Book Adaptations

We all know that most movie tie-in games are just marketing for the films, they're short, poorly designed and boring. It might be a surprise to some people then that games inspired by, or directly based on books, can often turn out to be excellent. The unforgettable Bioshock heavily echoed sentiments expressed in Ann Rand's Atlas Shrugged and even Halo incorporated elements from Larry Niven's Ringworld. So we present eight of the better book tie-in games, organised by genre.

Action - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Whilst strictly speaking this is a movie tie-in, the movies were adaptations of the novel and the games allow you to explore areas not found in the films anyway. While many consider the second film to be better, Return of the King mastered the formula established in the previous two ELECTRONIC ARTS' titles. The gameplay is simple, good old fashioned button mashing, just like mum used to make (well shout at you for playing anyway). Aside from Lord of the Rings Online, this is the best attempt to convert the books to games and there's plenty of fun to be had in two player co-op. The appeal of unlocking extra content has faded with the films but if you're feeling nostalgic for the films and don't have three to four hours free then this will fill the gap nicely.

Adventure - Discworld

Based rougly on the events of Guards! Guards!, Discworld was a witty presentation of the Pratchett' series. Voice acting from comedic legends Eric Idle, Tony Robinson and also Rob Brydon created a brilliant interpretation of the universe. Admittedly the puzzles tended to be of the inane 'combine X with Y' variety but the story was intriuging and with an attempted port to the Scumm engine on the cards, it may be released as freeware some time in the near future.

Adventure - The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes

The Lost Files was incredibly adult for its time. The CD version contained two separate cases for players to solve; in the first (The Case of the Serrated Scalpel) Holmes raced against time to prevent the murder of prostitutes by a suspect using similar methods to Jack the Ripper. Mirroring Sherlock's methodologies in the novels, players had to pore over the crime scene to unlock conversation topics. The second although no less exciting part, had Holmes trying to solve the attempted assassinaton of his brother and again featured slick music and graphics to set the atmosphere. A great conversion of a book to a game but fans belaboured the mandatory darts minigame for its near impossiblility.

Shooter - American McGee's Alice

Aside from being an inspiration to the Oblivion expansion The Shivering Isles, Alice in Wonderland also inspired American McGee to create a spin-off from the book's canonical story. The magical land of Wonderland becomes a symptom of Alice's tortured mental state as she struggles to cope with survivor's guilt after her parents die in a house fire. Remarkable in that it attempted to push the First Person Shooter (FPS) forward as a story telling medium, ELECTRONIC ARTS have shown interest in remaking Alice for next-gen consoles to coincide with a possible film adaptation. As if childhood memories weren't already Freudian enough, Alice turns your vision of Wonderland upside down.

Shooter - Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl

As well as being influenced by the real life events of the Chernobyl disaster, Stalker used the novel Roadside Panic as an inspiration for the setting. Alien 'artifacts' which disregard the laws of physics are highly sought after for military purposes and the wish granting monolith is very similar to the Golden Sphere of the novel. Whilst some fans were dissapointed that it didn't reinvent the FPS as it had seemed on course to do, Stalker had a highly evolved weapon evolution/degradation system and it made you aware of the environment as a potential enemy in a way that has influenced recent titles like Far Cry 2.

Role Playing Games - Betrayal at Krondor

Notable for reversing the trend of borrowing stories from books and instead working with the author of the Riftwar saga (Raymond E.Feist) to create a unique storyline. Betrayal at Krondor was later novelised in an interesting move, the game itself featured one of the earlier incarnations of the 'levelling by using' skill systems (as seen in Oblivion) and was often fiendishly difficult. Players had to buy rations and there were no magic quick fix potions to heal, instead they had to buy curatives and rest at inns or risk attack by camping on the road. The combat was also very complex for a Western RPG of that time and it rewarded tactical thinking. Fans of Midkemia owe it to themselves to play it as it's just like the world you imagine when reading.

Role Playing Games - The Witcher

Inspired by the Polish books of the same name written by Andrzej Sapkowski, Dwarves come with extra grime here, The Witcher presents a much darker version of the hack and slash fantasy world typical to videogames. The hero, Geralt, is a witcher, a genetically enhanced monster hunter who has become a pariah due to his profession. Featuring a realistic look at how a suspicious, ignorant, middle ages society might view an early form of public service, the morality system blurred the lines of conventional RPGs as repercussions sometimes surfaced far later than a quicksave's time. A next-gen port titled The White Wolf is in development for a late 2009 release and an enhanced edition was released late last year.

Survival Horror - Alone in the Dark

The game that brought adventure games into the third dimension and can be credited as creating a new genre. Alone in the Dark was chock full of references to H.P. Lovecraft's works, plot forwarding books such as the Necronomicon originated in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and added a real sense of mythology to the game. The game was notable for downplaying combat, and the atmospheric use of music. The scene in the ballroom where the player must defeat three dancing ghosts by playing the Danse Macabre is still haunting 17 years later. If you like Resident Evil you owe it to yourself to play Alone in the Dark (but leave the lights on).