I decided to look into the failures and successes of movie/book to game adaptations -- specifically in regards to their creation of coherent worlds. Henry Jenkins' was my main source of information in this subject; his talks and articles on transmedia were most enlightening.
"Transmedia" is a little different from a straight out adaptation, though they could all be defined as parts of the same thing. Film to game adaptations are restricted by the fact that they are a part of a franchise. Jenkins writes; "Much of franchising has been based on licensing
arrangements which make it hard for media producers to add or change
anything beyond what is already in the primary text or the mother ship." [Jenkins, Henry. (2011)]
This is true enough -- many film to game adaptations are restricted. They can't always include more content than the film provides them. However, the games I want to look in to often come in under the level of content given by the film -- cutting out interaction and sections of the world/story. This struck me as very strange. Movies often cut out content from books they're adapted from, due to time constraints. While a film is two hours on average, a book can take dozens to finish. However, games under ten hours are considered short and thus can very easily accomodate a film worth of content without overstaying their welcome.
One of the first games I felt I had to look in to was the Golden Compass, based on the book/movie & criticized quite harshly.
One of the first amusing things I noticed was that the uploader outright said that they gave up doing a series of videos because the game got dull.
While the visuals are initially impressive, reviewers advise that even those are lacking after a while. Along with everything else. Exposition is "glossed over", and gameplay is a mess of lazy quick time events, and without (and to an extent even with) seeing the movie players don't really understand what's going on.
"The Golden Compass is based on the film and follows the story of Lyra Belacqua and her journey to... well, that's the first big problem, really. This title does an absolutely horrendous job in telling a story, even when it's already been told in film and novel form. In fact, we can only assume that the game was designed with the pure and unbridled assumption that the player has already read the book or, more probably, seen the movie. We were flabbergasted at how convoluted the game narrative was, because so much dramatic potential is utterly lost in the transition.
Roughly speaking, the game is poorly attempting to recreate the story of Lyra's journey as she seeks out a bunch of missing children, including her dear friend Roger. Although there are clips from the movie featured throughout the game's narrative, they seem to be thrown in rather haphazardly and are often spliced together with a hasty narration dubbed on top. It's almost laughable at how cluttered the end result feels while playing." [Clements, Ryan (2008)]
Another game I wanted to look into was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, having played it as a child. When I went back to it as an adult to stream for friends, I was severely unimpressed. Scouring through reviews, I found others were of the same opinion.
The review makes some very good points, mostly in regards to the realism and immersiveness of the world for those who are playing it as fans of the series. Below:
"The game awards house points for successfully completing goals, which is a nice touch, but there are some serious logical flaws in it--when Hermione says that Professor Sprout would 'surely give Gryffindor ten points for that,' how does the House actually get the points? Was Sprout watching? This is probably something that wouldn't phase kids playing the game, but as someone who is steeped in the lore of the Harry Potter world, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone makes some glaring jumps like this.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this game, though, is the way that it limits you. Instead of being able to wander about and do your own thing, you're always on the run to a class, to a challenge, to something else. It never felt like I was actually in the gameworld; it felt like this was some sort of funhouse Hogwarts, which existed merely to torment my Harry avatar by throwing challenge after challenge at him." [Bordelon, Phil (Unknown)]
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this game, though, is the way that it limits you. Instead of being able to wander about and do your own thing, you're always on the run to a class, to a challenge, to something else. It never felt like I was actually in the gameworld; it felt like this was some sort of funhouse Hogwarts, which existed merely to torment my Harry avatar by throwing challenge after challenge at him." [Bordelon, Phil (Unknown)]
Another review states:
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone also performs a balancing act of sorts by borrowing some of the actor likenesses from the film, like those of the various professors you'll encounter, while using almost cartoonlike versions of the protagonist and several other key figures. The introduction, which sums up a sizable chunk of the story, is conveyed in a brief ink-on-parchment still-image sequence [....] These narrative shorts seem incredibly rushed and don't give proper due to the source material. Overall, the story isn't revealed in any compelling manner and seems more like obligatory filler between platform-jumping sequences." [Villoria, Gerald. (2001)]
The issues with these games are clear; they take the fame of the worlds they come from for granted, and tell extremely condensed, glossed over versions of the stories they're based on. Both games essentially become objective running: ticking off things on a list and receiving the next set of objectives while giving the player little motivation or reason to care.
A step up from this level is Spider-man 2. While the game still suffers in terms of voice acting and characters to a point, it uses many different devices to create a believable world for the player. A review states:
"The reason this is such a big deal isn't because someone else made an "open-style" game or that you can wander or rather web sling around town doing anything you want at any time. And it's not that the game is based on the second Spider-Man movie, with all the stars, villains, and story developments that follow. That's all fine and dandy. It's how incredible the web-slinging feels, and what you can do with it that adds a gameplay dynamic that's so different than any other game it's hard to put into words. What Treyarch has done, in actuality, is to blend in that nearly unattainable addiction so inherent in Neversoft's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series and meld it with Spider-Man's web slinging in a Grand Theft Auto-style open city.
"[...] players find that web-slinging is skill based and wildly addicting. It
engenders an amazing sense of freedom and exhilaration. Treyarch nailed
the peculiar sense of elasticity and athleticism that was so brilliantly
captured in the Spider-Man movie, while capturing a dazzling sense of aerial freedom like no other game has before it." [Perry, Douglass (2004)]
In a Harry Potter game, players truly want to feel like Harry Potter. The HP game stumbled on this, a little. However, Spider-man 2 excells at truly making the player feel like Spider-man. In a one-step forward, one step back kind of situation, Spider-man 2 throws the player into a world where they truly feel like Spider-man himself, but manage to drag the player back out of it again with bad voice acting and list-of-objective type missions.
