Top 5 Novels That Should Be Games
By Admin on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 at 2:37 AM PST In Gamer Life
It’s no secret that, traditionally, video games have crappy plots. It seems that more and more video games are full of Cliche protagonists, mixed with forgettable backdrops, and campy villains. There have been exceptions to the rule, and with the upcoming release of plot heavy games like Mass Effect and Bioshock, it seems that the gaming industry is making strides in the right direction. So what else can developers do to improve the entire game experience? Without hiring vast teams of writers, how can they portray a quality story? To find that answer, all they have to do is look towards the movie industry.
The movie industry is also known for cheap, unbelievable plots. So, how do they deal with it? They use critically acclaimed novels as the basis for their movies. It makes perfect sense. This method works well for the most part, but sometimes the true spirit of the novel gets lost in translation. Yet, those same movies that fail to grasp the spirit of the written literature are used as the foundation for video games. Titles like Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many others are guilty of failing to inspire the same passion as the original written works. So what you are left with is a game that was based off of a movie, based off of a novel. Why does the gaming industry need the middle-man?
So without further gilding the lily and with no more ado, here are my top 5 novels that should be made into games. Check the list after the jump.
#5: The Eye of the World – by Robert Jordan
Basic Premise: The return of the Dragon means both liberation and destruction. The forces of good and evil are preparing for the final battle, and three friends from a small town are caught up in the conflict. This is the first in the acclaimed Wheel of Time series.
Why it would be awesome: Robert Jordan’s richly-crafted world stands arguably at the top of modern fantasy work. Jordan’s use of magic in his world is incredibly compelling, and the execution of those ideas would make for a really incredible RPG experience. Too many games have you learn a spell by reading a book, (Basically just double clicking on an item; hey! I know how to throw fireballs out of my hands!) Jordan’s method of weaving would greatly improve the way we learn spells.
Why this novel over others? The Wheel of Time series has already been realized into a video game. There may be arguments against the series being on this list, as George R.R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series is considered superior by some. I chose Wheel of Time over the others because the previous game made for the series merely hinted at the greatness that a true rendition of the novel would produce.
#4: Starship Troopers – by Robert A. Heinlein
Basic Premise:
In one of Heinlein’s most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry.
Why it would be awesome:
The suits worn in the novel are basically powered-suits. These suits enable the soldier to hover for short periods of time, fire flame-throwers out of their arms, and shoot nuclear-powered rocket launchers. You are basically the basic Terran Marines from Starcraft, only much cooler.
Why this novel over others?
This choice might be harder to understand. Yes, they made a movie. Yes, they made a game based on the movie. Do me a favor, go read this book, and tell me if the movie does it even an iota of justice. It’s hard to really put into words how much better the book is than the movie. Let’s put it this way, if you took the novel by Heinlein, and then had your dog eat it, the remaining parts you would find in the yard represent the movie.
#3: The Gunslinger – by Stephen King
Basic Premise:
The Gunslinger is the first volume in the Dark Tower Series, which King considers to be his Lord of the Rings. The story centers upon the gunslinger, who has been chasing after his adversary, “the man in black”, for many years.
Why it would be awesome:
Roland, the gunslinger is an interesting and unique character that would translate well into the gaming world. Imagine a western shooter, with fantasy elements. The draw here is that you could basically have the visual quality of Frogger, and the story itself would still bring an amazing experience.
Why this novel over others?
The western genre in gaming has never really hit its stride. While a few developers have tried to catch the Clint Eastwood quality in their characters, nobody embodies those traits better than “the gunslingerâ€. Even for those of you that are not fans of Stephen King’s horror work, the Dark Tower series is an amazing joy to read.
#2: I Am Legend“ by Richard Matheson
Basic Premise:
The book opens with the monotony and horror of the daily life of the protagonist, Robert Neville. Neville is apparently the only survivor of an apocalypse caused by a pandemic of a bacterium the symptoms of which are very similar to vampirism. He lives in a house fortified against nocturnal attacks by the roaming infected, and sallies forth by daylight to kill the sleeping vampires.
