Movies have a complicated history with video game adaptations. I’m not referring to movies based on games—though they have their own spotty reputation—but rather licensed games attached to film franchises. While some movie games have become genre-defining icons, most fail to live up to their namesakes.
The best games based on films aren’t directly tied to their source material, but instead come from less official sources. Some games walk a fine line between being fan-made homages and blatant knockoffs, but they capture the essence of their inspirations in ways that most licensed titles fail to emulate. If you’re looking for the best games that let you immerse yourself in the worlds of your favorite films, you need to start playing gaming’s indirect adaptations.
Indirect Adaptions are the Best Kind of Rip-Off
On the surface, video games seem like the perfect medium for delivering exciting adaptions of beloved franchises. With games, you may step into the roles of iconic action heroes or roam around worlds that you’ve only seen on the big screen.
Licensed games try to bring that immersive quality to your favorite film franchises, but they rarely carry the same appeal as the movies they’re replicating. Most licensed games end up being disappointingknockoffs of other games, relying solely on their brand-recognition to set them apart from every other generic gaming experience. That doesn’t always result in a bad game, but their lack of creativity makes many movie games feel like a waste of potential, especially for films with creative concepts that still haven’t been properly explored in games.
However, some games are indirect adaptations, meaning they lift ideas from popular media without using the official license. While it’s not uncommon for games to take some inspiration from other works, these indirect adaptions can sometimes get dangerously close to being outright plagiarism. In most cases, an indirect adaptation will share the same exact premise as another work, albeit with enough minor differences to be considered legally distinct. Indirect adaptations aren’t the most original games, but that’s partially what makes them worth playing.
At their best, playing an indirect adaptation can feel like stepping into the films they’re based on. Whereas most licensed games use their source material as nothing more than a backdrop for their otherwise generic gameplay, indirect adaptions transform familiar film premises into one-of-a-kind experiences. These games may not feature any of the recognizable iconography or famous characters of the original work, but they’re still capable of immersing you in familiar scenarios ripped straight out of cinema’s greatest hits.
Indirect Adaptations Are Better Than the Real Thing
Every video game adaptation presents a different interpretation of its source material. Some games place their focus solely on a film’s action and memorable spectacles. This is mostly commonly seen in games based onsci-fi serieslikeStar WarsandMobile Suit Gundam, which often emphasize their action and iconic weaponry over their storytelling. However, other games in these same franchises bring a broader focus to their expansive worlds, placing storytelling and interactive narratives at the forefront of these adaptations. Both types of adaptations are faithful representations of their respective series, but neither captures the full scope of their source material.
The same problem applies to most other series. Officially licensed games often build their entire identity around one particular facet that fans enjoy, while ignoring other fundamental elements of the franchise. Meanwhile, indirect adaptations combine everything that defines a film to deliver the definitive video game adaptation.
Recently, theStarship Troopersseries made an unexpected resurgence among gaming audiences thanks to both an official release—Starship Troopers: Extermination—and the incredibly popularHelldivers 2. Both games adaptStarship Troopersin very similar fashions; using the film series as a basis for multiplayer shooters centered around completing team-based objectives while surviving against overwhelming swarms of giant alien bugs. However,Helldivers 2commits to itsStarship Troopersinspiration in ways thatExterminationbarely touches.
Outside the PVE levels,Helldivers 2portrays its fictional war through a dynamic story that evolves alongside the community’s actions. Players may need to complete limited-time events to avoid suffering setbacks in the grander Galactic War, or vote in community polls to decide on Super Earth’s next course of action.
Adding to theStarship Troopersinfluence,Helldivers 2even captures the original film’s biting political satire through in-universe propaganda designed to reflect the totalitarian nature of Super Earth’s government with its message of spreading “freedom” across the galaxy through brute force. Despite not being an officialStarship Troopersgame,Helldivers 2reflects the original movie’s identity and core message better than its own successors.
Helldivers 2isn’t the only game to have indirectly adapted an older film.Grand Theft Auto: Vice Cityis a secret adaptation ofScarface; one that allows you to play out Tony Montana’s brutal climb through the criminal underworld of 1980s Miami—albeit with a new cast of characters and a much lighter tone.
Vice Cityisn’t a total rehash ofScarface, but it flawlessly emulates the original film’s tonal contrast of the upbeat 80s nightlife and the relentless violence of the criminal lifestyle, all while retainingGrand Theft Auto’ssignature witty humor. WhenScarfacefinally did receive an official licensed game with 2006’sScarface: The World Is Yours, it turned out to be aGrand Theft Autoclone with a new plot that shares much more in common withVice Citythan the film it’s based on.
