VG247’s The Best Games Ever Podcast – Ep.24: The best game based on a book that nobody who played it has read
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Surprisingly enough, I played the video game Discworld before reading a single Terry Pratchett book. I don’t know if that speaks more to the cultural cache of video games or my own literary ignorance growing up, but turning 11 in late 20th century UK without having read a Terry Pratchett book is a pretty amazing achievement. One that I quickly remedied, of course.
This was decades ago (I’m old), and one would think that, if anything, the acceptance of video games as a valid form of artistic expression would have progressed somewhat since then. I’m not sure it has, though thankfully it seems we’ve seen the back of the dreaded “are games art?” debate, if only because everyone who ever got involved in it either died or became so bored with the topic that they happily acknowledged that it didn’t matter in any way. Who cares, just shoot the fiend’s fool (or, for that matter, the fiend’s fool).
But I can’t help but think that Pratchett, by all accounts a deeply thoughtful, good-hearted, forward-thinking man, would have had a more forward-thinking attitude toward me coming into his work through a PS1 game starring Eric Idle instead. of, say, having them read Only You Can Save Humanity as part of a curriculum. More progressive than, say, Andrzej Sapkowski, who has gone on record in his opinion that games are an unserious form of entertainment that has trivialized his work.
Terry loved games. The loved The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivionand at the time he was playing the point-and-click adventure based on his Rincewind novels, he was enjoying Tomb Raider on the PS1 and in the process helping to forge her daughter Rhianna’s deep love for the medium. Of course, he would go on to become a titan of this industry, whose extensive resume includes modernizing Lara’s character and origins for the acclaimed 2013 reboot, and writing an extremely rare example of genuinely fun video game fantasy in the form of the series. Overlord. .
Books and games are always doing this little dance, it seems. They steal from each other for characters, settings, themes, and concepts. Their respective industries feed off each other with talent. And, most important of all, their intertwined relationship inspired the theme of this very podcast, which is:
The best game based on a book that no one who has played has read.
Let us know what you think of the show, and if this is your first time listening to it, check back for previous episodes. If you have topic suggestions, we’d love to hear them, because Tom is right about having to google “books” this week and I don’t want this tantrum repeating itself every time I suggest a topic. that the panel has to actually investigate.
“What is VG247’s Best Games Ever Podcast?” you ask? Well, it’s essentially a 30-minute panel where people (Jim Trinca and associates) decide on the best game in a specific category. That is all. It’s good. listen to it We’ve got some details on the show’s content below, and we’ve also got a fan-created artist’s impression of what Chris Bratt would look like if he were taking a nice soak in a wooden bathtub. (Support VG247’s friends, People Make Games, at patreon).
The best game based on a book that no one who has played it has read.
That is the theme of Episode 24 of this podcast. Here’s a rundown of who chose what.
Tom – Jurassic Park on the Mega CD
By their own admission, a pretty crap game for a pretty crap platform. At least you tried, Tom!
Alex – Parasite Eve
A Square Enix game based on an obscure book, highly acclaimed to this day, and complete with an intricate origin story featuring, among other things, further evidence of Square’s love/hate relationship with the West. Donaldson’s classic, this one. If Big the Cat was in it, we could call it the most Donaldson game of all time (he loves Big the Cat).
Kelsey – The Binding of Isaac
Another brilliant left-field pick from Kelsey was only slightly disappointed by the fact that the book in question is the Bible and therefore not particularly dark (although, having said that, I don’t know of anyone who has read it, so that’s picky at best).
Check back in a week for another exciting installment of VG247’s Best Games Ever podcast.
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