Why it would be awesome:
Racing against the clock to fortify your house and supplies during the daytime, along with Neville’s solitary-induced psychosis would promise a thrilling experience. The real beauty here is that you would really feel like your home in the game is your only true place, and would immerse the gamer into the world like never before.
Why this novel over others?
It’s been stated that I am Legend is the basis for all current zombie material. Countless books, movies, and games have been based off of themes portrayed in this classic novel, but none have really done it justice.
#1: “Ender’s Game“ by Orson Scott Card
Basic Premise:
In a future where mankind has barely survived two invasions by the “buggers”, an insectoid alien race, the world’s most talented children, including the extraordinary Ender Wiggin, are taken into “Battle School” at a very young age to supply commanders for the expected Third Invasion.
Why it would be awesome: The true experience of Battle School centers around a game played in zero gravity. In the simplest terms, this game is a zero-g version of laser-tag. While that might not sound like much, the execution of that idea in the book makes for one of the most interesting ideas for a video-game that has yet to be realized.
Why this novel over others?
While not only being a classic of modern science-fiction, Ender’s Game itself is suited perfectly for the world of video games. Video games show up all over the book, from the game the cadets play, to all aspects of battle school life. The world crafted in Ender’s game is the most obvious choice for a game adaptation, thus making it #1 on my list.
So there you have it. I’m sure this will spark much debate over what other novels should be considered. But if you take nothing else away from this article, I urge you to read all of these books. The fiction market is saturated with crappy literature, and these books really stand hands-above so many others.
Starship troopers has already been made in to a game – 2 times! 1st was a kickass albeit hard to find RTS game where you travel across the various planets (it’s an incredibly fun game, it’s based on the movies a bit more) and the 2nd is an FPS (that was supposedly rated as buggy).
Hell yes the gunslinger would be awsome in a game and in a movie as well has anyone read the comics yet? great post
Wheel of Time IS a game already, sorry. It was released a while ago, but definitely already exists. Sorry, do more research before definig a list like this
I would definately play the “Eye Of The World” no matter what.
the “Altered carbon” series- by richard k morgan. Maybe the plot form the books themselves wouldn’t work (well maybe the last book) but certianly the universe has a lot of potential. Cheating death by uploading into new bodies. Having your consciousness hypercast across the galaxy and uploaded to a new hightech custom vat grown combat body when you get there. the potential for a massive MMO is awesome.
and making snowcrash by neal stephenson into a game would rock as well
also tom clancy’s red storm rising would make a great RTS
What? Dark Tower lands in at only #3? It would make such a great game, especially with all the events that were not in the books, but mentioned.
But that “I am Legend” book looks very intriguing….Thanks for some book recommendations in addition to this nice list =)
frist off thanks for including starship troopers, sometimes i feel like im the only one whos read it. i been hoping for a game based on THE BOOK, not the movie for quite some time. and personally i think it would be very difficult to do a game based on ender considering how the final battles were portrayed. when i read it i imagined something like asteroids.
Nobody ever mentions Robert E. Howard’s Conan novels.
Speaking as one who has read all of them, the Conan series would make a fantastic RPG. There’s such a vast landscape there that you could make the first game the first or first and second books, and just continue on in that fashion, roughly following Conan’s treks from Hybernia to his wars on the followers of Set to his kingship to reclaiming his kidnapped queen to adbicating his throne for more adventure. It’s such an incredible world that Mr. Howard developed, and perfect for a game series.
It would, however, be VERY easy to screw up, by disregarding the source material and established character history and making up some kind of BS crap non-Conan story with Conan’s name on it like usually happens.
How hard is it to REQUIRE your developers to read the source material before they start designing their games? It wouldn’t take them more than a few weeks to get through ALL Mr. Howard’s material, and that would ensure accuracy. Even just reading the first book or two would be enough to get the first game accurate.
The first novel I thought of is ENDER’S GAME, and sure enough it’s there
One word: Dune
2 words JRod >> been done
hey jackass, starship troopers is already a game.
what about splinter cell?
