Top 10 Video Game CS/Play Movies

WARNING: The videos that are part of this article absolutely contain spoiler content - so if you have not actually played the game yet and you plan to, perhaps it would be a bad idea to watch the videos...

The modern video game has become so much like the traditional structure of the motion picture that in Hollywood the general perception is that the only difference between the two - other than video games making way more bank than movies - is the stories and how they are presented.

Clearly the writers who create the plot and structure of video games have a lot in common with their screenwriter counterparts.

It is fair to say that despite the necessary gaps that occur between the cut scenes - the bits where you know, the player actually plays through content - a solid story still exists.

The reason for that is quite simple: the basic plot, the critical events, and the emotional content that shapes the story tends to take place in cut scenes that are glued together by the action of game play.

The original trend in creating the movie versions of the games was to take the cut scenes exclusively, allowing the story to tell itself with the gaps ignored.

Once the gamers who were capturing and posting this content realized just how popular and desired it was, they started to include the game play portions, so that the whole story was told.

This approach is more personalized and subjective than the previous style of including just the cut scenes. It contains no commentary on the part of the gamer, and is experienced very much like a movie rather than a video game.

The creative eye involved has lead to many of these creators building followings not at all unlike that of a modern director. with viewers seeking out their takes on a game in movie form.

We thought it was time to take a look at the current crop of these movies that are created from the collected cut scenes and play of games, and share with you our Top 10.

Of course our choices are probably going to be different than yours - so please feel invited to share your personal top-ten list by using the comments system at the bottom of each page.

10. Assassin's Creed II

Before we get to the primary points it would be an idea to quickly and briefly define the AC series and how it impacted the modern video game community - both as a source of serious gamer loyalty and as a source of serious gamer frustration...

Assassin's Creed II (AC2) is the 2009 direct sequel to the game that established the series - Assassin's Creed - what has become one of the Top Five most successful video game franchises in the history of gaming.

The AC games series includes a total of eight major titles in the primary - or main - game series so far, and is supported by an additional thirteen (!) split-away titles.

The primary game series consists of Assassin's Creed (2007, PS3 / Xbox 360 / Windows PC), Assassin's Creed II (2009, PS3 / Xbox 360 / OSX / Windows PC), Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010, PS3 / Xbox 360 / Windows PC), Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011, PS3 / Xbox 360 / Windows PC), Assassin's Creed III (2012, PS3 / Xbox 360 / Wii U / Windows PC), Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013, PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Windows PC), Assassin's Creed Rogue (2014, PS3 / Xbox 360 / Windows PC), and Assassin's Creed Unity (2014, PS4 / Xbox One / Windows PC).

And if that core series was not sufficient to keep you entertained and support your need for dipping into the world of the Animus and its gateway to the genetic memories of past generations of the family and Assassin mates of protaginist Desmond Miles, the thirteen additional games (many being platform specific) surely did so!

Those thirteen titles include Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles (2008, NDS / other Mobile Platforms), Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines (2009, PSP), Assassin's Creed II: Discovery (2009, NDS / iOS), Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (2010, Browser / Facebook), Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy (2010, 3DS - Canceled and used as the basis for AC: Revelations), Assassin's Creed: Multiplayer Rearmed (2011, iOS), Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (2012, PS3 / X360 / Vita / PC), Assassin's Creed: Recollection (2012, iOS), Assassin's Creed: Utopia (2012, Android / iOS - Canceled), Assassin's Creed: Pirates (2013, Android / iOS), Assassin's Creed Memories (2014, iOS), Assassin's Creed Identity (2015, iOS), Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China (TBA, P4 / X1 / PC).

That is a rather amazing list - even deducting the titles that were canceled or that are still in development - but even more amazing is the premise, which might have been ripped right out of a story by Robert Heinlein or William Gibson.

Defined as an historical fiction based game world falling squarely within the action-adventure open world stealth video game genres, the AC series was initially developed by Ubisoft Montreal and is published by Ubisoft.

The game series was first released on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC in November 2007, with the sequel arriving in November 2009, also on PS3 and the 360, with its PC and OSX versions arriving later in 2010.

While the argument can be easily made that all of the first three games in the series offered stories that were easily immersive and entertaining, strictly from a story structure, entertainment, and emotional approach, Assassin’s Creed II stands head and shoulders above the rest. In fact it is rather difficult to believe that Ubisoft will ever manage to top it - but they have not stopped trying.

The story distinguishes itself not simply by offering the player a more complete package in terms of a richer plot and more refined delivery, it also crafts characters that very quickly help the player to suspend disbelief, permitting a much more rapid immersion experience than is often the case.

When those factors are combined with the effects of finding it easier to care about the characters - and even more surprising still, finding that the bad guys are equally easier to hate - the game offered an experience that is as close to the tour-de-force phenomenon that is often found in films than ever before or since.

By the time we arrive at the core game play elements in AC2 that massive and festering nest of unanswered questions, mysteries, and plot elements that were the result of the original Assassin's Creed ending on something of a sour and certainly incomplete note are more than addressed.

By the time the player settles into the main plot and game play in AC2 they already have more information and answers than they had any right to anticipate or expect! And that background, taken with the expanded role of what has now clearly been defined as an extinct pre-human alien civilization -- and the development of the powers of the Apple of Eden as well - makes all the difference.

In fact a case can be made that the more direct and clearer presentation of the Apple and the people who helped to create and shape it and its use - both historically and how it may or may not be used by the two opposing forces of the game, those being the Assassins and the Templar - combines to cause the sequel stand out among all of the AC games.

That deeper and clearer understanding of the primary motivation - the threads of logic if you will - offers far more than a simple if deeper background than that offered by the opening title, but thanks in part to both supporting dialogue and a larger amount of back-story-revealing artifacts and events that are found in the real-world portion of the game, it is often said to be a different game reality entirely than that of the original Assassin's Creed.

A case can easily be made for that position, but in the end as more questions are posed, and answers are delayed until the next offering in the series, it grows very evident that the AC series was to be a hybrid beast so very different from what gamers have come to expect, and the games industry has turned into tradition.

In the usual approach a game series is created as a three-act-arc in which the opening title establishes the players and their motivation, the middle title offers up the primary impediments, and the third and final title provides resolution, in the case of the AC series that does not apply.

While it is true that to some extent there is in fact a three-story-arc present, one only has to watch the movie embedded above to quickly understand that while some answers are to be found within that basic construct, there is far more at play - and way too many stories yet to be told, to even think of accepting the constraints that this traditional structure in game design and story telling can offer.

It is clear from the events that unfold in the game/movie and the hints that are cast about willy-nilly that even as the development team was crafting this first sequel it was very clear that there was way more -- way more -- coming.

While the game/movie that occupies the position of Number 10 in our Top 10 Video Game CS/Play Movies feature offers up what may be the most obvious first choice to open this list, it also presents a hint of the developing trend in recording and presenting the epic stories from modern games through the interpretive eyes of the gamer/director. Be reassured, we are just getting started!

Sure it doesn't have the naval battles or the shanties that come in the later games, but what it does have is a seriously well developed supporting cast, and sincere character development that, combined with a very well-written plot and an equally involved set of sub-plots left very little to be desired.

Posted: 20th Nov 2014 by CMBF
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