Dead Risingsimilarly transformed George A. Romera’sDawn of the Deadinto a masterpiece of a game, placing players in a horrific setting that’s eerily similar to the iconic zombie flick. Much like its cinematic predecessor,Dead Risingcenters around a small group of survivors trapped in a zombie-infested shopping mall, chronicling their attempts to escape the mall while defending themselves against undead hordes and their fellow humans.
However,Dead Risingisn’t a generic zombie game that happens to be set in a mall. Instead, the game takes advantage of its cinematic influence at every turn.
Dead Risinglets you find a use for nearly anything you find in the mall. you’re able to wield water guns against armies of the undead, cook food with ingredients scavenged from the food court, or visit stores to dress up in various outfits and accessories. However, you’ll also be racing against the clock to save other survivors and pursue time-sensitive objectives, requiring you to learn the layout of the mall while adapting to the many new challenges and threats that arise with each passing day.
Much likeDawn of the Dead, the game blends tension, horror, and humor into one unforgettable experience, making the shopping mall feel like as much of an apocalyptic playground as it is a battleground.
Many people forget thatDawn of the Deadwas both a grim horror film and a zany comedy. Its depiction of the zombie apocalypse often felt hopeless and unforgiving, yet the film is never too serious to avoid a musical shopping montage or a pie-tossing biker gang.Dead Risingmight be the only game to matchDawn of the Dead’seccentric horror-comedyand inventive setting.
WhileDead Risinglets you gear up in gaudy suits and dropkick zombies down escalators, it never stops being an immersive experience that requires you to use every tool, trinket, and piece of furniture at your disposal.Dead Risingis an amazing interactive encapsulation of everythingDawn of the Deadrepresents; maybe doing its job too well, as its similarities to the film landed developer Capcom in a brief legal battle againstDawn of the Dead’s copyright holders.
There are plenty of other games that have indirectlyadapted popular movies into virtual worlds. Some of the most famous examples includeResident Evil 7’s obvious resemblance toThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre,Silent Hill’s shared aesthetic withJacob’s Ladder,Uncharted’s obvious inspirations fromIndiana Jones, andDeadly Premonitionbeing the most blatant (and arguably best) rip-off ofTwin Peaks. Although some fans might prefer licensed games over their obvious imitators, indirect adaptions often understand their source material better than the official games.
Even the Best Licensed Games Make the Same Mistakes
Licensed games often struggle to appeal to fans while delivering an entertaining experience that’s true to the source material. Assuming the game isn’t a rushed cash grab, developers of these games are always faced with a variety of difficult questions: How do you make familiar stories feel fresh again? How do you appeal to longtime fans while remaining approachable to newcomers? Most importantly: Where do you even start when adapting other mediums to gaming? Most licensed games find their answers in safe, risk-free ideas.
Licensed games regularly fit into popular categories like fighting games and open-world shooters, but they rarely use their cinematic origins to bring new ideas to these genres. You might recognize familiar characters and scenes from the source material, but licensed games rarely go through the effort of creating truly unique experiences that feel tailored to their respective franchises.
That’s not to say licensed games have been terrible. If anything, thestandard for licensed gamesis higher than it’s ever been. Recent releases likeRobocop: Rogue City,Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and any of Insomniac’s recentSpider-Mangames are amazingly creative adaptations of their series. Even if these games weren’t attached to a license, anybody familiar with the franchises could still recognize the unmistakable influence on their gameplay and stories—whether that’s through the unstoppable power fantasy of becoming Robocop or the thrill ofswinging through New York as Spider-Man.
Unfortunately, many developers that share a similar passion for specific franchises don’t always get the chance to work on official adaptations. In most cases, prominent licensed properties are instead left to larger studios, resulting in bland adaptions that resemble their source material on the surface, but lack the creativity of the original films.
More Games Should Learn From Different Mediums
Despite their reputation, movie-based games are the perfect means of bringing new ideas to the gaming industry. Past titles like Rare’sGoldenEye 007, Rocksteady’sBatman: Arkham Asylum, and Bioware’sStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republicwere all massively influential on their respective genres. Thanks to their film inspirations, each of these games introduced new ideas that would become mainstays in later releases and reinvented long-established genre conventions in ways that can still be felt today.
Games thattake inspiration from a wide variety of sources—whether they’re licensed adaptations or loosely-inspired rip-offs—are often the ones that push gaming forward the most. However, developers shouldn’t have to wait for a famous franchise to come knocking on their door. Indirect adaptations already show the creative possibilities of transforming familiar films into one-of-a-kind gaming experiences, so more studios need to start embracing their biggest inspirations through their own original (or not-so-original) releases.
