There was a time in gaming’s long and sordid history when most major films had to have a video game tie-in. And most of them were terrible. So terrible that they almost destroyed gaming (thanks E.T.). We’ve had some that should have worked but were badly made (Fight Club was a wasted opportunity), others that shouldn’t have even been considered (Wayne’s World exists for some reason), and others still that confuse me (Street Fighter: The Movie which is a game of a film of a game). But sometimes game developers, movie makers, and people with cash manage to get their shit together and make something genuinely good. Here are five such examples.
As ever, I must have played these games. Whilst they don’t have to be directly based on a single specific movie, their source material must be clear and there should be a direct link to the movie(s). Whilst researching this I found far more than I expected, so narrowing it down became tricky, but narrowed I have! Read on!
Aladdin
Probably my favourite “classic” Disney film, Aladdin is a retelling of the story of a young boy who finds himself in possession of magic lamp containing a genie who grants him 3 wishes. Aladdin obviously uses it to impress a girl because that’s pretty much always the case in old fashioned stories. Anyway, magic, murder, marriage and everyone lives happily ever after. The ones who survive anyway.
As was the case for most games of this era, Aladdin was a platform game retelling some of the key scenes from the movie. The art and music captured the style of the film perfectly and the tight controls gave use a mechanically solid game. The platforming was fun, with simple sword attacks and ranged moves forming the combat (cutting the guards trousers to make them fall down was a nice touch). Other stages involved magic carpet flights and boss battles to keep the game fresh. It worked surprisingly well (I played the superior Mega Drive version by the way!) and it’s a pity that most other Disney video games couldn’t match the quality here.
Wolverine
So the film wasn’t great. At all. Every character was used badly, Deadpool couldn’t speak(!) and the whole “Origins” movie idea fell at the first hurdle (although I feel it paved the way for First Class). Still, the Wolverine movie series managed to survive somehow, and the tie-in video game was actually tremendous.
Playing as a solid hack n’ slash game, Wolverine follows the plot of the film closely enough but makes it as violent as a game featuring a man with claws in his hands should be. Logan carves through enemies with his claws, dishing out brutal finishers (the helicopter moment from early in the game proved rather memorable for me) with a surprisingly solid set of combos that can be upgraded. Solid controls and fun boss battles keep the game from getting stale (plus the fun Easter eggs that parody other games are enjoyable to find). The visuals are excellent, with chunks of Wolverine being blown away, exposing his skeleton before gradually healing. It’s a well put together package that was far more enjoyable than its source material.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
I love this film. I know it’s not great, but I enjoy watching it so much with it’s fun visuals that do a good job of bringing the books to the screen. Michael Cera looks the part and I still like seeing the man who would be Captain America exploding in a skateboard accident. It’s what I would call a guilty pleasure if I felt any guilt for liking it.
Feeling very much like River City Ransom, you and up to 3 allies select a character from the story and proceed to fight anyone and everyone that gets in your way. You’ll collect money to spend in shops along the way to strengthen your character (which you’ll need to, it’s pretty tough) before confronting the boss. I found the controls a little loose at times but playing anything that reminds me so Streets of Rage and its ilk is alright by me. Visually it’s great too, using the style of the books combined with a retro graphical style. I’m hoping this one eventually comes to backwards compatibility, but with all the licenses involved I suspect that’s wishful thinking.
TIE Fighter
Right, this hasn’t aged brilliantly (especially as far as visuals are concerned) but it’s story and experience are a wonderful extension of the Star Wars universe. This doesn’t tie into a specific movie, and tells its own set of stories but it’s a great tale of galactic battle, subterfuge and FLYING ALONGSIDE DARTH VADER. Sorry, I got overexcited there.
Game’s like this are less common these days. It’s a narrative driven (with multiple branches in fact) space combat simulation. You need to manage your TIE fighter’s (or bomber, interceptor amongst other craft) resources to be as effective as possible whilst you crush the Rebel alliance. The controls were excellent (assuming you used a joystick) and the missions varied. The graphics do not hold up well, though the sense of scale you get as you fly beside a star destroyer is impressive. It’s a shame we’re unlikely to see many (if any) Star Wars games in the future, as a modernised version of this could work very well.
Ghostbusters
What can I say about this movie? You all know it, you probably love it, and you’ve probably seen it more times that you’ve had hot dinners. It’s amazing that there have been so many shoddy games to come from the franchise considering how easily it should translate. From the fairly shonky Commodore 64/NES/etc. game, to the horrifially overpriced 2016 spin-off, there have been very few good games in the series.
