By [This is a promoted Community Blog! Sometimes when our readers post an amazing article we can’t resist throwing it on the front page and sharing it with the world!]
It’s no secret that there is a huge cross-over audience between movie-fans and gamers. If you’re a member of that cross-over audience like me, you’ve probably noticed how the two mediums tend to influence each other in increasingly interesting ways. This can be as unassuming as a video-game cut-scene being described as ‘cinematic’ to much more openly influenced mid-way projects like Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit or Indigo Prophecy depending on your stomping-ground) on the side of games and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and Sucker Punch on the side of films.
Where this correlative relationship could lead in the future is another matter of discussion entirely, but what is particularly interesting to me at the moment is the amount of ideas I see in both movies and games that I feel would be better placed in the opposing medium. Whether
[This is a promoted Community Blog! Sometimes when our readers post an amazing article we can't resist throwing it on the front page and sharing it with the world!]
It's no secret that there is a huge cross-over audience between movie-fans and gamers. If you're a member of that cross-over audience like me, you've probably noticed how the two mediums tend to influence each other in increasingly interesting ways. This can be as unassuming as a video-game cut-scene being described as 'cinematic' to much more openly influenced mid-way projects like Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit or Indigo Prophecy depending on your stomping-ground) on the side of games and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and Sucker Punch on the side of films.
Where this correlative relationship could lead in the future is another matter of discussion entirely, but what is particularly interesting to me at the moment is the amount of ideas I see in both movies and games that I feel would be better placed in the opposing medium. Whether this is because of the aforementioned correlation between films and games or simply because I consume too much of both of them is unclear, but I often find myself watching a movie picturing how a scene might play out in a video-game. Read all of my ideas after the jump!{{page_break}}
We've all seen movies with over-tones of gaming, like The Matrix and Tron, but what about the films that could really make for interesting video-game experiences? I'm not talking about (often) rubbish movie tie-in bread-and-butter action games, I'm talking about films that, if translated correctly, could make for even better video-game experiences. So, without further adieu, I present my list of just a hand-full of movies that would make awesome games and why:
Terminator Salvation:
I can't pin-point exactly what it is about Terminator Salvation that conjures up so many connotations to gaming in my mind. Perhaps it's the game-staple doomy posy-apocalyptic setting, or the fact it features a Fallout-style 'loot' sequence at the start. Regardless, a good Terminator game is something that has been eluded by developers for far too long (I won't even mention the dire tie-in games) and the Terminator(s) would make for interesting combatants; almost un-beatable enemies who most of the time must be evaded rather than defeated.
More importantly in the case of Salvation, however, would be the game-changing twist regarding Marcus Wright actually being a Terminator himself. Spoiled in pre-release marketing for the film, in the game it could be a climactic reveal, with players be cast in the inter-changing roles of John Connor and Marcus Wright before it is revealed that the player has without their knowledge been controlling two opposing characters. This particular plot-revelation could be more effective in a game, as the player's actions are given a horrible context and suddenly they aren't just empathising with Marcus Wright, they're feeling exactly what he's feeling. Think the twist in BioShock, but with more first-person-look-down-omg-Terminator-body scenes.
Coraline:
At first glance, Coraline might seem like an odd-ball choice for a video-game. I mean, it doesn't feature any scenes of mass-murdering gun-play at all. But, watch the film again and you may begin to notice some familiar game-boxes getting checked. The hunt for hidden items? Check. Stages with themed end-bosses? Check. Final confrontation with the previously-unreachable figure who has been deploying the challenges in the lead character's way? Check.
What's really exciting about the idea of Coraline as a video-game, however, is the core idea of the character being tempted into a seemingly perfect 'Other World'. In the movie, the comparison between the dull, unhappy regular world and exciting Other World is made through contrasting colour schemes and cinematography. In a video-game, the contrast could be made though differentiating game mechanics and button lay-outs. Imagine a deliberately more restrictive normal world with an awkward control scheme and dull missions that are not fun to play, contrasted by the Other World (where the player would spend most of the game) that fixes all of the game-play problems in the regular world. In essence, the game itself would be more enjoyable in the Other World, thus literally tempting the player themselves into wanting to spend more and more time there. If a game like that exists, I've yet to play it.
Saw:
Forget the fairly standard survival-horror Saw games released in recent years, what a Saw video-game should really have is the same thing that makes the Saw movies so popular: Creativity. Rather than just being put in the role of a victim fighting for survival, players should be given the tools to be able to put themselves in the role of Jigsaw, designing and creating their own levels and finding ever-more creative ways of deploying pre-existing traps and creating their own. Players could then share their self-created levels with each other and see who has made the most gruesome. Done right, a Saw video-game could be for survival-horror what Little Big Planet was to platformers, albeit with significantly more bloody splatters. And hey, maybe a self-sustaining online community could spare us from the downward flood of endless sequels.
