Of all adaptations, whether they are book-movies, comic-movies, and others, video games movies are probably the least critically acclaimed. In fact, most of them kind of suck. Since so many movies recently are derived from other media, it seems strange that by now we still haven’t gotten a higher number of solid video game movies. So the question is, can such a movie be made. Are there good video game movies? Better yet, can a truly great one be made? To shed some light on this question, here are the top three and bottom three video game movies ever made.

**Note: Critics’ quotes are taken from RottenTomatoes

The Best Video Game Movies Of All Time

3. Silent Hill (2006)

Writing a “Best Of”  list is much harder than a “Worst Of,” for obvious reasons. Third place goes to the confusing yet gripping Silent Hill. The entire point of the original game was about isolation, fear, and personal trauma, and while the script tries its very best to fail in each one of these themes, the haunting images alone get the job done. The cinematography is gorgeously creepy, the creatures are well animated, and there are several intense scenes that will have you digging your nails into the couch cushions. Although critics mostly dismissed the film, calling it “incoherent” (Lou Lumenick) or “shoddy” (Jason Anderson), practically all of them have praised the stark visuals. For a video game movie, that’ a good start.

2. Mortal Kombat (1995)

It’s the nineties, and whether you’re blowing the omnipresent dust off your Super Nintendo or blowing all your spare charge at the arcade, you love fighting games. Fighting games fit so perfectly for the nineties because they are both all about bright colors, cheesiness, and carefree fun. The reason this film works as an adaptation is the same reason why most video game movies these days don’t: you can’t take a cheesy game and make it gritty and realistic. It doesn’t work, and Mortal Kombat does not even try to. This movie fully envelops itself in the world of the video game, giving us all the colorful characters we want and never taking itself too seriously. One liners, cheap special effects, fast pacing and faithfulness to the source material all gave gamers and non-gamers alike something short and fun to enjoy. For being exactly what it needed to be, Mortal Kombat takes the silver medal.

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

Granted, this is not technically derived from a video game (actually from a graphic novel series) but that doesn’t matter. In my opinion, this is a video game movie. The plot is like any fighting game as the protagonist ascends levels and beats up bad guys, the visual style is flashy and fun, and there are even checkpoint sounds like in a real game. The laws of reality is bent, broken, and tossed in the trash. So there, it’s a video game movie, and a damn good one at that. The characters are larger than life and there are hysterical performances from Kieran Culkin, Brandon Routh, and Chris ‘Captain America’ Evans. The visuals are stunning, the script is sharp, and the film manages to combine video games, kung fu, rock music, relationship drama, hipster comedy, and comic books into one package. As Tom Charity from CNN writes, “Full of fresh, sharp touches and nonchalantly brash performances, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World consistently hits the sweet spot.” For consistent entertainment in both the script and action, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World takes the cake.

The Worst Video Game Movies Of All Time

3. Super Mario Bros. (1993)

This movie almost falls in the same category as Mortal Kombat in the sense that it’s silly fun reminiscent of that decade. But explanations and excuses are not always the same, and this movie is just too ridiculous to swallow. When making a video game movie, you can either stay faithful to the source to appease the fans, focus on making something different to appease critics, or somehow do both. This film does neither. It turned turtles into dinosaurs, a whimsical video game world into a poorly lit warehouse, and Dennis Hopper’s career into a joke, at least temporarily. No amount of drugs can get you to understand what is going on in this film.

2. Alone in the Dark (2005)

I’m going to go straight to the critics for this one.

“A violent and incomprehensible piece of gibberish.” (Rex Reed)

“There’s nothing even remotely entertaining about this film.” (Ethan Alter)

“Anyone who chooses to watch this film will probably be alone in the dark as most theaters will be empty.” (Jackie K. Cooper)

“Dreadful.” (Tom Keogh)

“This is pretty close to one of the worse movies that I’ve ever seen and having to recap it is making my brain bleed.” (Kamal ‘The Diva’ Larsuel)

Enough said.

1. Max Payne (2008)

Out of all the bad video game movies (and thanks to director Uwe Boll, there are many) Max Payne is the one that could have saved itself. It’s based on a dark video game about revenge, shooting, and slow motion. How do you mess that up? Instead we get a revenge film that is as incomprehensible as virus coding, boring as watching grass grow, pointless as Philosophy 101, and more poorly edited than a Michael Bay flick. Marky Mark looks like he’s shaking off a tequila hangover during the entire movie, Mila Kunis pops in and out of the film faster than a prairie dog, and they even cast Ludacris as a police detective. The script feels like was drunkenly written in an hour on bar napkins, and there is not a single scene that stands out in any way. For blowing a golden opportunity, Max Payne gets the gold for the worst video game movie of all time.

In conclusion, the question remains; despite there being a few good entries, can a truly great video game movie be made, and could this be a more consistent, rather than rare trend? Unfortunately I’m not very optimistic if things continue the way they are now. The entire genre needs a big boost of energy, a reboot so to speak. We need that one fantastic video game movie done by a famous and respected director with a script and casting to match, and this could set the bar. So if no one’s doing anything next weekend, I say we locate Steven Spielberg and get him to play some Halo with us.