Thankfully, the 20099 release fixed that, with an original story (purported to be Ghostbusters 3 in essence) in which you play a new character alongside the original cast. The story was fairly standard, with ghosts having taken over the city meaning someone’s gonna call the Ghostbusters. You would control your character, exploring environments (some surprisingly creepy) with your PK meter to find and catch ghosts. Combat came down to weakening ghosts with your proton blaster (or alternative weapon) before slamming them into a trap. It all worked really rather well with solid controls and good visuals to go with the fun gameplay. I loved that crossing the streams with your teammates caused you to get knocked back. There was even a really rather good mutliplayer mode that died way before its time because it wasn’t Call of Duty.
As ever, there are a few honourable mentions. I didn’t put Goldeneye above as I feel it has not aged very well at all. Whilst the single player is still great, with a ton of content, the multiplayer feels pretty shoddy with a horrible framrate. I suppose I didn’t know any better at the time. Blade Runner is a great and, for its time, very inventive adventure game with multiple endings. Alien: Isolation is an excellent survival horror game in which you feel under constant threat; it’s just a shame that it goes on a bit too long and becomes a slog towards the end. Spiderman 2 deserves a mention for its fantastic swinging mechanics that developes are still trying to live up to to this day. Finally, a game I rarely see mentioned: Starship Troopers which was a rather fun RTS game that received a lot less attention than it deserved.
Have I missed any? Are there any movie-based games that you think deserve their time in the sun? Let me know, I’d love to give them a look!
You mean The Lion King wasn’t the most fabulous game you ever played? 🙂 I’m just kidding. This is a great list! I remember playing my friend’s Aladdin game, and yeah, it was surprisingly fun!
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I had Lion King on PC and it was such a pain to play with a keyboard! The music was good though.
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The Lion King was a pain to play, period.
I did watch a speed run of it earlier where a dude beat the whole thing in 15 minutes. Takes me that long to eventually give up and fail on Level 2.
Oh and… Y NO GOLDENEYE (it really hasn’t aged well)
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I plays soooo badly these days! I tried a 4 player game about a year ago and the frame rate was about 3!
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… (unsurprising) second vote for the Lion King from me! 😁🦁
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Ya know, for years I labored under the delusion that Aladdin was the same on SNES than it was on the Sega. Turns out I was horribly wrong. Not even the same team was responsible for either. There was no sword play or anything of that nature on the SNES game, it was more centered around platforming and avoiding enemies.
Still one of the greats, though!
Oh, and I second Lion King as being one of the greatest movie-game adaptations, as well as Hook, which was also a great time.
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There’s always been a debate over which version of Aladdin was better and I will forever stand by the Mega Drive version being more fun!
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I first purchased Ghost Busters in a Steam sale back in 2011, and I have never even installed it. I may have to after having read this. Great post!
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You’ll definitely want a controller for it but it’s a fun game! It really is a pity the online died a death so quickly. Thanks for reading!
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Deadpool couldn’t speak in that movie? What is this nonsense?
Anyway, there are usually more instances of good movie-based games than game-based movies, and you certainly highlighted some interesting ones; I may have to check them out at some point. I think it’s because when going from films to video games, you’re adding content, and when going the other way, you’re taking away content – specifically the medium’s identity and primary appeal.
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Yeah, when he becomes Deadpool in it they see his mouth shut to make a point. They make him all Dark and gritty rather than fun too.
Whilst there are some movies based on games that are alright (I know they’re bad but the RE movies are a guilty pleasure) I would expect that movies based on walking simulators may be the best way to go. The interactive element is minimal in many cases whilst the story takes centre stage.
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Yeah, a lot of those walking simulators don’t really get much out of being played, and probably would’ve been decent movies as a result.
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Finally got around to Ghostbusters a couple of years ago, and was very surprised how underrated it is. Original cast, new story, and combat faithful to the movies; all in all a great movie tie in.
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I love how crossing the streams caused you to get knocked down.
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And you could use the X-Force Wolverine costume. That was great.
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I seem to remember there being lots of unlocks. I liked all the hidden references too, like the hatch from lost or Arthas’ sword.
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big shout out to TIE Fighter! I loved that game so much back then. It was the first experience where I played as the bad guys. I remember seeing the intro sequence and the game glorifying that cut scene where tie fighters and bombers destroy a space pad and take out the fleeing x wings. It made me feel sick, but little did I know though that this was the formula for one of my favourite games of all time. They really don’t make enough of these space flight sim games anymore. These were easily my favourite types of star wars games, rogue squadron also has an honorable mention.
