Games on Film

[Reprinted from Forge Press:Issue 2]

There are some things that are destined to be together. Bread and butter, fish and chips and Aussies and beer are a few that come to mind. Yet when games and films meet it ultimately ends up in disaster. Films based on games and games based on films always seem destined to become bargain bin fillers at some point in their life but why should they. There are a lot of bad game films out there but what is it that makes this formula bad. Well it can boil down to a number of things.

First and foremost is the foundation of games, they’re interactive. In games you can do what you like. See a tank in the distance, bollocks to the heavy gun turret to my side lets charge it with my wrench. So when a fan favourite like Doom is made it will most definitely end in tears mainly because people are forced to watch what the director wants going on when some of the audience only wanted to see hours of excessive chainsaw use.

Audience are also to be considered when it comes to game film success. Demographically gamers are going to be the more inclined to see a film based on their favourite game. And likewise non-gamers can be equally deterred by the idea of narrative based on a geeky past time. In the end it results into disappointed fans and therefore poor sales.

However there also is the reputation of this genre. Thanks to Uwe Boll’s gung-ho approach to directing, most game films are deemed as avoidable with a Tabasco enema being more preferred in most cases. Poor directing coupled awful acting seem to go hand in hand whenever a game film is being created and as a result the audiences are drifting away in case they have to endure another Super Mario Bros.

Then there comes issues with the process of converting non linear gameplay into a linear narrative structure thus relying heavily on a directors vision of how things should pan out which never bodes well with anyone who has a different vision of how a game should appear on the big screen.

It is a shame that this formula hasn’t worked as of yet. There’s potential for some truly interesting films, like say for instance the dramatic retelling of Tetris. But before that can happen directors need to approach games with a genuine enthusiasm instead of randomly stabbing in the dark at how the end product should look. It’s not too hard to redeem yourselves. If Christopher Nolan can resurrect the Batman franchise after Batman and Robin then surely some brave director can give us a gilm (yes I’m coining that phrase now) we really want to see.