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"Games to Movies-Movies to Games, Do They Work??"

Quite a few popular games have been made into movies, and some popular movies have been made into games. With the release of Tomb Raider on the big screen, starring Angelina Jolie, I thought I'd go through the good points and the bad points, of the transformation of games to movies, and vice versa.

Lets start with games to movies. As I've said, the PlayStation, PC and Dreamcast game Tomb Raider, has been made into a big Hollywood movie, with Angelina Jolie starring as the heroine Lara Croft. The series was loved all over the world (although I, personally, didn't like it much, especially the way she moved. How many times did I walk into walls?! Arrgghh!!)
Due to it's popularity (I believe Lara's chest contributed largely), it was decided that it would make the perfect movie.
Although, I feel that a game with a better plot (Metal Gear Solid, Deus Ex) would have been a better choice, the action in the TR games might prove the choice to be a good one after all.
So, in a choice of HIT, MISS or MAYBE my verdict on this movie is...MAYBE!

My feelings are sort of the same for another game that is apparently being turned into a movie AND a TV Series. Perfect Dark, which was a huge hit for the N64 (mainly because of it's superb multiplayer mode,) is set to hit our screens quite soon, when Rare accepted an offer for the PD movie/TV licensing.
Once again, I don't agree with this choice. The plot in Perfect Dark is...basic. For a game, the plot's pretty good, but a movie?? A TV series?? Somehow, I just don't think so.

But guess what?? The star of PD is the luscious Joanna Dark (I suspect a beautiful-but-tough Hollywood superstar to take her role in the movie,) and just like in TR, I can expect to see the boys watching Joanna Dark on the big screen, and nothing else.
I suppose there will be some good action, and some 'nice' weapons, but I think this movie may be a...MISS!

There are a few others, Resident Evil was announced as being made into a movie quite a while ago, and although I haven't heard much on it, this movie could be rather good. It gets a MAYBE, just because I haven't heard much about this lately.

Lets move on hastily, shall we??

Quite a few movies have been turned into some sort of game, and I have to admit it, not many of them are any good.

Take Tomorrow Never Dies on PlayStation. A good enough Bond movie, but in many people's minds, an awful game. The graphics aren't special, gameplay is annoying, movement is annoying, it's not very long and there's no multiplayer.

But there is good news!! Everyone loves the Star Wars saga (Ant smiles hopefully,) and I take it everyone loved Episode 1!! (Everyone shuffles feet until finally someone shouts out, "No, you mindless idiot!"

Well, some people liked it, and I'm one of them. And I have to say, the video games that have come out of the series are rather good as well. The Phantom Menace, which is out on PC and PlayStation got a mixed reception. I loved it, PSM loved it. Others such as GameSpot, hated it.

Then there was Jedi Power Battles, out on PlayStation and Dreamcast. This game was a big hit due to it's great action, and it's superb gameplay features. (Ant begins to grumble) Of course, if the ledges weren't so damn far away from eachother, then I'd be able to get past the 4th level....anyway, this game was a success.

Episode 1: Racer was a simulation of the Pod Racing Event in Episode 1. Due to it's awesome popularity, it was released on N64, PC and PSX. The sequel is soon to be released on the one and only PlayStation 2.

Star Wars: StarFighter is a major hit on PS2, along with Battle For Naboo on N64.

The only poor game that has come from Episode 1 is Super Bimbad Racing, which leaves a lot to be desired.

So, the conversion from movie to game was a success there. But what else is there??

Aliens Vs Predator on PC, that's what. With awesome graphics, gameplay, sound, weapons and online multiplayer, this game was a massive hit. A definite success. The same goes for the Die Hard Trilogy, which is a hugely fun game on PSX.


So overall, it's not too bad. Games to movies are yet to prove themselves, but movies to games have proved to be quite popular, apart from the rare occasion.
I personally hope the Tomb Raider movie works out well, and also hope that more great movies get turned into great games.

Thanks for reading, An-"What about TV Programs?!" You all ask.

*Ant shudders* Just 2 words. X-Files.

Thanks for reading, Ant.

