Gamers have been craving their favorite video games to be adapted into film and television for as long as all three mediums have existed, and it appears that Hollywood is trying to scoop up as many properties as possible. Video game adaptations are rapidly growing in popularity, quite similarly to comic books, and yet, many still fall short of capturing what makes the games so great in the first place.

Sony has recently announced a Horizon Zero Dawn show on Netflix, a God of War show on Amazon Prime, and a Gran Turismo movie directed by Neill Blomkamp. What should be exciting announcements for fans often turn into cautionary tales due to the terrible reputation of video game adaptability. For every Sonic the Hedgehog movie, there are a dozen abominations like the Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993.

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Sonic movie ugly and new design

Baffling creative decisions being made on these various video game adaptations puts into question for whom these movies and shows are made. A perfect example is the notorious Ugly Sonic the Hedgehog debacle from the original movie trailers because Sonic's first look disrespected the original's iconic design so badly that fans complained en masse until they changed it. Giving Sonic human teeth and more realistic proportions was a massive misfire that the creators should have known nobody wanted. Thanks to the fans, the Sonic movie is one of the greatest video game movies ever made.

Another prime example is Paramount's Halo TV show, which completely changes the timeline of one of the most popular first-person shooters in history for questionable sci-fi clichés instead. The show commits the cardinal sin of constantly showing off Master Chief's face throughout the season, something that the games have never revealed. Having Master Chief repeatedly take his helmet off misses the thematic point of why the games never show his face to begin with and is only satisfying to people who never played the video games and most likely have little interest in Halo to begin with.

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These narrative twists prove that most creators working on the video game adaptations don't understand what made the source material so beloved in the first place. For Sonic, it's the colorful cartoony world and high-speed action that fans love, not photorealistic renders of the animals in modern-day Earth palling around with a bunch of human characters. For Uncharted, it's the charisma and dynamic relationships that these seasoned treasure hunters have, not horribly miscast actors who are more worried about looking cool than bonding together. While both movies get certain aspects of their franchises right, they miss the mark on the bigger picture that made these video games so appealing.

Adapting a video game into a movie or a show is a form of translation, and another problem being had is that many of the video games being adapted aren't suitable for adaptation. Film and television are passive, narrative-focused activities without interactivity, while many video games are successful purely because of that interactivity. Gran Turismo is a video game franchise built upon the simple desire to drive real-life cars in a virtual space. Without being able to interact with real-life cars in the future Gran Turismo movie, any purpose in an adaptation is defeated.

RELATED: PlayStation's Gran Turismo Gets Live-Action Film From District 9 Director

Sully chose Nate over gold in Uncharted

Uncharted is a successful game franchise because it lets people play through their own Indiana Jones-like adventure. When that is translated to film, it becomes just another knock-off Indiana Jones movie because the interactivity is what made all the difference. That being said, Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War are narrative-heavy video games that have the best chance to thrive in the television scene. A proper creative mind can find success in video game adaptation with the right time and care.

It's not a coincidence that video game adaptations of movies and comics translate much better than film and TV adaptations of video games. Video games are one of the few art forms combining writing, music and visuals with interactivity, which elevates them above a purely audiovisual medium. The loss of respect and interactivity is what causes film and movie adaptations to turn sour. Hopefully, the film/TV industry can learn from their mistakes.