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Movie Licensed Games - The Worst Offenders
Written by Karim Maksoud on Thursday, November 2, 2006
We examine the trainwreck that generally is the handheld movie licensed game. Who're the worst offenders? What developers actually did well? Find out...
Imagine for a moment, if you will, something like this: You have person A and person B. Person A is an avid cinemagoer, while person B is more interested in video games. Person A has been waiting in explosive anticipation for the big budget, star studded and action packed new film Turd on a Train to be released- he has several posters of it in his room already. A few months later, the film is released to massive critical acclaim, and, in turn, a huge profit for the film company, company X, that made it. But company X isn't satisfied. Company X wants even more money. So they begin a huge merchandising campaign to tie in with the film. This would mean toys, household items, clothes, posters, and.......video games. Person A hears about the Turd on a Train video game, and rushes out to buy it. Just before he does so, however, person B warns him about just how abysmal these kinds of games can be. Person A is too infatuated with anything to do with the film to listen, and proceeds to buy the game. Four hours later, person A is sitting on the sofa sulking because he has wasted $39.99 on a completely soulless, unplayable game, and person B is looking at him with a smug expression on her face, as if to say "I told you so."
The fact of the matter is that this kind of thing takes place on a daily basis, victimizing thousands of undiscerning gamers around the world, all because movie companies want a bigger profit. I'm talking, of course, about movie-licensed games, which we here at Modojo have come to recognise as a taboo of sorts, in many cases. I'm about to explain how such a disaster occurs, along with a few examples, which are to be avoided at all costs.
Why it Happens
The most common and reoccurring reason as to why so many movie licensed games suck so much is because, in the developers' eyes, they are not seen as fully fledged "games", so to speak. Instead, they are categorised under "merchandise"- just like toys, clothes, mugs, badges, and everything else made for the sole purpose of gaining greater revenue. Therefore, the project isn't as important as a well-considered, original idea. The developer has less to work with as well as a set deadline to finish it, and so we're left with a short, rushed, weak and overpriced(to receive as much profit as possible) game that everyone will gradually grow to hate.
However, in some cases the reason may be that the game made to tie in with a movie is, in reality, not faithful to the movie at all. Fans of a certain film may buy the game to relive awesome scenes, only to find out that they're not there, in which case the game once again becomes a huge waste of money. Money that could be spent on undoubtedly better games, which are often cheaper. Or food.
To provide a backbone for my argument, page 2 documents a few absolute horrors which fall under the category of movie-licensed games. You might want to avert your eyes until the end, were we outline a few shining beacons of hope...
posted November 3, 2006