With their help, fans not only learned about the events of the virtual world, but also got to know the characters and their relationships more closely. The quality of animation and production at Blizzard was always on top, but all the studio work remained clamped in a short meter. According to rumors, already in 2023 Overwatch can get a sequel – a great time to shoot a full-length cartoon!
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Fallout – anthology
Games in the Fallout series are cult representatives of the RPG genre. You can go through them in many equally acceptable ways, and therefore it will be problematic to film them – it is difficult to decide which plot should be taken as a basis. However, the Wasteland universe is very rich, and therefore directors do not have to follow the storyline of the game trilogy – you can also remove a kind of spin-off.
Fans of the game know that Fallout shelters were not needed to save human lives. In fact, they were created for frankly inhuman biological and social experiments. In one of them, drug addicts were treated, and then they opened a warehouse with psychotropic substances, in the other, 999 women and one man settled together. It is known that the Volt-Tech company was supposed to build 122 bunkers, but nothing is known about the fate of most of them. Netflix could shed some light on them in a post-apocalyptic anthology series.
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God of War – an additional tool of the developer
At the beginning of 2023, God of War restart manager Corey Barlog toldthat I would like to show the meeting of Kratos and Fay – mother of Atreus. According to the developer, the meeting of the two warriors at the moment when they were both ready to lay down their arms changed them forever, and we could see the consequences of this in the game. At the same time, Barlog noted that even in future parts of God of War there simply may not be a place for this scene.
For fans and the story itself, this moment is very important, because it was he who caused the deepest changes in the character of Kratos. And if the meeting with Faye does not fit the format of the game series, then a film about this could well be shot. Kratos’s journey is perfect for adaptation – from Greece to Scandinavia, from the mad god of war to a sedate hermit, from battles with the titans to the family hearth. In addition, the film could include the hero’s meetings with the characters of other mythologies – because, according to Kratos, there were a lot of them.
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L.A. Noire – on the verge of video games and movies
Games from Rockstar Games are traditionally distinguished by a strong plot and cinematography. It would seem – an ideal option for a film adaptation. But there is a nuance. The GTA universe, in fact, does not exist – all the stories in the games of the series begin and end right there, leaving potential directors with room for creativity. So it turns out that potential films based on motives already at the start will lose all originality – you will get standard criminal dramas, westerns, detective stories.
L.A. Noire, however, may expect a different fate. One of its key features was an advanced facial animation, which helped make the interrogation mechanics more comprehensive. Players had to identify the interlocutors’ lies based on their facial expressions and gestures. Now imagine the same thing, but with live actors and an implementation in the form of an interactive movie like “Black Mirror: Brandashmyg”.
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Dishonored – Untold Stories
The specificity of artwork is that they are built around the main character (sometimes heroes), and all other characters often go unnoticed even if their story is no less tragic or fascinating. There is nothing wrong with this – it is impossible to give everyone equal screen time. However, sometimes the secondary characters are so good that they deserve their moment of fame.
A separate game about Alien from Dishonored is not the best concept. The hero is almost a god, and therefore slightly imbalanced, because he can complete all the quests with just a snap of his fingers. But his story, which the series affected only in part, is quite interesting. How he became omnipotent, whom he had endowed with supernatural powers for hundreds of years, how they disposed of them and what happened to them, and most importantly – what game and why the Alien plays – the series could answer all these questions.
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Wolfenstein – Alternative Series
Trends are not very pleasant. Today you are a genius and an innovator, but tomorrow your idea, mastered by dozens of competitors, begins to cause consumer boredom. So it was with zombies, vampires and superheroes. However, the alternative Nazis from “Man in a High Castle” could not breed on television – which is a pity, because this topic also opens up great scope for creativity.
Perhaps it is Netflix that is destined to rectify the situation. And if the service bosses are really interested, then they should pay attention to the Wolfenstein series. In it, the history of mankind turned the wrong way, and the Nazis managed to crush the entire free world under themselves. Of course, against the background of robots and cyber-Hitler, it is unlikely to be able to remove a complex drama, but did this interfere with other series?
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Polybius – story behind the game
Old games are not the best material for the film adaptation. The authors of Mario Super Brothers understood this and confirmed the creators of Pixels. Classic arcades often lacked a plot or ENT, and the gameplay was rustic by modern standards. They simply do not have enough content to make it possible to write an original script on them, and therefore, screenwriters in the movies each time had to add something from themselves, distorting the original.
On the other hand, the stories behind the creation of these games can boast of intrigue and passion no worse than in a real-life thriller. It can be biopic about those who were at the origins of the game dev, corporate dramas about the confrontation of industry giants and even real horror. Want to hear about Berzerk – the first game supposedly killing your user? Do you know about Polybius? Legend has it that this arcade machine was developed by the CIA. He caused seizures, addiction and almost zombied, and then mysteriously disappeared. The story was somehow filmed several times, but without much scope. Perhaps this should be the new “gaming” product Netflix.
Source: gamingnewstime.de
The Elder Scrolls – adaptation of the gameplay
In most cases, the adaptation of video games means that their plot or the universe will be the basis for the script of the film. However, history is only part of interactive entertainment, and not always the most important! However, the gameplay, its features, difficulties, bugs and conventions all the same, as a rule, remain outside the borders of movie cameras.
Gradually, the situation is changing, and – suddenly – at the initiative of the film industry. ReBoot, Ralph, Epic NPC Man and Protagonist belong to different genres and are not directly related to specific franchises. But instead of focusing on some setting or story, they show the in-game world on behalf of the NPC – with gameplay, conventions, ludonarrative dissonance and more. Now this niche is relatively empty, and the number of gamers who can understand and appreciate the specific humor is increasing every day, as well as the number of video games suitable for adaptation. Skyrim alone can provide content for several seasons. Plus, in this case, it can be bought one more time!
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Bonus
Of course, the big Netflix bosses drop by Cybersport.ru every day, carefully write down all the reviews about The Witcher, and draw inspiration from the articles. But one cannot ignore Russian filmmakers.
About S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Metro they probably already know. On the “Corsairs” and “Demiurges” is not a fact that there is enough budget. The right to take on “Petka and Vasily Ivanovich” or “Space Rangers” still needs to be earned. And “Death to Spies” and “Truckers” have already almost unconsciously filmed more than once or even not two. But there is one game that fits perfectly into place.
Why not take on the role of our “answer to The Fast and the Furious” our “NFS killer”? LADA Racing Club – how much has merged in this sound for the gamer’s heart. Hopes, dreams, and then pain and tears. An avid movie fan may reasonably object: “Have the legendary Street Racers and the iconic Fast and the Furious Da Vinci not sung this car?” However, there were almost no Zhiguli dear to their heart. And in the new film, the topic of import substitution, we hope, will be fully disclosed. And the wonderful bald spots in our cinema are no less than in Hollywood.
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In fact, the choice of games for the categories was very conditional. By the same criteria, you can easily find a dozen other equally worthy titles. To open the ENT would not hurt almost any competitive project in an interesting setting. Ubisoft did the trick with a universal adaptation in relation to its other famous series – Assassin’s Creed. And how many more stories remained untold!
Movies and series on games can be removed not only in order to retell the original stories. Cinema allows you to open and expand gaming universes, although today it often just turns into a marketing appendage of famous franchises. In 2023, the premieres of “Sonic in the movie”, “Monster Hunter” and “The protagonist” are planned. Will they be able to overcome the “curse of the game adaptations”, we will know very soon.