"Unfortunately, much of your time playing the game will be spent
uncovering relatively little content spread across an admittedly large
environment. The game is broken up into chapters, and it feeds you
objectives as you proceed." Gerstmann, Jeff. (2004)
An interesting Jenkins quote RE transmedia; "We are drawn to master what can be known about a world which always expands beyond our grasp." [Jenkins, Henry (2007)]
Which games excel both in immersive gameplay and characters/narrative to create coherency?
Book-based series Witcher 1 & 2 achieves something very special. On the storyline, RPGamer states:
"Enough cannot be said about
this story. Based off a Polish novel, it is full of detail and character.
The story and dialogue is so well written that, at times, it singlehandedly
pulls the player into the game. The world of The Witcher
is not a bright, green happy-go-lucky wonderland either. Filled
with greed, racism, and poverty, the setting portrayed here is as
close as any game has ever come in mixing real world problems with
fantasy creatures such as elves, druids and dwarves." [Willis, Phillip. (Unknown)]
The gameplay is 'simplistic' when compared to some games of the same genre. However, this plays to the game's strength and fits very well with the world presented. The harmony of these elements is of huge importance in creating a coherent world.
“The Witcher is a
classic example of a game that is more than the sum of its parts. If
you just look at the RPG mechanic, The Witcher appears a little
shallow--especially compared to other big fantasy games like
Oblivion. But when married to the excellent storyline and setting,
everything works wonderfully. The game practically demands that you
become a part of the game world and that you take the time to
understand it. For example, you can only mix up potions while you’re
resting. And unlike most RPGs, you need to find a safe place to do it
either by taking refuge at an Inn or other friendly dwelling, or by
locating a campfire. Furthermore, there’s a full-on day and night
cycle that needs to be considered since some non-playable characters
have their own schedules and may or may not be around when you come
calling."
"Villages, urban areas, and the countryside are all convincingly crafted and populated with locals, travelers, merchants, bandits, murderers, monsters, and guards. The effect is one of exploring an honest to goodness living breathing world.” [Gametrailers Staff. (2007)]
"Villages, urban areas, and the countryside are all convincingly crafted and populated with locals, travelers, merchants, bandits, murderers, monsters, and guards. The effect is one of exploring an honest to goodness living breathing world.” [Gametrailers Staff. (2007)]
Another review specifically praises the depth of character and the quality of the adaptation.
“Story and setting
have been borrowed from The Last Wish, a Polish fantasy
novel published way back in 1990 by Andrzej Sapkowski, and for once
such an adaptation has been pulled off successfully.”
“Characters seem like
real people, not the good-evil-neutral triad of stereotypes that
populate most fantasy games. Only a few aspects of the story and
setting remind you that you're just playing a game.”
An important thing to mention about the Witcher series of games is that they are true transmedia extensions, as opposed to full on adaptations. The Witcher is based on the Polish book series, but actually creates its own storyline that begins after the books finished. Jenkins talks about adaptations vs extensions in Transmedia 202:
"I have sometimes talked about a distinction between adaptation and extension
as fundamental to understanding these shifts. Basically, an adaptation
takes the same story from one medium and retells it in another. An
extension seeks to add something to the existing story as it moves from
one medium to another." [Jenkins, Henry, (2011)]
Reviews on The Witcher 2 extend the praise of the storyline and the coherency of the world.
“You're Geralt of Rivia, a stoic and distinctly un-heroic monster hunter with a few memory problems and a faintly inexplicable way with the ladies. Though sworn to impartiality on matters of the state, he is drawn into this complex political maelstrom by a series of regicides that brand him a criminal and pull him back into his own, forgotten past. The Witcher 2 is a game for adults, and not just because of all the sex and violence. It expects you to be intelligent and interested, to care about the political machinations, racial tensions and complex history of its world. Plenty of games shield you from their lore, afraid that it might scare you off. The Witcher 2 drops you right in the thick of it, and expects you to deal with it.“
“The Witcher 2's history and lore is built into its world and geography as effectively as it's written into characters' dialogue.“ [MacDonald, Keza. (2012)]
“The detail found in conversations between characters can be reminiscent of a Lord of the Rings novel with frequent references to various kings and lands that are under conflict. The Witcher 2 goes far beyond recent role-playing games by truly offering decisions that have meaningful impacts in the narrative’s outcome.” [Huinker, Travis. (2012)]
“Depending entirely on the player,
Geralt can be a beacon of hope to the common people, a whimsical
drunkard, a terrifying avatar of vengeance, or a selfish smartass.
More importantly, the witcher has logical reasons for each action or
response and the player simply decides which of his motivations has
priority. Furthermore, the situations (treatment of minority groups,
occupation by a foreign power, abuse of authority, etc.) have obvious
real-world analogs that have far more emotional resonance than your
typical save-the-world video game plot.“ [Biessener, Adam. (2012 )]
The Witcher 1 & 2 are the definition of a coherent world; parts that all add up consistently to create something that the player can believe and lose themselves within.
The Witcher 1 & 2 are the definition of a coherent world; parts that all add up consistently to create something that the player can believe and lose themselves within.
----
References:
Biessener, Adam. (2012 ). The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition.
Available:
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Last accessed 20/11/12.
Bordelon, Phil. (Unknown). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Available:
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Last accessed 20/11/12.
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