We’ve all been on the edge of our seat, watching an action packed blockbuster movie when the thought popped into our brain: "This would make an awesome game!" Who hasn’t wanted to kick ass with Gun Kata in an Equilibrium game? Or slice and dice thousands of foes as The Bride in a Kill Bill adaptation? Imagine being knee deep in the bloodbath that was the final confrontation in Braveheart, or breaking countless bones and free running as Tony Jaa in The Protector! There are plenty of movies out there that deserve to have games made in their honor, games that are not thrown together to meet a summer tent pole movie’s deadline. Rather, they should be adaptations that have been created by fans of the movies with respect for the source material, possessing 20/20 hindsight on what made the movies so fun to watch, and with knowledge of what would make the game fun to play.
Many videogame fans have spent countless evenings dreaming up their perfect movie game, or spitting venom in the direction of game developers that ruined their chance to make the perfect videogame (we’re looking at you, Enter the Matrix). It seems every summer we are suckered into buying the game adaptation of the movie we are dying to see, only for our hopes to be crushed like the millions of copies of E.T. for Atari still occupying landfills.
Some of the following movies have had game adaptations already. However, they were cheap cash-ins that had sullied the names of their movie counterparts. In this article, I will detail my dream teams for movie licenses and game studios, that would finally give these films a worthy videogame adaptation.
Without further ado, I present five of my dream movie adaptations, along with my choice of studios to bring them to life.
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5. Kill Bill
If you’ve ever watched the Kill Bill films, it should be pretty obvious that Quentin Tarantino’s blood-filled epics would make for a great videogame. The action focuses on protagonist The Bride, who awakens from a coma four years after being shot in the head by her former lover. She sets out on her path for vengeance, armed with a vast knowledge of martial arts and weapons training from her time in the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, where she was known as the "deadliest woman in the world".
Who should make it: Team Ninja
A Kill Bill adaptation requires great skill in the swordplay and combat departments. For lightning fast, slice and dice gameplay, I can’t think of a better choice than Team Ninja. After all, the studio has worked on the likes of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive for many years now, and they know female ninja like the back of their hand.
4: Zombieland
Yes, the initial thought might be, "Left 4 Dead clone", however I believe a Zombieland game could be much more than that. For starters, it has a story, fun characters, and lots of interesting environments. In the movie, Tallahassee, Columbus and two girls drive through the country, attempting to survive long enough to reach a theme park called Pacific Playland, which is fabled to be free of zombies. Along the way, they venture to some cool locations, such as Bill Murray’s mansion and Pacific Playland theme park. I imagine this game as a third person shooter, where you can drive vehicles through different locations, switching characters on the fly, which could make for some great driver/ passenger shooting action, alongside the standard on-foot combat.
Who should make it: Volition, Inc.
This studio is best known for the Red Faction games, such as Guerrilla and Armageddon. In those games the player controls vehicles and the series as a whole contains very satisfying third-person shooting action. The company also made 2005’s The Punisher to boot, which was satisfyingly violent, and boasted compelling gunplay as well. As such, Volition, Inc. is a perfect fit for this game.
3. Kick-Ass
Kick-Ass is a pretty simple story, focusing on a kid who is tired of seeing lowlifes doing bad things in his city with no repercussions. He takes up the mantle of a superhero and starts, well, kicking ass. Once again, we have four characters: the eponymous Kick-Ass, tiny badass Hit-Girl, the gun-toting Batman impersonator Big Daddy, and Red Mist. I imagine this game as an open world title, with Kick-Ass starting out putting flyers up around town to help out citizens, and checking your email at your house for new missions. Soon enough you would team with Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, and finally Red Mist, doing missions as them and seeing the story from their perspective for a bit. You could drive around in the Mistmobile, slice and dice as Hit-Girl, shoot up the Mob as Big Daddy, and do more standard hand to hand and baton fighting as Kick-Ass. And just imagine the four-player co-op…
Who should make it: Treyarch
Treyarch is the studio that brought you another great superhero film adaptation, namely Spider-Man 2. They mastered the open world style in this game, and I would love to see them expand into deeper gameplay for a potential Kick-Ass title.
2. 300
I wasn’t the only one in the theater talking about how awesome it would be to play a 300 game. Yes, there was a 300 game on the PSP, but the spectacle, scale and insane action of 300 can only be properly captured on a system like the PS3. Mammoth battles against thousands of warriors, great swordplay and competent team-based AI are a few things that the developer would have to get right. Who is up to the task?
Who should make it: Ubisoft Montreal
These guys created the Assassin’s Creed games, which is good for a few reasons. First of all, they know how to do fun swordplay against multiple opponents, and secondly, they are used to having to render copious amounts of characters on-screen at any one time. Obviously they would have to expand the formula a bit for a 300 game, but if anyone could do it and make it fun, it’s Ubisoft Montreal.
1. Inception
If any movie is begging to be adapted into a videogame, it’s Inception. Christopher Nolan’s dreamworld opus is basically The Matrix, but better. In the movie (and thus the game) you can control everything that is happening around you, shape the world as you see fit, and conjure any weapon your twisted mind can imagine. If Neo had Green Lantern’s ring, this is what would happen.
Who should make it: Ubisoft Montreal
The amazing team at Ubisoft Montreal already know how to build a dreamworld: they’ve done it for three games in the Assassin’s Creed series. When you are put into the Animus, you fall into a deep slumber and awaken in your ancestor’s memories. The world builds itself around you and collapses when a mission is finished. If they can get gunplay and driving down, Ubisoft Montreal wins again. Still, maybe they could bring in some of the LucasArts guys to implement Force Unleashed-style world bending.
What do you think? Is there a movie you’ve always dreamed would make the perfect game? Let us know in the comments below!
Article by Jay Bakker