“Wheel of Time IS a game already, sorry. It was released a while ago, but definitely already exists. Sorry, do more research before definig a list like this”
The article clearly states that the Wheel of Time is already a game.
Next time read the article before you accuse people of not doing enough research.
ummmm
Actually, with books like enders game and such, i wouldnt want them as a game, as it probably wouldnt be very good, and thus, ruining the experience for many.. Also: WTF EOTW is a game? lol… wonder how theyre gonna handle the completely branching storyline with how many characters? 500 or so?
They should make a video game out of Harry Turtledoves Southern Victory series or Worldwar. That would be good games to play
Wow. I need to read more books. I will read that cowboy book though.
Man the entire Wheel of time series should be made into an Oblivion type game with touches of WoW to make it an MMO. I would literally crap my pants if someone made WoT into a game. It is a game…but you play as a gay Aes Sedai apparently without the ability to channel because you run through the game only using ter’angreal. I mean what kind of Aes Sedai cant channel? But seriously. 5 parts of the one power and all five have to be used in different weaves. Some people are different strengths in different parts of the one power. THIS IS BEGGING TO BE MADE INTO A GAME AND IM BEGGING TO PLAY IT! Seriously. If anyone works with a game company and you know wants to make it I would so help test it/make ideas/lick your boots. PLZ MADE IT INTO A GAME PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ!!!!!!
Personally, I would rather the game manufacturers hired established fiction writers to create the game plots. Raymond Feist did this for the Betrayal in Krondor game series, which went over so well that he later wrote the novels to cover the game stories. There was nothing groundbreaking in any of those games in terms of game play, but the story made all the difference, and they were very good games because of it.
wht bout ‘300′
tht wod be ggrrreeeeaaatttt
Starship troopers IS a game just google it…
How about Heir Apparent? That whole book is about a kid who gets trapped in a video game and has to play her way out. It was pretty awesome.
The Gunslinger would be an awesome game! I never heard of “I am legend” before, but it sounds like it’d be a great game. Heck, they’re all great choices.
A very good idea over all.
I think you’re forgetting this great series I started reading. It’s about this guy named Master Chief and he tried to destroy this thing called a Halo. It’s a great book and would be an even better video game.
I never would have thought about The Dark Tower series being a game…. and yes it would make a fantastic game. Stephen King should stop letting Hollywerid make crap movies of his novels and let Ubisoft, Bethesda, or Blizzard do a great game for him.
Also, I saw that somewhere up there someone mentioned that the George R.R. Martin books would make a great game. They sure would, and I thought that I heard something about this being a possibility in the future – of course I heard this four years ago – same with the Drizzt books by R.A. Salvatore. That was supposed to become a game as well – I hate it when they get my hopes up and then murder them with a rusty bacteria infested ax.
both #5 and #4 are games. #4 was a mod I worked on for quake back in comp-sci in 96-97ish which was never released, which ended up becoming a game recently. (we had really cool weapons in it, like a lazer that would bounce off walls, and a carpet bomb which would lay a minefield behind you as you ran)
I loved WOT and when the game came out, I bought it, but i remember it sucking so badly i never played it again.
One of the best sci-fi book series ever would make an amazing video game:
Peter F Hamilton’s Nights Dawn Trilogy. If you’ve not read it, go get it, it’s fantastic.
Ender’s Game is getting a game:
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3165692
Rejoice!
Starship Trooper was a very good book, although it did have more to do with ideas on sociaty, politics, and the military. A better Book-Turned-Game would be Armor which has the same idea with power suits and bugs but its the opposite of Starship Trooper in that it has much more action and less talk. GO ENDER!
Just wanted to mention this Conan game especially in view of Chaos Motor’s comments above. In beta, but it has a lot of the MMORPG crowd excited.
I’ll still maintain that The Wheel of Time is the one that’s absolutely dying to be done. Perfect for a MMORPG, I could build the business case for one quite easily. If us developers from wotmud can do it whilst having zero budget, a proper, commercially backed venture could make a killing with it.
Nass