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Adapting a video game into a movie is not an easy task — many have tried and failed. There are a variety of reasons for this for starters, covering 20+ hours of playtime into a 2-hour movie can be really challenging. Covering the key twist and turns of the plot and adjusting them into a movie can be an onerous piece of work.
Explaining a complete video game storyline is nearly impossible, which is why many key components of the plot get left out from the final screenplay and the fans have to go home fuming at the directors.
After careful analysis of various movies based on video games, we have ranked the worst movies that take inspiration from video games.
Alone in the dark
After helming the distasteful movie adaptation of the “House of the dead” video game, director Uwe Boll set forth on a pretty similar course. Alone in the dark starts off really slow and continues to disappoint throughout, be it the initial 5-minute-long narration paired with scrolling text on screen, the lack of backstories for the characters, or the sheer absence of an actual plot. The movie holds no similarities to the video game whatsoever except of course the names of the main characters.
House of the dead
Another Uwe Boll-directed abomination, the plot of House of the Dead revolves around some young adults who very conveniently find themselves on a zombie island. Surprisingly, the worst part of the film is not the bad direction, or the comical acting, or the subpar dialogues, it is rather the annoying cuts to clips from the original arcade game throughout the movie, not frightening in the slightest.
Double Dragons
When you first learn what this movie is about, two martial artists on a mission to save their adoptive mother/trainer in a post-apocalyptic California, you might just not understand why Double Dragons made it to this list. Although, the abysmal performance by the actors and a similar script, not to mention the horrid special effects will definitely convince you otherwise.
Street Fighter
Once again, with no similarities to the videogame, except a few minute accidental ones, this movie takes away the one thing that might have made it worth watching. Even Van Damme’s acting could not save it with its mangled exposition of the Street Fighter mythology and a horrible script. However, unlike Street Fighter, you can get the latest live casino games at Casumo which are ridiculously similar to real-life casino games, but also have some of your favorite video-game themed additions too.
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Uwe Boll makes a clean sweep when it comes to directing the best bad movies based on video games. Except for the fact that the lead is played by Jason Statham, the movie has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Overuse of the same shots during action scenes, poor cinematography, and a boring plot are all this movie offers.
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
Although the first part did not set the bar too high either, this sequel is a monumental insult to the games. There is not too much to the plot or the script. Even superficially it has nothing interesting to offer, not with the costumes or the action scenes. All of this makes it very hard to sit through the entire thing.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Unlike most of the movies on this list, The Sands of Time has a bit of a plot to it and of course, time travel, which is intriguing in itself. That is what all the expectations should be limited to though. The try-hard, pretentious nature of the acting could have been taken down a notch and the movie could have done with a tad more action for a much better connection to the games.
Sonic the Hedgehog
All of us remember the repulsive 3d depiction of Sonic the Hedgehog in the trailer that originally came out. They might have managed to rectify their mistake in that particular aspect following the endless critique but against all expectations, the story is not mind-blowing in any sense unless you’re 12 or younger. Jim Carrey’s acting does seem to be the only thing carrying the film at certain points, which seems to have won over audiences are they have greenlit a sequel.
These adaptations have more than failed to amuse the fans. It is really hard turning a video game into a movie; however, tv-series adaptations of video games have proved to be much more popular among the fans, The Witcher is an example in front of our eyes.
