Videogame films have historically been, well, bad. There have been a few exceptions, but mostly those like Warcraft that turned out to be merely OK, rather than mind-bendingly awful. Thankfully, Michael Fassbender is coming to the rescue in the Assassin’s Creed film, which is set to bring everyone’s favorite time-travelling medieval assassin series to the big screen. On the off chance it’s not a steaming pile of terrible, here are a few other games we hope Hollywood could turn to next — but only if it can get them right.
1. BioShock
Hollywood’s already had a go at bringing this ‘60s-set underwater dystopia to life, but disputes over the budget and R-rating kept it from going anywhere. It’s still one of gaming’s best and richest worlds, and I would give a lot to see a Big Daddy gracing the big screen.
2. Red Dead Redemption
The internet went totally nuts just because Rockstar Games posted a couple images teasing a new Red Dead game, so you know there’d be support for a film. Plus, between Westworld and The Magnificent Seven, westerns are clearly a thing again.
3. GTA
Pick a GTA, any GTA. Or just make something new up. Either way, let’s have some sort of sprawling, anarchic modern crime epic. It’s the only game series on this list every single one of you will have heard of, and that’s got to count for something.
4. The Last Of Us
Not many games can make people cry. The Last of Us made them weep. It’s also mostly linear, has a simple post-apocalyptic hook, and scope for some great action sequences. And then it will make us all sob into our popcorn, as well as over our controllers.
5. Portal
This one might actually be happening, courtesy of one J.J. Abrams. Portal and its sequel are two of the wittiest games of all time, and they have a great sci-fi story with killer robots and cake. What more could you want in a film?
6. Batman: Arkham
OK, hear me out. Sure, we have Batman films already. We’ve had loads of them. But we haven’t had any quite like the Arkham games, which have taken all the silly, camp comics stuff at face value, going gritty and dark without ever feeling any less comic book-y for it. That belongs on the big screen.
7. Mass Effect
Who doesn’t want a giant sci-fi space opera every now and then? Sure, a film would lose the interactive narrative that made the Mass Effect games so interesting, but it would also let us see BioWare’s amazing world in pristine detail, and that’s a tradeoff I’d be willing to make.
