Top video game movies of all time: part 2

Video game movies — are something that fans of the game series often look forward to, and that viewers who know nothing about the universe are willing to watch. They may appeal to both categories of viewers, or they may appeal to neither. And, unfortunately, the latter option is not very uncommon.

And unfortunately, the latter option is not very uncommon.

10. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

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Amidst the most notable blockbuster movies based on video games ever made, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” was a strange movie from the start. It was based on a video game series that was already starting to lose popularity in favor of newer games —Assassin’s Creed, but thanks to a huge budget and Jake Gyllenhaal’s star power, it was able to exist as a successful action movie in its own right.

And it’s the only one that’s ever been made.

What helped “Prince of Persia” succeed where so many others have failed? Aside from a stellar cast, which also included Ben Kingsley, the film retained the emphasis on high-flying stunts and gorgeous environments that were at the heart of the game series. This allowed the movie to deviate from the source material when necessary, without abandoning it.

The movie’s focus on the action sequences and the great environments of the original series has been a major part of the movie’s success.

11. Final Fantasy

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Final Fantasy may have changed not only video game adaptations forever, but the movie industry as well. The CG-animated movie was simply gorgeous, wowing longtime Final Fantasy fans accustomed to the rendered cinematic scenes of the PlayStation games. In addition, the movie promised to give the first artificial actress Aki Ross.

Aki Ross.

Everyone — from Alec Baldwin to Steve Buscemi participated in the voice acting, but without a compelling story tying everything together, the game didn’t get the massive reach Square hoped for. That didn’t stop the producers from later releasing a companion movie to Final Fantasy VII, but the animated films’ large budgets and sluggish reception made it clear why they weren’t continued for years. After the disappointing release of Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, they may be dead for good.

After the disappointing release of Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, they may be dead for good.

12. Doom

If there’s one thing that doesn’t matter in the Doom franchise, it’s the plot. The 2016 rebooted Doom game realized this, and even turned its nose up at some characters’ attempts to explain what was going on. The Doom movie tried to make the universe horrifying rather than silly, and the result is something quite different from classic shooters. Most of all, it feels more like Doom 3 — a game that was once recognized for its technical achievements, but ended up being a creative obstacle for the series that lasted more than a decade.

Doom 3 — a game that was recognized for its technical achievements, but ended up being a creative obstacle for the series that lasted more than a decade.

Dwayne Johnson turning into a demon in the movie’s final moments was one of its few highlights, as was a very silly first-person shooting sequence that was clearly included to appease fans of the series who wondered why they had paid money to see the movie. However, a few minutes aren’t enough to save even mediocre movies, so maybe Doom should have gone the Hardcore Henry route and made the movie entirely in first-person.

13. Warcraft

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Warcraft has a long and complex history, spanning multiple strategy games, novels, and the mega-successful World of Warcraft. The decision to adapt it for film seemed like an impossible task, but Moon director Duncan Jones made the best of it by limiting the Warcraft movie to the events of the original game.

A grand clash between orcs and humans brings both civilizations to the brink of collapse, but the plot’s frequent skipping leaves us with little reason to care about the characters of either side. Despite the huge budget, it’s also comical how poor some of the characters look. The half-orc half-human at the center of the film’s conflict is simply painted green and equipped with fangs, while all the other orcs are computer generated. The inordinately large human armor, which looked a bit silly in the games, looks even more ridiculous in the movie, undermining some of the more dramatic moments.

However, it’s not the only thing that makes the movie look ridiculous.

14. Monster Hunter

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The only thing the Monster Hunter movie needed to do — was to give a decent reason for the existence of giant monsters and our protagonist’s need to hunt them. There’s enough of that in games, and no one complains. Instead we get a convoluted story about a military unit from Earth, yes, our Earth, that gets caught in an alternate universe full of giant monsters. The only way to get home — fight the monsters defending a place called the Sky Tower, which is the source of the portals between the two dimensions. The movie wanders around a very boring place for far too long without the slightest hint of a monster hunt.

Monster hunt.

When the action does get going, it at least looks decent. The monsters are big and intimidating, if a little underwhelming in design compared to their video game counterparts, and the movie has a decent amount of respect for the source material. But the problem is that it all falls flat at the very end of the movie, leaving behind a very lopsided impression.

Monsters are big, if a bit on the nose, and there’s a decent amount of respect for the source material.

15. Assassin’s Creed



The movie Assassin’s Creed took a very different approach than Warcraft, but ended up being met in a similar way. Rather than adapting one of the games, the film told an original story centered around — an assassin (played by Michael Fassbender) who is linked to an ancestor who lived during the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century.

Assassin’s Creed.

Fassbender starred in both roles, which is a strange and innovative approach, and the star-studded cast includes actors like Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons and Michael K. Williams. The movie was flashy and fit the tone of the series well, but it also felt completely disconnected from the games’ storylines. The result was something incomprehensible for general audiences and unnecessary for fans of the games.

The movie was a great movie, but it also felt like it was completely disconnected from the storylines of the games.

16. Street Fighter



The original “Street Fighter” movie from the ’90s is terrible, but that’s nothing compared to the outrage that is 2009’s “Street Fighter.” The decision to move the popular fighting franchise into a police drama was probably not a good one, and the actors look frankly confused as to how they should play their characters. Chris Klein at least has fun playing Charlie Nash, though you wouldn’t realize he’s supposed to be that character unless you heard someone refer to him that way. At least we have Michael Clarke Duncan as the Balrog, so it’s not a total loss.

At least we have Michael Clarke Duncan as the Balrog, so it’s not a total loss.

17. Alone in the Dark

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German director Uwe Boll has become legendary for his low-budget and often infamous video game adaptations. These include “Postal,” “House of the Dead” and “Bloodrayne,” but “Alone in the Dark” stands alone as the low point in Boll’s career.

At the end of his career, Boll’s “Alone in the Dark” is the only one of its kind.

This horror movie, voted one of the worst movies of all time on Metacritic, doesn’t do anything we haven’t seen before, utilizing tropes like evil spirits and a remote, creepy island. It’s not so much the predictable plot that makes the movie memorable, but the fact that it utterly fails to create a sense of suspense or even an unexpected scary scene.

The movie’s plot is not so much predictable as the fact that it completely fails to create a sense of suspense or even an unexpected scary scene.

18. Super Mario Brothers



Without the kind of lowered expectations we now have for video game movies, audiences may not have realized the mess they were in when Super Mario Bros. came out in 1993. The movie was such a failure that it didn’t accurately portray the characters, the setting, or the overall thematic authenticity that anyone who played those games expected to see. 

The movie was such a failure that it didn’t accurately portray the characters, the setting, or the overall thematic authenticity that anyone who played those games expected to see.

Despite the efforts of a stellar cast, including Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper, “Super Mario Bros.” failed miserably and embarrassed the franchise. Yoshi is turned into a terrifying monster, and the few other characters don’t even come close to resembling their in-game counterparts.

Super Mario.