The difficult level change
The first big complication for video game adaptations lies in choosing a title. The history of entertainment is littered with novels labeled as maladjustable, but no game has ever entered the category. Again, its audiovisual nature creates the deceptive feeling that everyone can jump onto the big screen without much hassle.
To this we add that the interest of the film industry does not lie in the titles whose narrative bases would allow a better story, but in the most popular, those whose films would obtain better collections. A double edge bet that does not consider the primary essence of the source material.
Let’s take Street Fighter as an example, which, although it gave its characters a background, always had combat as its main attraction, also enhanced by all kinds of iconic blows. But aware that their film (1994) needed more than just fights, the production sought a conflict that would justify them and also differentiate it from other similar projects such as Bloodsport (1988). This is how we ended up with a group of heroic allies facing the tyranny of a dictator in a remote Asian city.
The plot was not of interest to the seasoned player who did not see the video game reflected on the screen, an error that was repeated years later with The Legend of Chun-Li (2009). These cases are repeated ad nauseam: Need for Speed (2014) could never find its space in the face of the marked dominance of the fast and furious franchise, while Warcraft (2016) was equated ad nauseam with fantastic sagas such as The Lord of the Rings .
More dramatic was the case of Resident Evil, whose rise as the most successful video game adaptation in history required the almost total desecration of the source material., starting with a central character who didn’t even exist before the film. A decision that has generated mixed feelings among fans, who enjoy the references, but do not finish embracing it as an extension of the original story.
Contrary to Silent Hill, unanimously considered the best adaptation of a video game. His respect for the source material earned him the adoration of the gamer community, but not the general public who did not fully embrace what was seen on screen. This itself prevented it from being a massive success, but it was enough for it to achieve cult status.