13 Video Game Adaptations Nearly As Good As ‘The Last of Us’
Reading Time: 6 minutesWerewolves Within, Arcane, Castlevania…Sorry, Roger Ebert, video games are highbrow entertainment now.
HBO’s The Last of Us has been described as a show that breaks the video game adaptation curse, and it’s certainly unique in the way it has almost singlehandedly shifted the dialogue. If a third-person zombie game can be prestige television, can an Oscar for Mario and Luigi be far away?
But that ignores the fact that there have been worthwhile video game adaptations in the past—even if TLoU is arguably the most successful yet. Some thrive by leaning hard into the lore and settings of the game, but the sweet spot seems to be taking cues from the source material while also recognizing that different medias call for different narrative choices (fetch quests, for one, are far less fun when you are only watching someone doing the fetching).
Here are 13 other game-to-film adaptations that work. And, before anyone asks, I will die on the hill that The Witcher is based on the books and not the video games, which is why I left it out.
Based on: Werewolves Within, from Red Storm Entertainment
The movie departs from the VR game in its setting, but maintains the Mafia/Werewolf feel that made latter so fun (it’s one of those games where each player is secretly assigned a role, and everyone has to figure out who the whatever—in this case, werewolf—is). The movie moves the action from a Medieval-style town to a small hamlet in modern Vermont, where a new forest ranger (Veep‘s Sam Richardson) kicks off his first day on the job by getting entangled in a series of unexplained murders among the town’s weirdos—one of whom might be a werewolf. It’s among the best video game adaptations full stop, marrying a compelling mystery with genuinely funny comedy and just the right amount of blood and gore.
Where to stream: Fubo, Showtime
Based on: Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, from Konami
The gorgeously animated series largely adapts the third Castlevania game from way back in 1989—a prequel, and so not an unreasonable starting place for the sprawling franchise (material from other games does come into play later in the series). Here, the vampire Dracula (aka Vlad Țepeș) sees his wife burned at the stake and vows vengeance on all of Wallachia, with monster hunter Trevor Belmont, magician Sypha, and Dracula’s own son Adrian opposing him. It’s a surprisingly serious and thoughtful take on a video game property about vampires, and only gets better as it progresses. A spin-off set during the French Revolution is in the works.
Where to stream: Netflix
Based on: Mortal Kombat, from Midway Games
I’m not sure there’s a great case to be made for the artistic merits of the 1995 adaptation, but I’m not sure there isn’t; a camp classic is still a classic. If nothing else, the production design is truly stellar, and the movie features some great (if largely bloodless) martial arts sequences as it spins out the bare bones of a story of a fight tournament to protect the Earth (or something). The Highlander himself, Christopher Lambert, hams it up in a big hat as the tournament’s master of ceremonies, and it’s all just tremendous fun. (The recent remake loses points for never actually getting to the tournament part.)
Where to stream: Digital rental
Based on: Street Fighter II, from Capcom
Much as with Mortal Kombat, we didn’t come here for plot or character development. This is a lot of mostly naked, sweaty, frequently bloody guys (Chun Li doesn’t get nearly enough screen time, unless you count an ill-conceived shower scene) fighting over stuff that pretty much only matters to them. It does exactly what it says on the label, and is all the better for it. The adaptation was so popular that it was, itself, adapted back into a video game, and the story continued in video games and manga.
Where to stream: Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Vudu, Pluto, VRV, Freevee
Based on: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, from Capcom
Takashi Miike is mostly known in North America for his ultra-disturbing horror films and bloody action thrillers (from Audition to 13 Assassins), but his career runs just as much to live-action manga adaptations, and even cartoons for kids. Here, he adapts the popular series of interactive novels following Phoenix Wright, the titular ace attorney, through phases of a trial, starting with an investigation and ending with a courtroom showdown. Miike has a lot of fun blending action video game-style with supernatural courtroom drama, and the whole thing winds up being both faithful to the source material and a genuinely entertaining standalone.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Based on: League of Legends, from Riot Games
There are few scenarios in which a top-down game involving online opponents shooting lasers across a map should produce a show this impressive…but here we are. The League of Legends lore forms the backdrop for the show, but the pull is in the narrative involving two sisters caught up in the growing conflict between a utopian city and its oppressed underclass, without whom it couldn’t exist. The painted animation style is truly something special.
