3 Reasons Why Video Game Movies Suck

Chris from DC writes: There has been a lot talk of video game movies: Ubisoft have attached two Hollywood stars, Michael Fassbender and Tom Hardy, to their adaptations of Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell. Depending on how you look at it, this is either exciting or excruciating news. We can only hope that these game adaptations will be better than the Hollywood attempts of the past.

[PopRocks359]

Well, not being written as well as Wreck-It Ralph is one reason. You fall into a laundry list of problems when translating a game to a movie. Games and their stories are not always as deep as many films because it's interactive; it's usually more important to keep the player engaged with gameplay as oppose to intrigued with the story (though some games have gotten away with doing the opposite).

Deviating too far from the source material is also often a bad idea. Uwe Boll and the fellow who almost directed Uncharted learned the hard way that fans do not put up with shit, especially when it comes from a beloved franchise of theirs.

@GamingFeud

I know it was an original story and therefor gave the writers a lot more room for experimentation, but keep in mind that they had to do so in a way that did not scorn the image of any of the licensed characters in the film (such as Sonic, Q-Birt, etc.).

It boils down to how good of a writer you have. And with how cinematic games have become, you'd think it would become easier for that transition to happen smoothly.

[CaptainPunch]

Well Wreck-It Ralph was it's own original story. Video game movies fail because the script doesn't transition well.