Although it may not be movie based, but based on TV/comics, is the Transformers Devastation game. The sequel to War on Cybertron. they highly improved on the first of the 2 games, and it features some really epic moments that will make fans go gaga. Love it.
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Agreed, space sims are few and far between these days (although Everspace is pretty good) and I tend to find myself looking back at ones I loved from days gone by. Freespace 2 still holds up fairly well!
Devastation was a fun Transformers game! The show’s aesthetic came across really well and the gameplay was Platinum doing what they do best. It’s a pity it was so short is all.
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I loved the Scott Pilgrim movie!! Have you seen Baby Driver? It’s by the same director I think
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It’s Edgar Wright, yes. I do like his movies and I’m pretty keen to see Baby Driver but I doubt I’ll get a chance to any time soon.
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I am not surprised Aladdin is in there. That’s a classic!
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The music in it holds up really well too.
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I was just talking about Aladdin on another post about movie/show to fane transitions and vice versa. It’s kind of my paragon go-to for films, because it was so good and so much fun.
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It’s surprising how well some platformers from that era hold up. It’s quite amusing how many film to game translations back then ended up as platformers and in later years they were all third person action games.
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I almost feel like certain genres are a “sign of the times.” Platformers were all the rage back then because, well 3D was nonexistent, and I’m guessing the basics for that type of game was pretty easy to make (I’m 100% talking out my ass, because I have no idea how to program a game. I completely assuming), but now third-person action is the go-to genre. Obviously, there are timeless ones like RPGs aren’t going anywhere, and we’ll always have platformers (though they’re are a lot more in 3D now), but I think 3P is considered “more modern” so that’s what the film will translate into.
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Excellent list. Scott Pilgrim and Ghostbusters in particular! Ghostbusters is the next entry in the series that would have been acceptable as a film.
Never had the pleasure of playing Aladin. And wolverine was one of those games I’d heard was decent for “boosting”, but turning out actually enjoyable. I never did play it to boost, but Will on our site did and actually enjoyed it more than expected.
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I’m sure there are plenty of others but these ones sprung to mind. I was tempted to do a terrible movie-game list but that seemed too easy!
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Great list! Cross medium things don’t always turn into disasters, haha. I fell in love with A Bug’s Life on the N64, and Spider-man 2 on the PS2. I was surprised they turned out so well!
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I did realise A Bug’s Life had good tie in games. I only remember there being a PC one that reviewed really poorly.
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Interesting! I know the one I played seems to have a 77% metacritic score so it can’t be that terrible, haha.
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Hmmm maybe I’m just remembering wrong! Was there one based on Ants? Might be getting that one mixed up.
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Antz does have one, and I think it is indeed terrible.
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That must be it. Curse my lack of research!
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One that i loved was the Disney Hercules game for PsOne. It was such a cool game to play!
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I never played that one! My experience of Hercules gameplay is limited to the coliseum in Kingdom Hearts.
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I’m glad you gave Spider-Man 2 an honourable mention at least; like you said, there still hasn’t been a Spidey game that’s matched it. (Cautiously optimistic about next year’s upcoming one, but we’ll see.)
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I’m a little wary of the new one. I’ve seen lots of QTEs which isn’t really what I’m hoping for. Still, so long as they get the swinging right I think most people (myself included) will be happy.
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Yeah, to be honest I’ve kind of blanked out on everything that they’ve shown except the swinging! I’ll probably get the game and just deliberately ignore anything resembling a quest in case it sucks, instead just swinging merrily about.
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No love for The Warriors? Pretty clunky by today’s standards, but the genius use of the film as the final level was very impressive!
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I love the movie but I never played the game so I didn’t feel I could comment. I know it’s a popular one though. Thanks for reading!
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Great shout on Scott Pilgrim! Had it on Xbox360 and played it fleetingly but really liked it.
The music was great too – the song ‘Another Winter’ is one of my favourite video game songs ever!
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As it happens I have Another Winter set as my ringtone 😉
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Excellent! I had it on my phone playlist for ages, going to add it again after reading your post!
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The Matrix on ps2 was good too
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I remember playing that one. I think it was the one with Ghost and Niobi. I think that was their names anyway.
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I played that and the one based on the events of the film…very fun game
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I never tried the Neo one. I heard the ending was super weird.
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I forgot the ending😅
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