Top video game adaptations ever made: 'Werewolves Within', 'Mortal Kombat', and more
While there have been countless worthwhile movies and TV shows that were based on books. But when it comes to adapting video games, writers and directors more often than not tend to miss the mark. While novels translate pretty nicely to screen, video games, which are actually another form of screen entertainment with interactive elements, often turn into those horrible, unwatchable basterdisations. Things are so bad that some even say video game adaptations are cursed — that no matter how hard you try, a movie or a film based on a video game will suck. There are, of course, exceptions. The latest of those is HBO's 'The Last of Us', which has received nearly universally positive critical reception.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of some great movies and shows based on video games:
'The Witcher'
Based on Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's book series of the same name that also spawned uber-popular series of RPG video games by CD Projekt RED, 'The Witcher' is set in a fictional universe. In the universe, dubbed simply the Continent, where mythical (in our world) races like dwarves, elves, and monsters exist. While the first two are not dissimilar to humans, more or less, if much lower on the class ladder, the third kind is dangerous. And to take care of that, an order of specially trained and mutated humans called Witchers was created long ago. Despite some criticism (and the loss of its star Henry Cavill), the series has proved to be one of Netflix's most popular products.
(Photograph:Others)
'Mortal Kombat' (2021)
Based on the classic ultra-violent fighting video game series, 2021's 'Mortal Kombat' featured fun callbacks to the games and introduced a nice springboard for a franchise, though it was in itself not perfect. All this to say, it was better as promise for future installments than a movie. Still, it was diverting enough and those callbacks served were quite crowd-pleasing.
(Photograph:Others)
'Sonic the Hedgehog'
The marketing of 'Sonic the Hedgehog' was off to a bad start when fans and potential moviegoers were repelled by the character design of uncanny valley-inducing titular character. But the makers listened to the fans and delivered one of the best video game adaptations in the recent years with a funny script, performances, and visuals. Jim Carrey's cartoonish Dr. Robotnik was simply a cherry on the top.
(Photograph:Others)