Wòókiee Møn§†€R wrote:
> Ant wrote:
> Is it really that good??? Hmmmm...even though I
> didn't
> like the game, I may see the movie.


Put it this
> way, despite the critics opinions, it was America's highest-grossing
> film in its opening weekend, taking $48 million.

Ah, I see. Sounds good, then.

How was the holiday, by the way??

Ant wrote:
> Is it really that good??? Hmmmm...even though I didn't
> like the game, I may see the movie.


Put it this way, despite the critics opinions, it was America's highest-grossing film in its opening weekend, taking $48 million.

Wòókiee Møn§†€R wrote:
> New Jimmy wrote:
> Ill wait until I see the TombRaider film
> before I comment, although
> I think in the past the transition
> from Videogames to the
> SilverScreen has been terrible
> (Shudders at thought of Streetfighter
> Movie).



I saw
> Tomb Raider two weeks ago while I was in Florida! 24-screen cinema
> in Disney's Pleasure Island.

If you like the game, you'll like
> the film. I loved it - by far the best game-to-film conversion
> ever. And apparently they're doing 2 sequels, too.

Just like the
> game, then! :-)

Go see it - I'll be surprised if you're
> disappointed.

Is it really that good??? Hmmmm...even though I didn't like the game, I may see the movie.

New Jimmy wrote:
> Ill wait until I see the TombRaider film before I comment, although
> I think in the past the transition from Videogames to the
> SilverScreen has been terrible (Shudders at thought of Streetfighter
> Movie).



I saw Tomb Raider two weeks ago while I was in Florida! 24-screen cinema in Disney's Pleasure Island.

If you like the game, you'll like the film. I loved it - by far the best game-to-film conversion ever. And apparently they're doing 2 sequels, too.

Just like the game, then! :-)

Go see it - I'll be surprised if you're disappointed.

Personally, I thought the Mortal Kombat movie wasn't that bad.

But the Street Fighter one?? No thanks.

I know I responded to this in the Movies forum, but that was from the Games to films angle, now I'll give my thoughts on films to games.

The thing about films is that essentially they tell a story.Or a least they should. Games should not simply tell a story, but let you take it in many different directions, leading to all manor of possible conclusions. Games don't really do that yet, with the only possibilities being you complete the tasks and move on, or you don't and you die.

As games aren't based around the story, the fact that they're based on a movie shouldn't make any difference to their quality whatsoever. But when linked to a movie, certain expectations are made. With the James Bond games, Goldeneye and TWINE, they stuckpretty well to the basic plot of the movie, and made the game fun, with the new 007 game coming to the PS2, there is no existing story to work to, so you have no expectations of what should be in the game.

Anyway, as I was saying it depends wholly on the developers whether the game is any good, and it seems tome that sometimes getting a movie licenced game out to coincide with the movie is more important than getting it out to actually be any good!

If you look at any of the better film-games they're the ones that were released much much later than the movies, so were not working to release at the time of the movie. Goldeneye was out years after the film, and it was a class game. Star Wars games have been of various qualities over the years, but none were launched to coincide with the movies.

Some games are just bad, replacing all of the characters with ones from a movie doesn't make it any less bad, but it does make it sell more copies. I mean how did they turn A Nightmare on Elm Street into a NES platform game?

tv-games: a largely untapped source (with the exception of childrens shows) for example star trek games always seem to do well, simpsons games(independant of the quality of the game)always seem to do well, so why not convert more shows like 7 days, farscape, angel, and I'm sure there is a whole back cataogue of shows that could be converted.
games-tv:probably about the same sucess rate as games-film.

games to movies: what seems to be a sure fire hit always goes wrong somewhere down the line
movies to games: what seems to be a sure fire hit most of the time seems to go wrong somewhere down the line, with some exceptions like golden eye and some star wars games.

pokemon seemed to do ok but thats probably because its a whole games-cartoons-merchandise-films-merchandise = big profit

Yes it probaly, hopefully will, but it won't have Angelina Jolie!!!

i thought the Perfect Dark plot would make a pritty good film actually.