When it comes to movie adaptations of video games, they don’t exactly have a great reputation, and there arguably hasn’t been a single good one ever since the trend began with Super Mario Bros all the way back in 1993. However, when it comes to video game adaptations of movies, it can go either way.
Whether it’s a tie-in game released concurrently or a game released decades after the movie, films have always been used as source material for some of the worst games, but also some of the best games, ever released. With so many action games coming out month after month, there are a ton that have so much potential for a fun video game, and these are some of the best.
Drive (2011)
On the face of it, Drive might not seem like a movie that would translate well to a video game, as the narrative is almost Lynchian in its slow pace and mystery. The film is one of the best modern film noir movies, but it’s the smaller details that could be lifted for an incredible video game. The protagonist, known only as Driver, has several odd jobs, from being a mechanic, to being a getaway driver for hire, to a movie stuntman.
It’s exactly these odd jobs that the game should focus on, especially getaway driving. The video-game adaptation should see players get from point A to point B without being detected by the police, using alleyways and dark locations to hide from patrol cars and choppers. After all, that was what the movie was marketed as.
Venom (2018)
Venom was one of the most polarizing movies of the past decade, as it was loved by audiences and hated by critics. Regardless of where viewers stand on the movie, it’s a fact that there were a lot of things it got wrong. The movie should have had an R-rating, as Venom’s biggest appeal is the fact that he literally bites people’s heads off, and that’s something a video-game could rectify.
Gamers have seen how great Spider-Man games can be, especially with the latest Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and one of the best video game tie-ins ever was Spider-Man 2. So Venom could totally be given the same treatment, by causing trouble in an open-world.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
It wouldn’t be the first time there was a video game about the giant gorilla, as there was also a tie-in video game to 2005’s Peter Jackson’s King Kong, and it happened to go against all odds and become one of the best ever Ubisoft games.
With Kong: Skull Island, a developer could take what was great about the 2005 game, such as playing as both Kong himself and the human characters. And given the Apocalypse Now look of the movie and how much graphics have enhanced in the 16 years since, a video-game of Kong: Skull Island could be breathtaking. Not to mention that in the 2017 movie, Kong is bigger than he has ever been, meaning that players could totally wreak havoc across Skull Island.
Rogue One (2016)
There have already been a lot of Star Wars games, and now that EA no longer has exclusive licensing rights to the epic franchise, it has left the doors open for some astounding possibilities. But given that Rogue One features some of the best dog fights and the final hour of the movie is basically one giant battle, it would undoubtedly make the best Star Wars game there has been in years. It could combine the best of all the previous games into one with a strong narrative tying it all together. And on top of that, the online mode, which could combine the piloting from Squadrons and the on-ground battles from Battlefront, would be so enthralling.
Sicario (2015)
Like Drive, Sicario is another outlier that doesn’t immediately strike fans as the perfect movie to adapt into a video-game, as it’s extremely slow-paced and very much about the characters’ arcs. However, there are so many moments in Sicario that would be great if they were controlled by players in a video-game.
The scene where they’re navigating their way through the secret tunnels in night vision was almost made to be played. And the sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, has just as many terrifying but exciting action scenes, and as a third movie was heavily hinted at but is unlikely to ever get made, a video game combining the first two movies and going on to round out Alejandro’s story would do the series justice.
The Nice Guys (2016)
The Nice Guys is one of the most rewatchable movies of the past decade, as it follows Jackson and Holland with an odd couple type relationship bouncing around 1970s L.A. solving crimes. The two private detectives have completely different ways of approaching crime-solving and having them both as playable characters would be great. It’d be similar to L.A. Noire, which is also based in the city of angels and sees players freely roaming around solving crimes in the 1940s. The thing about L.A. Noire is that it wasn’t very exciting and none of the characters had any interesting personalities, but Jackson and Holland have enough personality to carry a whole 20+ hour story mode.
Ant-Man (2015)
There are strong arguments to be made about all of the Avengers deserving their own video-games. And the release of last year’s Avengers may come with dollops of new DLC that sees more unlockable characters, but the superhero who deserves it more than anyone else is Ant-Man.
The Ant-Man movies comprise some of the best action sequences of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and being able to shrink and enlarge anything at will, especially random objects like Pez dispensers and toy trains, would change the way players look at a level. The game mechanics in an Ant-Man game would be truly ground-breaking.
Baby Driver (2017)
While Edgar Wright is busy developing a sequel to Baby Driver, it’d be great to imagine a tie-in video game in development too, as the original features some of Wright’s most impressive action sequences. There are so many driving games on the market today, whether it’s Need for Speed or Gran Turismo, but they’re all franchises that barely change with each game, and they have all become pretty repetitive.
But with Baby Driver being another movie about a getaway driver, there’s a twist, as Baby drives to the beat of the music he listens to. The game would see players trying to hit each stunt and maneuver in time with the music. It’d harken back to the cult PlayStation games Stuntman and Stuntman: Ignition, which sees players trying to hit stunts in vehicles at just the right time.
21 Jump Street (2012)
A video game of the series was already alluded to in 22 Jump Street, as the post-credits scene saw the characters poking fun at Hollywood’s love of rebooting movies, turning them into franchises, and making sequels (while being both a reboot and a sequel itself). The video game saw both Schmidt and Jenko shooting truckloads of chickens and driving in a muscle car evading a helicopter in low 8-bit quality. Though it was making fun of itself, a video game following the undercover cops, whether it’s high school, college, or culinary school, would be loads of fun.
John Wick (2014)
The reason there should be a John Wick game is almost a given, as the movies themselves are already 90% action. John Wick would make a great third-person shooter. It’d never get repetitive either, as gameplay could mix running and gunning, hunting down enemies, evading others, and the array of weapons and upgrades available to the player would make Call of Duty look like child’s play.
The Continental being the safe haven of the movie could even be the lobby in the game, where players can save the game, look at their stats, and sort out their itinerary. And as the series becomes more of a globe-trotting affair with each movie, the games could see Wick not only visit Rome and Casablanca, which have been seen in the movies, but other European cities too.