Where to stream: Netflix
Based on: Batman: Arkham Origins, from WB Games Montréal
Officially a sequel to the Arkham Origins game (taking place somewhere in between that prequel and the classic 2009 Arkham Asylum), Assault on Arkham doesn’t adapt any of the games from that series, but the vibe is similar enough that it doesn’t feel at all out of place in that universe. The story sees the Suicide Squad breaking into Arkham on a mission from Amanda Waller, only to run up against Batman himself. Several of the voices from the game series reprise their roles here, including the later, great Kevin Conroy. It’s an entertaining heist film with solid anime-inspired animation.
Where to stream: HBO Max
Based on: Cyberpunk 2077, from CD Projekt Red
Edgerunners does as good a job of bringing the frenetic world of the Cyberpunk series to life, even doing the recent 2077 game one better in depicting the frenetic future world of Night City. David, the main character, isn’t that far removed from that of V, the point-of-view character from 2077. Losing everything, he finds himself forced to fall in with the mercenary cyberpunks who define the city’s criminal underworld, and following his journey is at least as compelling as playing the game.
Where to stream: Netflix
Based on: Cuphead from Studio MDHR
There’s not a ton of depth here, honestly—it’s the story of Cuphead and Mugman, two anthropomorphic cup brothers who go on ill-planned cartoon adventures—but it’s done with such style and energy that it’s generally hard to care. As is true for the game on which it’s based, the real inspiration is early hand-drawn animation of the 1920s and ’30s (but more colorful), along with some later Disney and Looney Tunes-style art for good measure. It’s mostly for kids, but controversy aside, the visuals are truly top-rate.
Where to stream: Netflix
Based on: Sonic the Hedgehog from Sega
Yeah, it belongs here. Though everyone was primed to hate it from the first trailer, Sonic the Hedgehog is fine, actually—its manic energy may or may not be too much for some audiences (it’s a bit much for me, honestly), but asking a Sonic adaptation to be anything less than hyperactive would be to miss the entire point. Ben Schwartz does great work voicing the title hedgehog, and Jim Carrey’s turn as Dr. Robotnik feels like a return to the actor’s glory days of comic wackiness. The movie is at its best when it plays with time and space in true video game fashion, and it even throws in a dance number. The sequel is pretty good too! At least as good as the old cartoons.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Based on: Silent Hill from Konami
Bear with me on this one. In terms of characterization and (dear lord) dialogue, Silent Hill is pretty much dead on arrival. The strongest point of the game series, though, is atmosphere, and very few adaptations do a better job than this one did at recreating the phantasmagoric, nightmarish feel of a feel of a stroll through the title town. The clunkiness of the movie’s plot almost works in its favor in that regard, giving it an even more otherworldly feel (in that so little of it makes sense).Why in hell would you come to Silent Hill looking for logic anyway?
Where to stream: Hulu
Based on: Mortal Kombat from Midway Games, by Ed Boon and John Tobias
One more from Mortal Kombat, and possibly the best of the various live action and/or animated takes. There’s still the tournament, but this one also focuses in on the story of Scorpion’s vengeance against those who murdered his family. Narrowing the narrative down to a single character (rather than sketching out backstories for an array of fighters) provides the movie just enough grounding for all the slick, bloody, R-rated kombat sequences.
Where to stream: HBO Max
Based on: Final Fantasy VII from Square
This one tends to be a little polarizing, if only because the plot is pretty opaque if you’re not pretty familiar with the game; and not much less confusing if you are. Scenes sometimes feel disconnected from each other, something that director Tetsuya Nomura says was intentional, but I’m not so sure. Still, it’s easy to sink into a world this beautifully brought to life, with a level of computer animation that far exceeds the 2001 Final Fantasy movie that was released more broadly. It might be a triumph of style over substance, but worthwhile it all the same.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Reference: https://lifehacker.com/13-video-game-adaptations-nearly-as-good-as-the-last-of-1850029703
Ref: lifehacker
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