From the Silver Screen to the Console… and back again
A long time ago in a reality far, far away us geeks were limited to reading the novelisation of a movie if we wished to take our experience beyond the screen. Then in his infinite wisdom the god of geeks gave us video games and after a shaky start (I’m looking at you Atari… E.T.) the two caught up with each other. Now in this digital age of cross-platforms and multimedia it’s easy for us to get our fix once the credits have rolled. So here’s a few of my best bets for grabbing that video game franchise fix of your favourite universes.
First up has to be The Walking Dead. The hit comic book that first hit shelves in 2003, which went on to become an even bigger hit T.V. show in 2010, and has recently had a fantastic spin-off with Fear The Walking Dead keeps going from strength to strength. At the moment my money’s on the Walking Dead episodic graphic adventure from Tell Tale Games. Creepy and atmospheric it’s instantly engrossing and with Tell Tale using players in-game choices to influence the writing of further episodes it looks set to be getting even better with every episode (although if you ask me, the sooner Rockstar Games and Kirkman work together, the better).
Unfortunately things haven’t gone quite as well in the other direction; video game to movie. Studios have struggled for years to make a successful movie from a video game franchise (lest we forget Bob Hoskins portrayal of Mario). Perhaps the best in my opinion is the Hitman franchise with its two moderately successful movie adaptations. The latest film Agent-47 has had the developers back in the lab working on a prequel. But if like me you can’t wait till next year for your Hitman fix, the Hitman slot at the home of online roulette at its best, online casino Lucky Nugget Casino, is a great alternative. As well as the usual games including roulette, they have a host of video game based slots that allow you to get that franchise fix while winning jackpots. If you ask me I genuinely doubt that a video game will ever adapt into a truly successful movie, but as long as it keeps inspiring developers to bring out new games in the franchises, I say ‘keep ’em coming’.
Finally, I have to mention Star Wars. Perhaps the most successful in bringing the movie experience to the domain of gaming, with a rich history of great games stretching back to Super Star Wars on the SNES. Their latest Battlefront game has had mixed reviews. As ever, the game play and graphics are fantastic, genuinely transporting you into the Star Wars universe, but that’s pretty much where it ends. With limited maps and a practically non-existent campaign mode the multi-player mode is about all you get, and with limited maps that gets boring quickly. The extra DLC content should improve this, but at an extra cost and with game being so disappointing already, I find myself reluctant to take that gamble.
