Was Groundhog Day The First Successful Video Game Movie?

Was Groundhog Day The First Successful Video Game Movie?

The Curse of the Video Game Movie. If you are a gamer I’m sure you have heard of it. It basically states that no one has ever made a good movie based on a video game. I’m not as pessimistic as some. I particularly enjoyed the Resident Evil series, Assassin’s Creed, and the first Tomb Raider movie (I did not see the sequel.) But then you have Super Mario Bros., Mortal Kombat, Wing Commander, and DOA:Dead or Alive, which famously has a scene where one of the main characters disables two guards and an agent while putting on her bra. However, I would argue that there was at least one video game movie that received wide acclaim and was enjoyed by most everyone who saw it. That movie would be Groundhog Day. Okay, I’ll admit, I’m cheating a bit as Groundhog Day is not based on a video game IP. However, I contend that, when you really think about it, the experience of watching that movie is similar to the experience one has playing a video game. In the movie Groundhog Day Bill Murray plays a weatherman who lives the same day over and over again, with each day being an opportunity to learn from his mistakes, take different approaches to overcome challenges, and eventually move closer to his ultimate goal of being a better person. Isn’t this pretty much what we do when we play a video game? We move forward in the game until we reach a fail point, analyze what went wrong, then try again either with improved skills or a different approach. This correlation is most obvious when playing a story-based game but also applies to skill-based games where you repeat the same level until you reach the designated goal. To truly make the video game comparison, it should be noted that modern computer or console games are not the best archetypes. These games utilize save points which only require you to return to a certain point, possibly right before you fail, and try again. In the movie, this would equate to Bill Murray trying to steal the bag of money from the armored car, getting caught by the guards, then jumping back to a moment ten minutes earlier and trying again. That is not what happens. Murray has to go all the way back to when he wakes up, relive the entire day up to that point before he can make another attempt. A better comparison would be coin-operated arcade boxes and more recent rogue-likes. If Mario lost his final life on level 10 of Donkey Kong, you had to start all the way back on level one with your next quarter. You didn’t have the luxury of skipping straight to level 10. Groundhog Day certainly isn’t the only movie that features the concept of reliving the same day over and over again. If we continue the video game analogy, this means several game genres are represented by these movies. Groundhog Day would be classified as your typical walking simulator or adventure. Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow would qualify as a sci-fi shooter. Before I Fall is the indie offering with the social message. The upcoming Happy Death Day falls into the horror category. Finally, Hallmark Channel’s 12 Dates of Christmas would be your typical dating sim. Calling Groundhog Day a video game movie might be a stretch, I’ll admit. Still, the comparison is there. The structure of many video games is a story that we are playing through. To get to the end of that story we need to repeat the same “scenes” over and over again until we get it right. Only then can we find out the ending of the story. So next time you are lamenting the fact that there seems to be no good video game movies, try watching a movie that features a time loop and pretend that you are watching a video game movie. Trust me, it’s exactly the same thing. Exactly.

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