Top Ten Best Moviegames ever

When you think of videogames and movies, you wonder why their relationship is not a bit better. Whenever a new movie based on a videogame is announced, this mostly just elicits groans from fans, while games based on movies are often not received much better. Sadly, for gamemovies, this bad reputation is deserved. There are only a handful gamemovies that can be considered passable, while the rest is mostly nothing more than an easy way to cash in on a franchise that has already proved it's popularity. It's frustrating to say the least, but maybe with the upcoming Halo-movie, to be produced by Peter Jackson, things will change.
Moviegames are a whole different story. While the majority of games based on movies is uninspiring (not even bad, just blah), there are plenty of moviegames that are well made, exciting and a great way for people who love a certain movie to expand the enjoyment they got out of the material. This has been shown again very recently, with the release of both The Warriors and King Kong, the latter one argued to be the best movie game ever. The time has come to make a list of the best moviegames out there. It was easy to come up with ten names for this list, and I could even have made a top twenty without having to scrape the barrell. The final rankings are based on the critical reaction a game has received, with a little bit of my own opinion thrown in for good measure. The ten following moviegames will entertain you without problems, and even with the movie license stripped away they would still be highly enjoyable.

10. Star Wars - Lucasarts
The original Star Wars game is a great 3D-shooter that may only be made up of vector graphics, but which nonetheless manages to bring that real Star Wars feeling alive on the screen. It was originally released in the arcades, where it became a big hit instantly, and has since made the transition to many different home based systems. The game is primarily about shooting. You have a first person view from the cockpit of your X-Wing, and the idea is to more or less shoot everything that moves. There's an endless onslaught of Tie Fighters which make life dificult for you, but luckily it seems that your X-Wing is a lot stronger than their machines. The action is divided into several different levels, with the shoot out at the Death Star as the understandable highlight. In contrast to the movie, you then go on to attack another Death Star, and another, and another...

9. Cobra - Ocean (ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC)
Now there's a surprise: a crap movie with a great game! Actually, history has shown us that sometimes the crappest movies spawn some of the coollest games, and this is probably the best example. This is in large part due to the fact that the game has almost nothing to do with the movie. Yes, you have a sprite that looks like Sylvester Stallone shooting enemies, but I cannot remember from the movie that Sly was attacked by babies in prams or women with knives. Still, this is arcade fun at it's best and I advise you to go look for an emulator and this game to enjoy this typical slice of gameplay from the 8-Bit homecomputer era.

8. The Blues Brothers - Titus (Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, NES, PC)
Every now and then a game pops up that is based on an older movie, and, since the pressure to meet the release date of the movie is gone, these movies are also often a good source for enjoyable games. The Blues Brothers is nothing more than a typical platform game of it's time, with only a very loose connection to the movie itself, but it is all so competently made that the urge to press on is very high. You could even choose which of the Blues Brothers you wanted to be, which for that time was quite revolutionary. The succes of The Blues Brothers brought several other moviegames in a similar style, notably the fun Hudson Hawk and Lethal Weapon. The Blues Brothers were later also immortalised on the Nintendo 64, but that game had none of the charm of either this game or the original movie.

7. Aladdin - Virgin Interactive (Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Super Nintendo, Sega Megadrive, GBA)
There was a time when games based on new Disney-movies were something to look forward to. Disney and Virgin Interactive had crafted a platform game engine that was the source of classics like The Lion King, Jungle Book and Pinocchio, and many other platformgames starring Disney-heroes like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Most accomplished of all these titles is probably Aladdin, a game with (for the time) superb graphics, a storyline that really did follow what happened in the movie and a style of gameplay that was just easy to pick up and enjoy. Sadly, after most games switched from 2D to 3D, Disney followed suit and released an avalanche of some of the most mediocre movie games in history, although lately they seem to be getting back on track again.

6. Die Hard Trilogy - Fox Interactive (Playstation)
Die Hard Trilogy came out in a time when the interest in moviegames was at an all-time low, the quality of most of these titles sinking way below the radar. So to say it was a pleasant surprise is an understatement. It combines all three of the movies, with part 1 being represented by a 3rd person action shooter, part 2 being represented by a 1st person lightgun shooter and part 3 being immortalized in the form of a racing game. Shockingly, all these three games work wonderfully. I personally spent most of my time with Die Hard 1 (mostly on the account of the two other games being incredibly hard) but you couldn't really fault any part of Die Hard Trilogy 1. Die Hard Trilogy 2 was a different story however, with all the fun from the original eliminated, John McClane style.

