Epic Tale
How many times have gamers sat through a movie or TV series and, having enjoyed it so much, contemplated a forthcoming video game adaptation? Probably less and less as those gamers get older. These days, it seems there’s a video game adaptation for every popular movie or TV series. The more you play them, the more you start to realise such products can never truly recapture a gamer’s experience with that which is shown on the cinema screen or telly box. Worse still, such games were often plagued with rushed development and pretty bad ideas. And there is nothing worse than enduring the appearance of a favourite character whose voice has been dubbed by an obvious sound-a-like, and then, to top it off, had you thrown into a stage with all the mechanics of an internet flash game.
Konami are soon release a video game adaptation of the horror movie, or rather the franchise that is Saw. The game, called Saw, will be released around the same time as the franchise’s sixth instalment. That is six instalments in six years. An achievement in one way. Quantity over quality in another. At this stage, a Saw video game is unlikely to upset anyone anymore than any of the movies have done. In fact, it’s more of a surprise that it has taken this long for such a product to come into being. You would think the demographic for this franchise would be a stampede of Wii unfriendly young adult males. So why has it taken so long?
The backbone of every Saw movie are the traps. Forget the serial killer with the potentially interesting backstory. (Even though Tobin Bell, who plays as Jigsaw in the movies, does the voice acting for this character in the video game.) Forget the everyman detective who’s gunning for him. Forget the signature twist. The reason why people go to see these movies is so they can watch one dimensional people try to save their life by completing a task which involves harming themselves in some twisted and somewhat creative way. Some people refer to this as “torture porn”. I refer to it as “mini game”.
Saw has, to me, always been a series of mini games. Call it a Wii party pack for emos. So long as it doesn’t rely too much on quick time events, there’s enough potential here for the game to work better than the movie versions.
While Saw could serve as an example of “Better late than never”, in the case of Avatar: The Game, another forthcoming title which relates to a movie, such a term couldn’t be further from the truth.
Turns out the folks at Ubisoft have been collaborating with James Cameron, the movie director who brought forth The Titanic some years back. You might wonder, how does a video game publisher get to collaborate with a movie director? When they are directing movies, of course! Both movie and video game have supposedly been in production simultaneously. Their respective release dates are set about a month apart from one another and it is said to be the video game version that gets to make its grand entrance first.
Though it is believed both movie and video game will have different stories, it seems the movie version is the only one inclined to tell theirs. The movie trailer contains a hero, some scenes of conflict and the implication that love just might conquer all. In contrast, the video game trailer doesn’t seem to include any of this and doesn’t replace it with anything either. Oh sure, the pretty graphics and the action packed gameplay is there, but that’s all that’s there. Maybe the action packed gameplay could be perceived as conflict, and the slogan “Ignite the war” could be interpreted as the beginning of the war we see in the movie. But exactly why are they fighting? After watching trailers for both products, you would think it would be the movie, which appears most finalized, would be the first due for release.
Avatar has been said to be an “experience” rather than a movie or video game. But so what? Everything’s an experience. Taking a sip of cola. Watching your screensaver. Consciously trying not to refer to a certain survival horror title in an article about games and movies. (It would be the third article in a row if I mentioned it… And it’s bad enough that I’ve mentioned its publisher…) The word “experience” doesn’t tell us what kind of experience it’s going to be. Neither does “Third person shooter”. The sight of neon vegetation might make me go Ooh! The sight of a robot like vehicle and a dinosaur like creature fighting might make me go Aah! But ultimately the only feeling I have for Avatar: The Game right now is complete bafflement.
It is kind of amusing to learn that, between the game versions of Saw and Avatar, it is Saw that I’m most looking forward to. Still after Saw’s release, we will have about another month of waiting for Avatar: The Game, so perhaps by then Ubisoft will give gamers something more to look forward to. Despite this, it will be interesting to see if a director’s involvement will do anything to enhance video games as we know them.
