10 Movies That Directly Influenced Gaming

Games Influenced: Commando, Contra, Farcry, any "one man army" premise.

When the second Rambo movie hit the scene it caused yet another shift in gaming. Those spaceship shooters Star Wars inspired were now slowly being replaced by muscular army dudes with tiny vests and huge guns blowing up everything into kingdom come. Games like Commando and Contra made any pencil-necked geek playing feel like a macho manly man.

But the original Rambo movie, First Blood, has only truly started influencing games more recently. While its sequels focused more on the one-man killing machine John Rambo taking on tanks, helicopters and at one point the entire Russian army, First Blood is a more subtle film. Focused on a Vietnam vet being treated like a chump by a small-town police department and heading into the woods to make a stand, it’s this more stealthy Rambo that helped inspire contemporary classics such as the Farcry franchise.

So if you want to stalk your prey with tactics and timing like in Ghost Recon Wildlands, or just go in with all guns blazing like in Just Cause, remember to thank Sly and his most popular character not called Rocky for all the good he has done for gaming.