And the winner is…
The Return of the King! Honestly, it’s not very close. A celebration of a decorated movie, and also a uniquely presented interactive version of it. I haven’t even mentioned all of the special features you unlock along the way, interviews and behind the scenes clips, which wouldn’t mean a lot of the game wasn’t as fun as it is, but it is, and these special features just help top off a remarkable package. The Return of the King is the best video game based on a Best Picture winning film, and easily one of the best video game-to-movie adaptations ever made, partially because they never did finish the PS2 racing game based on Crash that was going to help you understand racism.
HONORABLE MENTION:
March of the Penguins (Best Documentary winner)
There has only been one video game based on a Best Documentary winner to my knowledge, so I couldn’t do a whole thing here, but isn’t that sort of funny? It’s basically Lemmings only you won’t know what you’re supposed to do and there’s several goals you’re trying to reach in each level, rather than just make it to the exit. Sadly, there’s also no Morgan Freeman commentary. I would’ve really loved to hear that comforting voice say “Place some ice steps in front of the penguin so he can climb to a higher level and reach the snowflake.” Still, you are undeniably controlling a bunch of cute little penguins. Call me basic, but that holds some appeal to me. I could see March of the Penguins possibly being a nice little relief if you’re ever, oh, I don’t know, burned out from a week of playing mediocre and excessively violent movie adaptation games. Then it might be fun for a few minutes.
BONUS LIST OF BEST PICTURE WINNERS I THINK WOULD MAKE COOL VIDEO GAMES:
The King’s Speech – It’s like Trombone Champ but you gotta make the guy talk good
The Departed – just do a GTA style think like The Godfather, but make sure you get Mark Wahlberg to come in and swear a lot or else don’t bother at all
Chariots of Fire – Oh wait, I just looked up what this one’s about. Nevermind.
Driving Miss Daisy – We haven’t had a good Crazy Taxi knockoff in a minute
The Bridge on the River Kwai – I don’t know man, I’m just trying to look smart on a few of these
The Deer Hunter – I smell a collaboration with Cabela’s!
Gandhi – Gimme a morality system, gimme a skill tree, I want it all
Green Book – How has this one not been done yet? There are so many set pieces that lend themselves to a big budget video game. Shocked we haven’t heard anything on this one yet. Probably just a matter of time.
