Journey To The Centre Of Video Game Movie Adaptations! Part Two

So here we go again, part two and probably the final part of my look into games that are based around movies. I was surprisingly positive about a lot of the stuff I posted, but today I'm gonna slaughter nearly everything today, even though you won't agree with me :D. So let's start at the bottom of the bargin bin shall we?

Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban

Platforms : PC, GBA, Xbox, PS2, Gamecube

Let's start off a little lighter than expected... this little gem is a great example of how video games based on movies, can be done right. The basic rule of a video game movie thing is to throw you into the shoes of the main character and carve your own path through the main storyline, not go off on wild adventures on 'exclusive not seen in the movie' locations with a side-character with less personality than a cheeseburger with cheese...

One of the main things which shocked me when playing this game was the graphics. On the Xbox they looked almost next-gen, with the realistic faces, the water texture and the whole feel of flying through the air on Buckbeak (I think it's called that). The whole gameplay didn't feel left out either, with seperate characters aquring unique skills which you would have to use to progress. A really shining example of how a movie game can keep it's story but still venture out to be a gaming gem.

WALL-E

Platforms: X360, PS3, PC, Wii, DS , PSP, PS2, Mac

This is a hard one to justify. The gameplay is really iffy and the controls take ages to get used to, once you get to EVE then the game just becomes a kiddy boring adventure, which even younger players will find horribly boring. All you do really is get some power device to plug into some other device and make cubes to throw at stuff and progress to the next part. It's not a horrible game or a great game, it's iffy.

Now don't get me wrong but a game with iffy gameplay, iffy graphics and just some sort 'one way foward' rule, doesn't that sound horrible average? But then again a lot of new movie games are taking this up just to make a quick buck, and it probably won't go away, the likes of Beowulf and Wall-E cash in on this and sell almost a million, because they are open to every single bloody platform known to man. It's just a way for studios to cash in on big releases, and it's not gonna stop.

Iron Man

Platforms : X360, PS3, PC, Wii, DS , PSP, PS2, Mac, Mobile

Here's another platform chewing monster kids, but this ain't half bad... it's sort of like Spider-Man with a jetpack but some quite limited enviroments. The game chucks you into the mission area, gives you a shopping list, some customisation which has no meaning and gives you some super-powers to make it worthwhile. Now I'll be honest with you, the flying in this game is really the only reason you'd buy this, and it's the reason you have to buy this.

Now, lets just get one thing straight, the controls are god awful and not meant for awesomewinsauce flying at all... 40% of the time when you want to fly, a helicopter or magical missle comes and pops you to bits. But on those rare occassions, you can hold down a magical button and blur off into the sunset, and admire the vista below. It's probably one of my most hated games but I still have reasons for putting it up here.

Lego Indiana Jones : The Video Game (and the LEGO series in general)

Platforms : X360, PC, PS3, PS2, PSP, DS, Mac, every godamn machine known to man!

I like this. I like games that throw you into the shoes of a now 63 year old actor and say ''go indy.'' But I still have quite a few complaints. First off, the AI is great when the puzzles whip out (pun intended), but in combat they just get in your way and provide you with as much use as a goat, can only be used for certain things and when it's forced to put up it's fists, it just bahs at you and make you explode in bricks to get past the nazees.

Now mind you, this game is fun. It's what a video game movie should be and it's much more fun when played with friends, but I think we're sort of missing the point with the LEGO game franchise, I love exploding into bricks as I chop Darth Vader up into bits and I can't get enough of the boulder scene from Indy, played out in brick format. But I honestly think, if this game was longer, not made from LEGO and was developed by a larger and respected company, it'd be the greatest movie video game efur.

The Simpsons Game

Platforms: I'm not even gonna bother this time, just guess which ones it's on and your probably right.

So once again, we get another Simpsons title from EA... only this time it's... great? Wait.. did I just type that? BAD PURPLE BAD! The game centres around a parodic sense of other big strong video-game franchies - Medal Of Honour, Katamari and Zelda for some, but it adds the series trademark humour and it all appears... godamn fun. Co-op is sort of limited because... for instance... the only thing that Homer can do in the Giant Lard Lad level, is grow into a fat ball and annoy/ lure the fat thing. But he can't finish the level on his own, so you might aswell ignore him or let your buddy sit in a corner and play Mario or something.

I'm still glad to have finally found an actually funny simpsons game, although it's not laugh out loud comedy, it still brings more chuckles than even the new episodes. I would say, give it a try, the platforming bits can spoil it but it's still a very fun and if your a simpsons fan, you've probavly already bought it, finished it, got 1000 GS and are now writing a very naughty comment on my blog.

The Movies

Platforms : PC, 360 & PS3 (rumoured)

Now when I played this on my computer, which could barely take it, I sort of found this to be one of the most creative and radical games I've ever played, sure it's not based off a movie, but it's based off the movie culture. This was one of the best ideas from Lionhead Studios (to which is developing Fable 2, and the rumoured 360 and PS3 editions of the game) and it still has the orginal website and fan uploading site still running after at least 4 years.


Now just from the image above, it does look slightly daunting, having to balance your actor's needs, star power, scripts, script management, director hiring, food sales etc. it does get to your head and thats why I think a more complicated tutorial would've saved The Movies from the horrible sales that it made, then again, the specs it needed at the time were so big that I think it only sold half a million.. and thats from Lionhead studios.

Epilouge

So... we reach the end of the journey to the centre of video-game movie adaptationsI would like to close with one game in particular which I think could be the next big video-game movie adaptation, just look at the video to just see how brilliant the game is looking.