The latestMission: Impossiblemovie is currently in theaters. The latest Mission: Impossible console game is 22 years old.
In Video Games, The IMF Is Weirdly MIA
Mission: Impossible - Operation Surma launched onPS2,Game Boy Advance, andXboxin December of 2003, then came toGameCubea few months later in March 2004. If you squint, you could easily mistake the stealth-action game forSplinter CellorMetal Gear Solid, as Temu Cruise infiltrates secret bases using gadgets that would fit seamlessly into Sam Fisher’s arsenal.
Since then, there have been a smattering of minor entries, but nothing that would stand out to the broader gaming audience. There was a Rogue Nation mobile game, and a few web-based entries. There was one arcade game, and the series was featured inLego Dimensions. But, that’s all for this century.
For most franchises as long and storied as Mission: Impossible, there would be a graveyard filled with failed tie-ins, along with the occasional well-remembered classic. There have been dozens ofJames Bondgames, even moreJurassic Parkgames, and 50+Shrekgames (somehow). With just a handful of adaptations, though, Mission: Impossible is closer to Bad Boys, which has only ever had one game adaptation, Miami Takedown, back in the PS2 era. That’s strange for a franchise as perfectly suited for gaming as Mission: Impossible.
Two Modern Series Point The Way
In the modern era, we have a few different blueprints that could lead to successful Mission: Impossible games. Though leaning to two different extremes,HitmanandUnchartedpoint the way.
Though Hitman 3’s final level, Carpathian Mountains, drew comments that it felt like IO Interactive was practicing for its forthcoming 007 game, the train-set stealth-action sequence would feel just as at home in Mission: Impossible. In fact, the climax of Dead Reckoning, the first M:I movie released after Hitman 3, took place on a train, too.
Hitman channels a lot of what the Mission: Impossible movies do well — especially the entries frombeforedirector Christopher McQuarrie took over with Rogue Nation. They’re about espionage, being stealthy, wearing disguises, and using fun tech to infiltrate interesting locations. The Hitman games require greater suspension of disbelief, as Agent 47 never actually changes his appearance when he puts on a costume. He’s always the same bald guy with lifeless eyes, which adds to the charm. Mission: Impossible has had a lot of fun with mask gags over the years, as Ethan Hunt and other characters 3D print new faces, and that could feature into a Hitman-esque take on the franchise.
But, if you want to get the heart of the post-McQuarrie entries, Uncharted is the blueprint. Naughty Dog’s action-adventure franchise shares the Mission: Impossible series' fixation on set pieces, which really came to the fore in Ghost Protocol, and became increasingly central to the movies going forward. Ethan Hunt hangs off the tallest building in the world, motorcycle jumps off a cliff before parachuting into the side of a moving train, hangs from a speeding biplane, and risks death on underwater missions with extended periods of breathless activity. This is the kind of stuff Nathan Drake does as a matter of course in each game, and some of the set pieces in Uncharted games could easily be slotted into a Mission: Impossible movie.
The boat flipping over in Uncharted 3? Mission: Impossible as heck.
Paramount is about to enter an odd era for the franchise, with Tom Cruise moving onto other projects, and the latest movie has the word ‘Final’ in the title. But, if James Bond teaches us anything, it’s that video game adaptations don’t have to be timely to be great. Goldeneye 007 arrived two years after the movie, and the From Russia with Love game was a full four decades late. Given that the Mission: Impossible games have never been able to use Cruise’s likeness or voice, it might be surprisingly easy to keep the series going in video game form.
