Do games work well as movies? Nope, and this is why

Throughout the history of cinema, adaptations have been a cornerstone of the industry and why? Simply put, it is much easier to adapt a story from a novel, comic, or biography as the work has already been detailed to the point where the writer and director merely condense the source material into less than 3 hours (mostly) and give it a sparkling visual treatment. Stanley Kubrik and Steven Spielberg have literally made their careers out of this process and there is nothing wrong with it as long as you do it right.
This all being the case, why is it so that video games never seem to be adapted well into the film medium? There are a number of variables that have made the transposing of this media a virtual impossibility, each equally as important as the next. To paraphrase film critic Roger Ebert’s statement that video games will never be art, I respectfully disagree – video games are art as long as we treat them as art and realise that artistry has been used to create the work, this is just as pertinent to game development as it is to the creation of a cinematic masterpiece.
Once again I reiterate why videogames, even as an equal art form cannot be realised in film successfully.

Control is the master key of the entire difference between the mediums of film and gaming. No matter how absorbing an underlying story is in a videogame, the truth remains that the medium’s progression is dictated by the user’s choice and interaction. For instance, a game like Gears of War (Epic Games) has an incredibly linear player progression however the game still relies on the player creating the choice of how to approach a specific situation.
Another point in question is the relation of time to that of approach. For the majority of games, the time span of gameplay exceeds the limit of a typical film length - on average about 90 - 120 minutes). The length is not based on the written length of the story, which at most should equate to 30 minutes but rather the progression of narrative due to the users participation. A mere puzzle in the Legend of Zelda (Nintendo), no matter how simple will increase the games length due to the player’s individual approach to the puzzle…and if you’re me then you can bet it will take a while.

Right? Down? Perhaps that cave?

Films will usually follow a narrative derived from an idea called “The heroes quest”. This quest is an organisation of plots that chronicle the protagonists journey from humble beginnings to their trials and tribulations and eventually to the conquest of the antagonist culminating in the almost inevitable “and they lived happily ever after” myth. Games typically have a different approach to story telling. First and foremost the character always will have an origin and this mostly takes place as a “player tutorial” event. The origin event is mostly a minor story arc with a brief intro into the setting. A small development of the main characters occur as is natural to this scripted gameplay method however, one deciding difference in progression will happen after the origin. This difference comes in the form of the notion that singular choice accesses a smaller but still significant plot device known as the shortcut. The shortcut or any choice for that matter changes the direction of the scene and what better example to use than the original Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo) where simply taking a different tunnel will alter where the setting leads…well perhaps Mario wasn’t the best example as the franchise is known for its distinct minimalist narrative.

The concept of death in most video games is unavoidable. Death takes what should be a superhuman character with a destiny of conquest and transports him into a world where he is no more mortal than you and I. This leads to repetition and stunts evolution of the gaming story. The repetition of the characters fall is a tenet of the gaming formula - they want you to die so that you will become the hero and strive to become a super man and overcome their challenges as though they were your own.

The principle difference between video games and film is the fact that progress is decided by our interaction with the medium. It goes without saying that cinema merely requires our presence as an audience sitting, being the camera, associating with the characters however video games recognize this idea with a more hands on approach (excuse the pun). We are the character and no matter how cinematic the experience, the fact is that the story as witnessed in the Call of Duty series moves along with the help of a button press or two. The video game technology makes the player aware of the medium as opposed to cinema which tries to mask the viewer’s physical presence. This point is the proverbial kick in the pants of what defines our participation in the medium of interactive gaming as opposed to cinema.

Games allow for a immersive and personal experience, in fact games are designed to make us feel as though we are the main character. Games also tend to create shallow main characters as a proxy to allow the player to feel more integrated in the experience. Unfortunately this doesn’t translate well into film as the last thing that we are expected to feel during a film is the idea of control over how the protagonist views his/her reality. First person shooters have the ability to immerse us as closely to the story as one can possibly imagine due to the player’s inability to see oneself. Games like Half-life (Valve) take this concept to the extreme where the character of Gordon Freeman never utters a single word (or grunt for that matter). Valve even went so far as to eliminate the reflection of the main character in surfaces where his presence would be expected. This notion of the proxy character does not translate well into cinema as the lack of character depth doesn’t make for convincing character driven stories.

Does Gordon Freeman really look like this?

I won’t lie when I say that I avoid video game adaptations. I believe that games both old and new have earned a place on any gaming platform that they have been released onto but please for the sake of all things Halo and Metal Gear, just let them rest with respect. I don’t intend on watching the recent Prince of Persia adaptation for risk of it appearing as a waste of celluloid. Uwe Boll has based his entire career on terrible game adaptations (sadly he tenaciously clings to the idea that he is a talented director like a rat to a sinking nuclear capable submarine) but let it be known that Prince of Persia may have a chance considering it’s Jerry Bruckheimer produced ensemble and thankful lack of Uwe Boll.
What I’ve written today, you can choose to believe or maybe it should be downed with a pinch of salt but a life of gaming and film has enlightened me to the fact that not every aspect of reality is destined for a silver screen appearance.