5. Batman the Movie - Ocean (Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC)
There aren't many characters from comic books or movies who have featured in as many crap videogames as Batman. Some of these games bring back memories that are more horrible than the memory of Batman and Robin, and you wonder why DC Comics was not a little bit more stern with the companies turning their most popular character into games. There have also been a few good Batman-games however, none more well executed than this game that was based on the first Batman-movie. It's a game in five parts. Levels one and five were platformgames, level three a small puzzle game and in the middle of this Bat-sandwich were levels where you raced the Batmobile and Batwing. It was not just the fact that all the levels were so well made, but also the fact that there were many elements from the movie. For instance, like in the movie, you could only make turns with your car by swinging the Bathook around a street light. This was frustrating at times, but also recreated the mood from the movie very well. The biggest frustration that this game gave me, however, was the fact that it froze every time I had finished level 4, meaning that I never saw the last level or ending of the game (I'm sure this error was confined to my copy, since I never heard any of my friends complain about it).

4. Robocop (Arcade, Super Nintendo, Sega Megadrive, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC)
Robocop is another one of those movies that has seen both good and bad games. The most recent Robocop-game was a hilarious mess that made you want to tear your hair out at the thought of having spent money on it, but the first Robocop-game was an exciting combination of shooting and platforming, that became an unprecedented bestseller. It spawned a sequel that was released even before the second movie came out, which followed the same style but which was again a lot of fun to play. It was the combination of slick graphics and gameplay style that made the game a hit. The character you controlled wasn't flexible like Mario or Sonic, but packed unprecedented firepower. The fact that (like in the movie) you had to collect baby food to keep Robocop's power level up only added to the fun of it all.

3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Commodore 64)
Thinking back to this game brings back memories of calling my friends late at night, asking them if they had already found a solution for one of the many problems we got stuck in with this game. This was the pre-Internet age, when you really had to rely on your own wits to be able to complete a game like this. Last Crusade was an adventure game from the point and click wizards at Lucasarts, who would later on produce other classics like Secret of Monkey Island and Full Throttle. Last Crusade made you really feel like you were having the adventure of your life, as you searched for clues that could help you further in the game. All the locations from the movie were presented, as well as the dry sense of humor and amusing characters. There are many movies that would benefit from being made into a game like this (the upcoming Da Vinci Code game would be perfect for a similar treatment), but mostly we are just 'treated' to easy action games that don't add much to the material that is already there.

2. King Kong (Playstation 2, GameCube, Xbox, PSP)
When you combine the genius of somebody like movie director Peter Jackson with the genius of a game designer like Michel Ancel (Rayman, Beyond Good and Evil), you can expect something special. And something special you will get when you load up King Kong. The game looks magnificent, plays extremely well and follows the plot of the movie more closely than most movie games we have seen. Part of the excitement comes from the fact that you can play both as hero and as the Big Ape himself. Now we can only wait and see what will happen when Jackson goes the other way and turns a game (Halo) into a movie, but if he can work the same magic as he does here, we are in for a treat.

1. Goldeneye (Nintendo 64)
I'm pretty sure many people are rolling their eyes when they see the moviegame that made it to the top spot. It's not the fact that they don't agree, because Goldeneye really is that good, it's more the fact that everybody always keeps going on about this. Goldeneye is one of the best console first person shooters ever, and it must really bother Electronic Arts that, even though they have the superior technology of the next generation machines, they were never able to make a James Bond-game better than Rare's effort.

Agree? Disagree? Missing any games? Post your comments now!

Comments

[Snacky]

Nice list! It's good to see that you remembered some of the classics, though you did miss a few. I thought The Thing was intense, and Spider-Man 2 was also pretty classic. When it comes to the old games: the Addams Family platformgame on Amiga also would have deserved a spot. Any chance of a list of the worst moviegames?

[Master G]

A list of the best movie games and no ET? Shame on you! LMAO.

[The Genius]

what about the old Untouchables game on the Amiga? i remember that being pretty sweet. there were a lot of good moviegames on amiga, its just that they were overwhelmed by all the crap that came out. can i say beverly hills cop? uggh!

[Slim Jones]

God yes, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade! That game kept me up many a night back in the dayz! All those Lucasarts adventures were crazy, I loved Zak McKrakken, Sam and Max, Full Trhottle and of course Monkey Island! They should start making those games again, enough with all those first person shooters and whatchamacallits!

[astro]

Man, that's a perfect list. Blues Brothers and Robocop hold many memories, and the "Calling your friends late at night" for Indy is perfect. I used to do it all the time.

And as for Goldeneye as the top bill? Yeah, I definately agree. I've played stacks of console first person shooters, and none of them stack up to Goldeneye64.