... what other novels--or even movies--should follow in its head-scratching footsteps? Here are a few (admittedly strange) ideas that have come to mind:
Desperately Seeking Susan--I know, this one's a bit out of left field. Imagine, though, how awesome it would be to play an 8-bit, '80s-themed RPG based on this
Susan Seidelman-helmed dramedy? Sure, the obvious choice for such a movie-to-game conversion would be to copy
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? or even the
Professor Layton titles, but I think a more creative option would be to make it a sort of musical RPG--in which the player, controlling Roberta (Rosanna Arquette), has to explore New York City in an effort to find the titular Susan. Along the way, she fights off--using rhythm-based attacks à la the magnificent
Mother 3--bartenders, hobos and rats while gathering clues about the whereabouts of the mysterious object of her obsession. Oh, and the final battle could be a
DDR-esque dance-off to the tune of Madonna's "Into the Groove."
Fame--Speaking of dance-offs, wouldn't it be cool if one of these of-the-moment dance-based games--think
Dance Central or
Just Dance--was supported by an actual story? In this example, players choose to control either Leroy or Lisa and then have to make their way through a series of auditions, practices and performances that are interspersed with theatrical story segments. Now, don't worry if the idea of a
Fame game doesn't really trip your trigger--really, it could be replaced with the musical of your choice. For instance, wouldn't a similar game based on
Moulin Rouge or
Chicago be a blast? Hell, I could even see a story-based dance game based on
Evita being pretty cool--you know, with Latin-inflected choreography set to songs like "Buenos Aires" and "Rainbow High."
The Hunger Games--First of all, if you've yet to read Suzanne Collins' sci-fi trilogy, go out and buy it (and then read it, obviously) right now. After you're done, you'll have a much better understanding as to why I think this post-apocalyptic tale could make a great game. (For those of you who have an aversion to anything and everything sci-fi, the gist of
The Hunger Games is that each year, in the fictional nation of Panem, 24 children are forced, after being selected lottery-style, to fight each other to the death in a variety of outdoor arenas.) Anyway, I could see this book-to-game conversion being fairly straightforward, with
Poy Poy-ish (but darker) battle scenes broken up by RPG-esque scavenging segments--during which players search for and possibly create, using the materials around them, items and weapons that can be used in the next arena.
Jaws--It's kind of amazing how few
Jaws games have been released over the years. In fact, I can think of only two: LJN's
NES effort from 1987 and Majesco's
Jaws Unleashed from 2006. Neither game seems to be all that inspired, however, which is a shame given the source material. How would I turn things around? By making the game a fishing-investigating-RPG mash-up, that's how. Here's how I see it playing out: Gamers are put in control of oceanographer Matt Hooper as he hunts the titular great white shark (which serves as the title's final boss, obviously). At the start, Hooper has nothing but a tiny ship. In order to make enough money to buy a bigger boat and better equipment, not to mention hire much-needed crew members, he catches fish, ferries tourists, helps the Amity Police Department with their investigation (by finding the bodies of those attacked by Jaws) and searches for sunken treasure--all of which are interrupted, RPG-style, by random battles with dangerous sea creatures and nosy citizens.
As crazy as it may sound, I've also come up with ideas for game adaptations of
The Road and
Run Lola Run, but they'll have to wait until another day.
