CONSTANTINOS PSILLIDES gets gripped by movies based on videogames to check out on Netflix

The newest videogame adaptation to make it to Netflix, Resident Evil, dropped on Thursday but I’m not sure people can connect to it. It is, after all, the story of a global pandemic than runs unchecked forcing people to quarantine so you know, totally alien to us.

To be fair, there are flesh-eating zombies but hey, have you checked Parliament lately?

Videogame adaptations are rarely good although I can’t blame the creators. It is a completely different medium and artistic liberties should be taken to properly adapt it but therein lies the problem, as fans are lightning quick to bash any deviation from the game and studios live in fear of pissing off fans. Compromises are made and the final product is usually, well, just OK.

If you are a fan of videogame adaptations, here are some more suggestions.

Assassin’s Creed

I love the Assassin’s Creed game series. Sure, after Black Flag the series went downhill until Origins strode along, but overall this history-based stealth game where you murder various historical figures as part of an ancient cast of assassins has been a favourite.

The movie adaptation? Not so much.

Michael Fassbender stars as Cal Lynch, a criminal who is about to be executed but saved at the very last minute by a shadowy corporation – OF COURSE, there is a shadowy corporation – because they discovered that he is a living descendant of a mythical assassin so they need him to unlock his ancestor’s genetic memory. Does it sound ludicrous? Well, it is. If you are a hardcore fan and just want to see the game come to life, you will love this. Other than that, hard pass.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Are you ready? Here it goes. This movie is enjoyable. Sonic is a great way to spend a couple of hours with your kids watching something everyone will like. Children will fall in love with the brightly coloured, wise-cracking hedgehog and adults will love Jim Carrey as Dr Robotnik, Sonic’s Nemesis. Plot? Do you need one? It has something to do with rings and other dimensions but it’s really of no importance. Just enjoy the jokes and Jim Carrey being, well, Jim Carrey.

Warcraft

A movie based on a massive online game was doomed to fail from the start. There was just no chance the studio would succeed in this endeavour. So it happened: critics roasted it, and audiences turned their backs. Here’s the thing though: it is not nearly as bad as it could be, especially if you are a lifelong fan of the game. The effects are amazing – for the time – and the plot is not that different from any other sword-and-sandal fantasy movie.

Warcraft tells the story of Anduin Lothar, a human, and Durotan, an orc, both leaders of their respective factions in a never-ending war, who come to realise that the true enemy is not each other.

Arcane

Arcane should be the golden standard when it comes to videogame adaptations. Not only for its complex and nuanced worldbuilding and character development but for the way it was created. Studios took the enormously famous League of Legends game, chose the elements they wanted to keep and adapted it into an animated series by using the game as an inspiration and nothing more.

One of the most watched series on Netflix, Arcane tells the story of sisters Vi and Linx and their struggle to survive in the city of Piltover, a place where science and magic overlap. A great watch, cannot recommend it enough.

Resident Evil

After six movie adaptations starring Mila Jovovich, I believe the Resident Evil franchise needs no introduction. If you somehow missed it, here it is. Evil corporation works on a virus, the virus gets released, zombies. The Netflix series is the most recent attempt to cash in on the franchise and tells the story of Billie and Jade, the children of Dr Albert Wesker (the always delightful Lance Reddick) who was involved in the original virus project. The series plays in two different timelines: one where Wesker is studying the virus and one 14 years later, after an apocalypse that reduced the Earth’s population to 300 million. Deviating from the source material, Resident Evil is a much better series than it has any right to be and makes for a great watch over the weekend.