4 stellar TV shows ‘inspired’ by even better games

More than ever before, TV and film look to the medium of the game for inspiration. Just look at that enormous pile of shit, Age of Transformers. It’s made over $15-trillion-zillion and counting, and is essentially a third-person fighting game, starring Mark Wahlberg.

I’m not here to discuss the truly awful films Hollywood’s infecting us with (sans Guardians of the Galaxy), but instead to talk about Black Jesus. Confused? You should be. Earlier this year, I wrote about a few television shows I thought would make excellent games. Today, I present four shows on TV that are more “game” than they realise.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

Adventure time IS every RPG ever

Pendleton Ward created a love letter to cartoons and signed it “Adventure Time“. This is a show about nothing at all, starring Jake the dog and Finn the human, and it’s also the most game-like cartoon show in recent memory.

Jake and Finn are RPG tropes, two lovable fighters who level-up through unique, palpable experiences. Finn receives new swords based on enthralling side-missions, and Jake levels-up his social life with a unicorn family.

The remarkable duo travel the truly dark and frightening over-world of Ooo, visiting each locale on the map, collecting treasure and saving princesses. There’s even a walking, talking game console called BMO. Ice King is the nuanced “easy” boss while foes like the immortal Lich conjure memories of Lordran’s greatest opponents. It’s every RPG cliche ever, thrown into the most lovable package of all time.

The Strain IS Castlevania, Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead

I have deep, unending love for The Strain, a modern take on the classic vampire myth. Vampirism is a disease, monster hunters work for the CDC and the big, bad boss is a Nazi immortal. Yes indeed, The Strain rocks hard. It’s also two-parts Castlevania and one-part Left 4 Dead. 

A three-person team of vampire hunters, stuck in New York, is thrown together by an aging Simon Belmont-like character with the coolest name ever, Setrakian. Their foe is none other than The Master, who is obviously Dracula and only by shooting silvers stakes into the vampires heads can the infected be defeated.

The design of the vampires seem inspired by the Left 4 Dead zombies, with their lotus-petal like mouths and Resident Evil-style feeding tubes. while the villains hide out in modern Castlevania-style lairs. 

Setrakian even sports a silver sword, much like Alucard’s from Symphony of the Night. The deeper Strain goes, the more it feels like third-person monster-combat game.

The Leftovers IS Silent Hill

It’s tough assigning a game to something as obscure as The Leftovers, but Silent Hill suits it perfectly, especially the superb Silent Hill 2. Kevin Garvey’s a small-town sheriff in charge of a soon-to-be ghost town overrun by cult members — this is fairly close to the plot of Silent Hill 2 and 3.

Kevin stumbles from one eerie locale to the other, shooting aggressive house pets, torturing the not-so-innocent and generally being an asshole, something James Sunderland (Silent Hill 2’s antagonist) is well practiced in. And like James, Kevin is also lost in a familiar place, desperate to reconnect with his estranged wife whom he led to destruction. The Leftovers is striking in tone, visually menacing and constantly unnerving, all part and parcel of the Silent Hill experience.

Plus, there’s loads of fog.

Extant IS Heavy Rain

Have you seen Extant? If no, then why not? Extant is simply excellent, a near-future tale of space, love, robots, family and the pursuit of perfection. What I love most about Extant though, is how the series has managed to implement future technology into its settings.

Phones are pieces of glass, video-calling is lag free and every car is electric. In the world of Heavy Rain, modern technology also plays an enormous part in the story, and is naturally integrated into each scene.

The lead actor of Extant, space explorer Halle Berry bears a striking emotional resemblance to Heavy Rain lead character Ethan Mars (who’s named after a planet, snap). Both are family driven, looking to shield their children from harm.

Extant also mirrors Heavy Rain in terms of gameplay and visuals. The bright, stark, LED-filled future is almost a mirror of the cleaner scenes in Heavy Rain. And when Halle Berry’s character seems lost in thought, you can almost imagine quicktime events floating in the air, waiting for the player to select them.

Street Fighter: Assassins Fist IS Street Fighter

And so ends the article. Tune in next week, where I attempt to compare Android phones to ice-cream flavours.