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Column > Film/Game Integration
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Why doesn't the Film/Game Integration Work?
Many times have computer games tried to transverse to the big screen, and
vice versa. With none too many successes. The only good games to come from
films are (argueably) Goldeneye 007, the predecessor to Perfect Dark and the
Die Hard Trilogy. Everything else has just been forgotten in that huge void
we call time.
There are some theories on why we can't seem to bridge this gap across the
two largest entertainment industries on the planet. The first being just
that. They are two separate industries. Despite all of the similarities,
they still have fundamental differences. For this reason, the two may never
meet. This idea is flawed in my view. There are far too many comparisons
made everyday between the two for there not to be a connection.
Another theory used by the mainstream is that the length of films is too
short to make a game that'll have the length to play. Again, this is a load
of horse manure. Taking Goldeneye as an example. The film itself is about
one and a half hours. To complete the game to the end, could take anything
from half a day, to a year! The way this was done was they padded out the
story-lines. The legacy of James Bond, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy
Dalton and George Lazenby gave a large back catalogue of gadgets and ideas
to be employed for the game. Also the diversity of the film itself. The
varying landscapes, plausable characters and the immersive if not cheesy
plot lead to a large plethora of levels. The film had many ideas that were
not expanded on, or left unexplained, such as how bond got to the dam, his
travels around russia and a small amount of background on 006 or Janus.
The Die Hard Trilogy was another game that took off from the films loose
ends. Die Hard. You must traverse the Nakatomi Plaza. The film version had
40 floors, and in the game you have to cover most of these floors to reach
your goal. The thing about making a film into a game is that you cannot just
turn it into a digital platform. You have to add things that'll make it
worth playing, even if it strays from original plot. Die Hard had to do this
to include action. In the film, all he had to do was kill about 10 people,
yet hoards of bad guys storm at you from all angles on every floor for the
game.
Die Harder, as a film was more about John McClane solving puzzles, and like
the first film, getting out of tough scrapes. Die Harder, the game decided
that the whole idea must have included shooting. The developers expanded on
this greatly, making a virtua cop style shoot-em-up. All the locations from
the film also make an appearance, so those fans of the film, would feel
right at home. Even the little touches like Bruce Willis saying his famous
"Yippie-kay-ay" add a great deal to the atmosphere.
The final installment of the Die Hard Trilogy, Die Hard with Avengence took
it's inspiration from the taxi scenes from the film. This lead to a
wholesome driving "simulator" that might even stand alone as a separate
game. The insane stunts and mad chases from the film are accurately captured
and handed to you on a plate. Again the poetic license comes into play with
the latter levels still being car based, even though the film has John and
his friend Zeus traipsing everywhere by foot.
There are so many points where both Die Hard Trilogy and Goldeneye could
have gone wrong. Which brings me to the point of my article. Why don't these
conversions work as a whole? I've heavily illustrated those that made the
cut, and far surpassed it, but there are still those games that could make
grown men cry for bring so bad. The list is large, to say the least.
Apocalypse, The Fifth Element, Mission Impossible... All taking from the
success stories and turning to action games. Maybe it was the face that the
films weren't too good anyway that lets down the games. Maybe it's the fact
they stay too close to the plot, that they are dragged down with the film.
Or maybe, just maybe, it's that fact that they once were films...
This evil massacre of possibly mediocre title is not confined to the action
genre though. Small Soldiers. Ring a bell? An interesting film, sort of like
a twisted Toy Story. And the games were indeed a twisted story. Lacking both
gameplay and graphics, these games were not meant to see the light of day.
Maybe they were switched with some quality ideas at birth and no-one took
the care to notice. This we'll never know, and thanks to the dissapointment
of the games, I don't think we really want to find out.
Then there is the versa portion of this arguement. What about those
uber-games that get their accolades recognised and walk their way into
Hollywood? I'm sure you all know the excellant computer game Mario Bros. How
many of you remember the film, saying that, how many of you WANT to
remember? They took everything from the game that we loved, and threw it in
the toilet. All that came out was all that comes out of everyone's toilets.
Rubbish, with the occasional goldfish.
The Angelina Jolie film, Tomb Raider had promise. Here you have a game that
directly rips from the Indiana Jones series. Everyone loves those films, and
consequently, everyone loved the games. But when they went back through the
mirror, something went missing. How come it doesn't have the solid plot
structure of either the film Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider? The stunts are a
sight to behold, but frankly, if you want all the action, just watch
Hollywood's Greatest Stunts. At least you'll learn something.
The Resident Evil series hold their own status as legendary, but a film is
coming out soon. Surely the plot will be torn apart by this new release? I
think not. The director has been cunning to an extreme. The only thing
resembling the Resident Evil games are the copious amounts of zombies. With
the occasional game tie-in. The main characters are nothing to do with any
of the games. The plot is no relation at all, so if it's a flop, everyone
can just claim it was a poor movie with Resident Evil tagged onto the end,
and no damage will be done to the status of Resident Evil as a gaming
pillar.
I think all we can say from this is that games to films, films to games,
any of it, it doesn't work. Unless you can make it breath, sing and dance
like the thing it's trying to replicate but make it dance an entirely new
dance. Capture the atmosphere and the feel, but make it different. Lets hope
some big film makers read this and get the message.
© Cook Train- August, 2001 - RareDark.com
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