Ranking all the recent video game adaptations by their chaotic scores on Rotten Tomatoes

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but video games are having their moment on the big screen AND the small screen. Of course I am not talking about enjoying your games on the big telly and on your Nintendo Switch in handheld mode, but more the boom in TV and film adaptations of video games that have actually been successful, actually been well received and actually have been deemed award worthy. We’ve come a long way from a yearly disaster of Resident Evil films – but not all is rosy. Here’s a ranking of all the most recent video game adaptations from film and TV by their very chaotic Rotten Tomatoes scores.

12. Borderlands (2024) – 10 per cent

The biggest stinker according to RT was last year’s stacked cast film of Borderlands – a beloved game. The film flopped commercially and critically, and by far has the lowest score in this ranking. Even with Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart on board, the dialogue was clunky, the tone inconsistent, and the CGI underwhelming. Worst of all, it strayed too far from the source material, leaving fans wondering what planet this adaptation was even set on.

11. Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023) – 32 per cent

Josh Hutcherson starred in the lead for this one, which felt like it was coming out for ages. While the film captured the game’s eerie atmosphere and featured impressively faithful and infamous animatronics, nobody found it that scary. Many reviewers found the PG 13 rating too restrictive, resulting in a “bloodless” horror experience that lacked tension and thrills.

Most Read

Paul is apparently dating someone after MAFS Australia and erm, you might recognise her

A deep dive into Carina Mirabile’s many, many attempts at fame before MAFS Australia

The creepy real reason Netflix removed this Black Mirror episode over the weekend

Nonetheless, it did alright and a sequel comes out December this year. Great.

10. Uncharted (2022) – 41 per cent

Uncharted is such a cinematic video game series that you’d think its film or TV version would be straight up the ranking of adaptations, but vibes were very mixed. It sort of came and went, didn’t it? Never see a soul talking about it, and despite Tom Holland being everyone’s golden boy it was deemed as being quite soulless.

9. A Minecraft Movie (2025) – 48 per cent

A Minecraft Movie didn’t win over critics, but the film has definitely found its audience and has made an absolute killing at the box office. Fans of the game generally had a good time with it, the chicken jockey saga went viral and I reckon everybody involved laughed their way to the big, blocky, digital bak.

8. Until Dawn (2025) – 53 per cent

Until Dawn, a video game series that also is very cinematic and has multiple player led endings, has a novel premise. The film keeps resetting the clock and forces the characters to go through several horror films in one. It’s a good way of tackling the source material without just redoing one of the games in full.

But critics generally found it tiresome when all the new variations weren’t very original in themselves, so it just got tedious fast.

7. Resident Evil (2022) – 54 per cent

The Resident Evil franchise never stops getting adapted into animation, film and now TV – but the Netflix 2022 live action show was a bit dead on arrival and got cancelled after one series. Even if it’s nowhere near as bad as some of the major films got.

6. The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023) – 59 per cent

Getting into the good stuff now – this one smashed it. Not only did the Mario movie make so much money it got greenlit for a sequel, it also broke records left, right and centre and had an excellent cast. Chris Pratt aside. As a huge fan of these games, I thought the film made a really fun adaptation that had loads of easter eggs if you cared about the source material.

It’s currently the highest grossing film based on a video game of all time. Nothing to sniff at!

5. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) – 69 per cent

Sonic 2 did the impossible: Got a higher critical reception than the first one. Which nobody was looking forward to anyway. It smashed the box office and is kind of the reason that, spoiler alert, THREE of the top five on this ranking of video game TV and film adaptations are in the bloody Sonic universe.

4. Knuckles (2024) – 75 per cent

Yep, back to Sonic again – this time with last year’s spin-off for everyone’s fave red echidna. Voiced by Idris Elba. The show actually did really well with critics but it’s been cancelled. That was your lot, Knuckles fans!

3. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) – 85 per cent

God, out of all the film and TV adaptations on this ranking the Sonic films are the little video game moneymakers that could, aren’t they? It’s going from strength to strength, with last year’s third outing scoring a whopping 85 per cent. For video game adaptations that honestly makes it Citizen Kane.

I still will never watch.

2. Fallout (2024) – 94 per cent

Last year’s Fallout adaptation on Amazon was honestly a dream come true for me – a huge fan of the games. It was great seeing the Bethesda property get an all star cast, a massive budget and critical acclaim. The show did world building so well and Ella Purnell was outstanding in the lead role. Walton Goggins, of course, smashed it too. One of the only ones that could rival the number one spot in pop cultural force.

1. The Last of Us (2023 – ) – 95 per cent

Truly proving singlehandedly that video games deserve to be made into amazing media, The Last of Us took one of the best games ever made and made groundbreaking event television out of it. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay as Joel and Ellie deserve all the acclaim they’ve been getting. The show is going from strength to strength too, with the second season airing right now smashing it all over again.

For more like this and for the latest memes, quizzes, updates – like The Tab on Facebook