These are the worst movies based on games, ranked in order

Throughout cinematic history, the main question has been whether the book or movie was better. Over the last years, a new question has come alongside. Recent years have given us game-inspired movies such as Sonic, Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed, and Resident Evil. Add to that more recent series like The Witcher and The Last of Us, and you’re looking at a pretty impressive list of game-based productions.

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These are the worst movies based on games – according to the public

Published 07-03-2023

It’s a given to say which was easier between the game and the movie, but which one is better? We asked a panel of fans to give us their verdict on games and their movie equivalents. With Hogwarts Legacy fresh in mind, we compared that game with the famous movie series, too. Below, you’ll find the worst movie adaptations ranked worst to best.

Uncharted – an unnecessary adventure

The first installment for the Uncharted series was published in 2007 on the Playstation 3 and 4. Its early success gave fans an animated series, but 2022 saw Tom Holland feature in an Uncharted live action movie.

Judging by the responses we got, the movie is an extremely poor reflection of the game series. No more than 1% of responses chose the movie over the game. In fact, the movie was all but burned to the ground. One of the members in our panel said they, “about had a stroke trying to figure our whether the movie was based on Uncharte 1, 2, 3, or 4.”

Resident Evil – so bad, it’s scary

The Resident Evil games have been around for quite a while. The first installment was made to accompany the Playstation 1 release. This initial success has lead to a long-lasting franchise that includes about 30 games, comics, books, and an entire series of movies, which really took a turn after the first movie. In spite of the popular franchise, the movies never really took off – just under 2% preferred the movie.

You can’t compare movies/series and games. In the game you are the main character. A movie can’t live up to that. The only people who prefer the movie, never played the games.

The Witcher – picking between poop and water

Some may know The Witcher from your Netflix recommendations, but The Witcher also started as a video game. The main difference between The Witcher and most other games in this list, is that The Witcher has a very limited number of games. Does that mean that players are more loyal, too? Evidently, yes.

Only 2% of people thinks the series beats the game. And our panel was pretty outspoken, too. One of the respondents said, “Picking between the game and show feels like picking between a swimming pool filled with poop or water. I’ll take the water.”

Assassin’s Creed – worst experience of your life

The Assassin’s Creed franchise started in 2007 with its namesake installment for the Playstation 3. Its success has lead to eleven canonical games and fifteen expansions and other installments. Michael Fassbender starred in the live action movie with the same name. But how does the movie hold up? Terribly. Only 3% of people pick the movie over the game. Someone even responds, “I saw the movie in the theater. Worst night of my life.”

The movie characters are sometimes better. Movie Sonic is way cuter and friendlier than Game Sonic. But sometimes the casting does disappoint. For example, I’m not a big fan of Ellie in The Last of Us. In the game she is more innocent and that’s why the fatherly instinct of Joel kicks in.

Sonic – slick reboot

It may be hard to imagine, but Sonic the Hedgehog was a real competitor for the Mario games. Since the first game in the early ‘90s, Sonic games have been released on 34 different platforms.

The franchise received a considerable reboot in 2020 with the live action movie featuring Jim Carrey. Most people found it harder to pick here, but 33% chose the movie. Someone captures the mood and says, “Game Sonic has more excitement and adventure, but movie Sonic is a much more lovable character.”

The Last of Us – best series so far

The Last of Us first saw the light in 2013 on the Playstation 3, and only saw a sequel seven years later. Maybe this means there’s less room for disappointments, as players have had less opportunity to get attached to the characters.

That could be the reason the show is very popular with our panel, or maybe it’s that the show closely follows the game. Whatever the reason, over half of responses prefer the HBO series that first aired in January 2023 and was still ongoing when our panel was asked.

There are always two different storylines. HBO Max takes more liberty in the series: the extra episode around Bill or the bloater in The Last of Us for example.

Harry Potter – nostalgia points for the movies

Of course Harry Potter was a book series first, but the movies have made their way into the hearts of millions. Over 70% of our panel indicates they think the movies are better than the brand new game Hogwarts Legacy – the best selling PC game ever. Maybe it’s due to the controversy, maybe the game is too new, but perhaps the movies are that good. Or, as one of the responses suggests, “The movies get bonus points for nostalgia.” Either way, the Harry Potter movies are far more popular than Hogwarts Legacy.

Methodology

To see whether the game or movie is better, in March we asked fans of each franchise about their preferences. Each title saw a different number of responses, with 848 for Resident Evil as the maximum and 201 responses for The Last of Us as the lowest number. The main age group in our panel was between 18 and 26, and identified 61% as male and 36% female.