Top 5 Candidates For Most Epic Video Game Film Adaptation

It is every gamer’s dream to see his favorite game—the one he spends hours and hours dwelling on, exploring, and philosophizing over—transformed into a feature film. In the past few years, many movies based on video games have been released, including Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Street Fighters, and Prince of Persia. Sadly, all of these movies fell short, to say the least, of the epic reputations of their video game parents. (If you watched Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, for example, you will appreciate my sentiment here.)  All that’s left for disappointed gamers to do is appreciate the humor of some independent directors who are trying to fill this gap by exploiting the nonsensicality of certain classics, like this parody of Mario, this other one of Angry Birds, or CollegeHumor’s Minesweeper.

But we, as the passionate and hopeful gamers that we are, never stop believing that the next movie will be the one. The one that will allow us to ecstatically immerse ourselves in a world of joy, popcorn, and gaming culture for countless rainy weekends. The one we’ve been waiting for.

Here are the candidates for the award of Most Awesome Game Film Adaptation Ever Made.

Honorable Mention: Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (2012)

Silent Hill has one of the most impressive and engaging atmosphere-storyline combinations in the history of video games. However, the 2006 Silent Hill movie certainly wasn’t as appealing as the game itself (although it was a lot better than most video game movie adaptations). The filming of the sequel started in March 2011, as director Michael Basset looks to win back Silent Hill fans, this time in 3D. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D deserves a spot as an honorable mention because it is actually the most concrete production so far (and the only one with a set release date).

5. Warcraft (2013)

Millions and millions of World of Warcraft players worldwide would be delighted to see this, which could be the best fantasy movie since The Lord of the Rings. The project has been pushed back a few times, but the release date on IMDB is now set as 2013.  Sam Raimi, from the Spider Man trilogy and The Evil Dead, will direct the movie. I’m praying for him to throw in a Leeroy Jenkins reference.

Marcus Fenix and John Travolta

4. Gears of War (2012?)

Shortly after the release of the first game of the Gears of War series, critics praised the game’s “outstanding technical achievement,” but said that the “story could have been a little bit more fleshed out.” Epic Games, the video game developing company with the most epic name in the market, certainly responded to the critics for the making of the sequel. Gears of War 2 is one of those games that makes you question whether you’re playing a game or watching a movie anyway. Not only are the graphics unmatched, but the storyline is much deeper and thoughtful than its predecessor’s.

There is still much speculation surrounding the production of the movie. Fans are fearful it won’t be filmed at all, and with reason. Although on IMDB the movie’s release date is set on 2012, Epic Games has recently directed all of their attention to the making of Gears of War 3, which will be released on September 20, 2011.  Depending on its success, we may or may not see our favorite alien killers on the screen. But considering Epic Games’ credibility, it’s difficult to think that Gears of War 3 won’t be as awesome, if not more, than the first two games of the series.

It gives me goose bumps just to think about Ridley Scott directing John Travolta, as Marcus Fenix, leading his Delta Squad as they ignite some gooey locusts. (I mean, at least they look alike.) At the same time, if the producers don’t get a large enough budget, I can also see this movie becoming simply another Hollywood-ean Resident Evil leftover.

3. BioShock (2013?)

Although I am very biased, considering it is one of my favorite games of all time, no game other than BioShock has the potential to be adored by not only gamers but also by their friends, parents, and grandparents.  BioShock is one of those unique games that has the power to take your breath away, make you shiver, and make you cry in a single scene. Not to mention that a 3D-version of Rapture would be amazing. Personally, I’d love to see James Cameron and Hans Zimmer involved. Unfortunately, it seems that the movie studios are stubborn in making the adaptation of this mature-rated game a PG 13 film, which would take much away from its atmosphere and plot.

Irrational Games is now developing the third game of the series, BioShock Infinite, and it is difficult to watch its teaser trailer without being teased by it. Don’t you just wish Rapture, Columbia, or any other steampunk-ish, awesome-looking, Victorian city existed in real life?

2. Metal Gear Solid (?)

Christian Bale and Snake

Hideo Kojima’s classic is being adapted to the big screen by none other than Kojima himself, and Christian Bale is supposed to take on the role of Snake, our favorite spy and special operations soldier. Many of the MGS series games seem like they were designed with a movie adaptation already in mind. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, for instance, has several short clips (or even a trailer) that could be directly converted to film form. The movie, however, has been postponed indefinitely, due to the worry that a bad movie might destroy the integrity of the entire series.

1. Halo (2012?)

Halo is undeniably the front-runner in this competition. Equipped with heavy marketing, Bungie even made several advertisement short videos based on Halo that could have made the cast of The Expendables jealous. Microsoft’s best selling videogame ever has the potential to easily top Avatar as the best 3D science fiction blockbuster thriller ever made.

Now that even Spielberg is supposedly interested in the production of the movie, Halo fans can be hopeful about a happy ending to this saga. We all hope my their dreams come true.