five great movie based games

Good games that are based on or inspired by movies are hard to come by. Due to the fact the game often is scheduled to be released when the movie is released, there is not a lot of time to make sure the game is as good as it can be. E.T, a video game based on the hit movie, was partially responsible for the video game crash of ’83. There are a lot of games based on movies that comes out every year, mainly during the summer movie season and a few games out there are actually good. They may not be perfect, but they stand out from the hoard of dull games that are based on movies.

GOLDENEYE 007During it’s heyday, Rare was one of the best developers around. Much like Valve today, you could have never gone wrong with a game made by Rare.  Their claim to fame was the Super Nintendo, Donkey Kong Country trilogy, and the Nintendo 64. They made quite a number of games for the Nintendo 64. The ones that was more well known are; Perfect Dark, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Banjo-Kazooie, and Banjo-Tooie. In 1996, Nintendo acquired the rights to a movie coming out called Goldeneye. Goldeneye would be a new James Bond film. The first since 1989 with a new actor playing Bond. At the time, first person shooters were primarily for PC as it can handle the speed and precision that was needed. Nintendo took the gamble, and it paid off in the end. When the game was released in 1997, 2 years after the movie, it was considered an instant classic. Without Goldeneye, there would be a good chance that we would not have the games we have now. At the time, with it’s slick controls and it’s four-player split screen multiplayer, it showed that a great FPS on a console was possible. Even today, Goldeneye is still considered one of the best games of all time. The last time I played Goldeneye was a few years ago. Because of it’s awkward controls now, I can’t get into anymore, but a friend of mine was playing it and to him, it was just as he played it when it came out. Goldeneye was later re-released for the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3. Instead of having Pierce Brosnan it, it had the most recent Bond, Daniel Greg.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE UNCAGED EDITIONIn 2009, the anticipated X-Men origins: Wolverine movie had finally came out to theaters. The movie was a massive disappointment. Although the movie failed to entertain, the game did the exact opposite. There were two versions of the game – a T-rated edition and an M-rated edition. The M-rated edition was called X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition. This version would be completely different from the T version. The most notable difference is the use of blood and gore. X-Men Origins is not a fantastic game by any means, but it was a blast to play. X-Men Origins is the rare case where the game itself is better than the movie. Raven Software did a splendid job on keeping Wolverine’s brutal nature. The comics, cartoons, movies, and video games kind of kept Wolverine’s killings as bloodless as possible, while X-Men Origins took that away and showed you everything. It’s just a mindless hack and slash that is, somehow, better than the movie itself.

STAR WARS: EPISODE III: THE REVENGE OF THE SITHThis was a massive shock for me. The developers at LucasArts had actually taken the time to make this game as good as possible, and the end result was kind of awesome. They took key plot points from the movie and made a game out of it. As a Star Wars fan myself, I had to play it. The one thing that surprised me is how fun the combat was. It’s not Ninja Gaiden deep, but it’s deeper than The Force Unleashed. Every fight was fun to play through, and the boss fights were amazing. We even got a behind-the-scenes video showcasing how Hayden Christensen – who played Anakin Skywalker – helped showed off some of the moves used in the game. It even had a two player versus mode where it would play like a fighting game. It uses the same combo system that the main game has. There is even an alternate ending where Obi-Wan is killed by Skywalker.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD16 bit makes a return to this game based on the movie which is based on a comic of the same name. Taking it’s cues from classic beat ‘em ups. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World takes Scott and the rest of Sex Bob-omb through the city of Toronto as they fight for Ramona Flowers, Scott’s new girlfriend. You can play as Scott, Stephen, Ramona, or Kim.  Nega-Scott is a hidden character and Knives Chou was released later. The game looks like it was made during the nineties, using sprites and music. The music was made by Anamanaguchi, a Chiptune rock band. The game didn’t have any online play so if you wanted to play with friends they had to be there with you. Much like old times.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KINGBased on the final installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the movie-inspired game followed the movie a bit too closely. While most games take some liberty to expand on the movie, The Return of the King follows it to a tee. In the game, you play as the surviving fellowship. The game picks up at Helm’s Deep, and that is where the game begins. Once it starts, it rarely stops. The action is fast and grand, and while it’s obvious they did tone down the battles – due to the hardware at the time – it did not stop EA from making the game as big as it can be. From Pelennor Fields to the Black Gates of Mordor, The Return of the King still stands as the bestLord of the Rings games around. You can upgrade each character, and every unlock shows some of the making of the game. After you beat the game, you can play as any character on every level. If you want to trade Frodo for Gandalf, you can. It even unlocks Merry and Pippin for play. This is one of the very few movie based games that did it right.