Inception:
Most gamers who saw Inception noted some less-than-subtle game-esque elements; progression through different dream 'levels', an army of faceless enemies to be shot at, massive game-like combat sequences and a story driven through actions and ideas rather than good character development. Not to mention the fact that the character's development of the dream scenarios themselves in the movie closely resembled the development process of a video-game; with design, convincing physics and compelling designed narrative all taken into consideration.
Like Saw, an Inception video-game would be all about creativity. Players would not only need the ability to perform all of the zero-g gun-play stunts seen in the movie (although this IS a requirement), they would also have the ability to create and customise their own dream worlds. However, rather than just being a Sims game with added action, an Inception video-game could take advantage of the recent social-network-in-gaming craze, with player's dream worlds altered by factors they could not control, like their gamer-score, online rep or game genre preferences. Such mechanics could really give the impression of a world crafted from the sub-concious. Then, give players the ability to infiltrate each other's dream worlds and either plant or steal important 'ideas'. The seeds of this ambitious concept were seen in the under-appreciated Inception Facebook game, Inception: Mind Crime, which allowed players to enter their online friends' 'sub-concious', which were worlds populated with their photos and other friends. A game like this on a much larger scale with more refined mechanics would be ambitious for sure, but done well could create a one-in-a-kind experience. A console Inception game is apparently in the works, so we'll have to wait and see if this project pans out into anything special.
The Blues Brothers:
Probably the biggest 'Whaaaaaa?!' movie on this list, but just hear me out. The main plot of The Blues Brothers is actually surprisingly video-game esque. That is to say, there isn't much of one. It begins with the main character being released from prison (an old GTA trope) and promptly going on a quest to recruit followers for a big finale, encountering an almost-episodic series of adversaries and set-pieces along the way (not to mention one of the sweetest car-chases in movie history). You can see where I'm going, no?
As a video-game, The Blues Brothers could do for, erm… blues, what Brutal Legend did for heavy metal. Except this time, with real peripheral instruments. If ever there was a concept for a music game with an acceptable story, The Blues Brothers is surely it. Keep the sharp script, wonderful characters and larger-than-life action, just make the challenges interactive. A Blues Brothers game could be part third-person open-world game as players help the brothers on their 'mission from God', part blues-centric rhythm game as players get to perform the iconic musical set-pieces of the movie. And a plastic harmonica? Well, that would just be an added bonus.
I Am Legend:
Stop me if you've heard this game-pitch before: A gruff man with a dark past shoots monsters in a post-apocalyptic setting. Pretty familiar territory, then. But what the concept of I Am Legend brings to the table is that most profoundly affecting of video-game facets: Isolation. With video-games becoming ever-more communal via online interaction and improved NPC AI, not to mention better character writing and voice acting, the power of loneliness in games has become all the more affecting. Games like Shadow Of The Colossus, Portal and Limbo (not to mention a slew of survival-horror games) have been praised extensively for utilising isolation to great effect on the player, creating an air of vulnerability and tension. The I Am Legend story in all it's forms (excluding rip-off house Asylum's 'I Am Omega' imagining) relies on these core themes and emotions, and video-games are the medium where they arguably have the most profound (or at least the most obvious) affect on the player.
An I Am Legend video-game would put the player in the role of Robert Neville in an expansive, detailed, open-world city totally devoid of any life other than over-grown plants and deadly vampires. Think Grand Theft Auto IV without the traffic. The day-night cycle would be a crucial game mechanic, as players must explore to desperately try and find the things Robert needs to make a cure by day, while ensuring they are back at the safe-house by dusk to avoid getting devastatingly trapped when the monsters emerge. With a total lack of NPCs that don't want to eat you, players would be free to explore the deserted city, with the option of trying to clear-out buildings that have become vampire dwelling-places if they so wish, so long as they don't stay out to late; being over-whelmed after-dark is a certainty. Players would have to seek out and collect the items Robert needs to conduct the science he hopes will lead to a cure: samples, test subjects, equipment and the like. Being faced with such a hopeless and lonely task may sound off-putting, but could create the kind of gaming experience players remember for years afterwards. The examples I gave earlier are perfect demonstrations that isolation in a video-game does not mean lifelessness.
The Human Centipede:
Kinect support, anybody??