I was rather perplexed to learn that they’re making Taxi Driver into a video game.
Allow me the first to say: wha…?!?
This is a bizarre decision on so many levels. For one thing, I can’t imagine there’s any sort of useful brand recognition. Watching The Godfather might make you fantasize about being a mobster, but nobody who sees Taxi Driver comes out fantasizing about driving a taxi.
(WARNING: Spoilers for Taxi Driver follow)
Actually, you could make this a really creepy and disturbing game. It could be like a Japanese dating sim, where you try desperately to connect with Cybil Shephard and Jodi Foster, only unlike the Japanese dating sims, there is no right choice at any moment, and no matter what you do, you become more and more distanced from humanity until you lose the game.
Unfortunately, I can’t help feeling that the more likely result is a shoot-em-up where you righteously mow down evil pimps, thereby missing the point of the film entirely. And then we can look forward to the inevitable film adaptation of the videogame, directed by Uwe Boll…
Uwe’s making a movie based on “Far Cry?” That game was terrible.
Regarding “Taxi Driver,” I have yet to play a videogame adaptation of a film that is any good. I wonder if Marty gets any cash from this video game venture?
Other old movies being turned into videogames include:
— Scarface (“‘Blind rage’ will let Tony do all sorts of nigh-impossible feats.”)
— Dirty Harry (actually his second VG)
— Reservoir Dogs
— and Jaws (where, of course, you play the shark, and “you can literally te@r people into floating fl3sh nuggets.”)
These are not jokes. The quotes are from the May ’05 issue of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. This does not include VGs based on current properties including: Batman Begins, Star Wars: Ep. III, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Nightmare Before Christmas, King Kong, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the Matrix. Thus doth the 0rgy of media synergy continueth.
For the record, the best videogame adaption of a film is “The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher’s Bay.” Or, at least I’m guessing it is, I never saw the movie, but it got poor reviews and the game was excellent. Technically, the game does not adapt the movie, but rather tracks part of the movie’s backstory (more “synergy”), but it’s cleverly done.