Ah yes, the game-to-movie adaptation. This particular facet of entertainment needs some serious polish or to be carved out of the gem altogether.
Okay, bad metaphors aside, I agree that to date, movie adaptations of games rarely work. But I'm not sure it's for the same reason Yahtzee says they fail. It's true when you take out the interactive element of entertainment, the story and visual aspect are all that's left to hold it up. However, I think this could still be done with games being adapted to movies, but there are two problems, one of which Yahtzee in fact pointed out in his Ghostbusters review; people in the film industry they
don't generally understand video games. As a result, when they try to adapt a game's content to the silver screen, they often make the mistake of thinking they need to have people behaving in the movie in such a way that parts of the game's mechanics are incorporated into it. The way "House of The Dead" and its direct-to-video sequel were handled are perfect examples of that.
The other reason is more cynical, but I suspect it's the truth: the people who have created movie adaptations for games to date don't respect their audiences. They think gamers are all so obsessed with games they don't need to make any effort to get any degree of accuracy in their film in bringing out the game's plotline; just slap the game's name on any half-assed attempt to vaguely resemble the game it's "based" on and sit back to watch the box office revenue roll in, that's their philosophy. Look at "Alone in The Dark" and all the live-action "Resident Evil" movies, they're perfect examples. In fact, since Alone in The Dark (the original trilogy and -maybe- The New Nightmare) are games I really enjoyed, I've often thought about how I'd do a movie adaptation. First off, I'd probably start with the first AiTD game, i.e. the old I-Motion one. Second, I wouldn't try to cast an actor that's supposed to come across as some kind of action movie knockoff, I'd cast someone who fits the role of a private eye; hard-edged, gruff, cynical, but smart, capable, loyal and honest. My personal pick would be Ted Levine. Third, rather than have him act exactly like the game mechanics have you act (i.e. picking up random objects and using some of them in ways that wouldn't seem logical if you didn't know what to do ahead of time, exploring every single room in the house even though any sane person would want to get the hell out of Dodge...) I'd give him some kind of sensible motivation for his actions, like he finds the front door sealed shut when he tries to leave so he goes around the house desperately trying to find a different way out, and along the way he uncovers the truth of the house.
But I digress. I think this is the primary problem of movie adaptations of games. They don't try to bring the plot, the story of the game to life per se. They make a poor attempt at creating a generic movie in whatever genre it's supposed to be (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc.) and slap the game's title on it in a cheap attempt to create a built-in amount of success. I think the day we see a GOOD movie adaptation of a game will be when film makers see a video game as an opportunity to tell a story through their medium, not as a cheap marketing gimmick.
Okay, bad metaphors aside, I agree that to date, movie adaptations of games rarely work. But I'm not sure it's for the same reason Yahtzee says they fail. It's true when you take out the interactive element of entertainment, the story and visual aspect are all that's left to hold it up. However, I think this could still be done with games being adapted to movies, but there are two problems, one of which Yahtzee in fact pointed out in his Ghostbusters review; people in the film industry they
don't generally understand video games. As a result, when they try to adapt a game's content to the silver screen, they often make the mistake of thinking they need to have people behaving in the movie in such a way that parts of the game's mechanics are incorporated into it. The way "House of The Dead" and its direct-to-video sequel were handled are perfect examples of that.
The other reason is more cynical, but I suspect it's the truth: the people who have created movie adaptations for games to date don't respect their audiences. They think gamers are all so obsessed with games they don't need to make any effort to get any degree of accuracy in their film in bringing out the game's plotline; just slap the game's name on any half-assed attempt to vaguely resemble the game it's "based" on and sit back to watch the box office revenue roll in, that's their philosophy. Look at "Alone in The Dark" and all the live-action "Resident Evil" movies, they're perfect examples. In fact, since Alone in The Dark (the original trilogy and -maybe- The New Nightmare) are games I really enjoyed, I've often thought about how I'd do a movie adaptation. First off, I'd probably start with the first AiTD game, i.e. the old I-Motion one. Second, I wouldn't try to cast an actor that's supposed to come across as some kind of action movie knockoff, I'd cast someone who fits the role of a private eye; hard-edged, gruff, cynical, but smart, capable, loyal and honest. My personal pick would be Ted Levine. Third, rather than have him act exactly like the game mechanics have you act (i.e. picking up random objects and using some of them in ways that wouldn't seem logical if you didn't know what to do ahead of time, exploring every single room in the house even though any sane person would want to get the hell out of Dodge...) I'd give him some kind of sensible motivation for his actions, like he finds the front door sealed shut when he tries to leave so he goes around the house desperately trying to find a different way out, and along the way he uncovers the truth of the house.
But I digress. I think this is the primary problem of movie adaptations of games. They don't try to bring the plot, the story of the game to life per se. They make a poor attempt at creating a generic movie in whatever genre it's supposed to be (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc.) and slap the game's title on it in a cheap attempt to create a built-in amount of success. I think the day we see a GOOD movie adaptation of a game will be when film makers see a video game as an opportunity to tell a story through their medium, not as a cheap marketing gimmick.
