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024 THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE

FEATURE

ONM42.feat_movies 62 24/3/09 1:39:37 pm

WITH NEW INDY AND GHOSTBUSTERS GAMES ON THE WAY, IT’S TIME TO PULL UP A CHAIR, GRAB SOME POPCORN AND JOIN US AS WE DELVE INTO THE CRAZY WORLD OF THE MOVIE TIE-IN…

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE 025

6 Licence To Thrill?Have you ever wondered why movie tie-in games are so universally rubbish? We investigate further…

Page 27 The Good, The Bad & The UglyCheck out our fi ve favourite movie tie-ins of all time, as well as the fi ve biggest stinkers

Page 28 Caught On CameraIt cuts both ways! We take a look at the big screen adaptations of some of your favourite videogames

Page 30 Rad’ Infl uenceExploring how game developers have always looked towards Hollywood for inspiration

Page 31 Taking LibertiesAnd now for something completely bizarre. Movie tie-ins don’t always follow the script word for word…

ONM AT THE MOVIES FEATURE


FEATURE

Let’s cut to the chase. We hate to start a huge feature on a negative note, but it would be a bit daft of us not to address what every gamer worth their salt knows as a golden rule – if a game is based on a

movie, then there’s a very strong chance that it’s going to be absolutely awful.

This rule started back in 1982 with the release of the infamous ET on the Atari 2600. This game was so atrocious it’s been said it was responsible for the ‘great videogame crash of 1983’ due to the number of people it put off gaming. ET was so bad that Atari apparently buried millions of unsold copies of the game in a landfi ll in New Mexico. Thankfully, Nintendo then turned up with the NES and helped revive gaming.

Top Of The FlopsAlthough no game has ever been that terrible since, it’s fair to say that the vast majority of movie tie-ins have still been pretty bad over the years. Although there can be many reasons for this, there are two major factors

which tend to play a large part.Firstly, with any big movie

licence comes a set of rules. Since the game’s going to be based on a big Hollywood movie, the fi lm studio will want to see every single aspect of the game and approve it before the game can be released. As a result, the game’s developers will be limited by what they can do, because if the studio doesn’t like it then it’ll be scrapped.

For example, let’s say when King Kong jumps off the Empire State Building at the end of the GameCube game, you had to aim him through a series of rings as he falls (like in Pilotwings) then land him on a target on the pavement. We’re pretty sure that if the developers had wanted to add that, Universal would have told them to remove it, however awesome the end result would be. It’s a bit of an over-the-top example, but it happens all the time to a lesser extent when developing a movie game tie-in. “We don’t want that character in a sewer level”, “we’re not happy with what he says in this cutscene”, “that weapon doesn’t fi t with the tone of the fi lm”... if the movie’s owned by a strict studio, the developer’s creativity (and the quality of the game) is stifl ed.

Rush ReleaseThe other big problem is the release date. Pretty much any good game is likely to be delayed at some point so the development team can improve it, fi x bugs and generally make it more fun. But when a game simply has to be ready to come out at the same time as a movie and there’s no way it can possibly be delayed, the quality’s going to suffer because the developers won’t have time to properly fi nish it.

So there you have it: the reason, in a nutshell, why most movie games are a bit rubbish. Of course, there is the odd exception that bucks the trend. Read on to fi nd out our favourites…


“A game simply has to be ready to come out at the same time as a movie – there’s no way it can possibly be delayed”

ET Go Home The movie tie-in craze began back on the Atari 2600 with the release of ET.

Screen Gems Spidey actually bucks the trend

and has appeared in a couple of decent games.

FEATURE

sure that if the developers

Universal would have told them to remove it, however

over-the-top example, but it happens all the time to a

developing a movie game tie-in. “We don’t want that character in a sewer level”, “we’re not happy with what he says in this cutscene”, “that weapon doesn’t fi t with the tone of the fi lm”... if the movie’s owned by a strict

creativity (and the quality Screen Gems actually bucks the trend

and has appeared in a couple of decent games.

LICENCE TO THRILL? So why are most games based on fi lms absolutely rubbish?


FEATURE


GOLDENEYE 007 (N64)Arguably the best movie game

of all time, GoldenEye is

beginning to show its age a bit

but is still undeniably a great

title. This is probably due to the

fact that it went against usual

movie game convention. It

didn’t try to stick too closely to

the fi lm’s plot and it wasn’t

rushed to come out the same

time as the fi lm’s November

1995 release date (instead

being released in August

1997). The result is a fantastic

game in both single-player

and four-player multiplayer.

ENTER THE MATRIX (GameCube)One of the most hyped games

of all time. Based on The Matrix

series and written by the fi lms’

directors, the Wachowski

Brothers, Enter The Matrix had

a side-story that accompanied

The Matrix Reloaded and

featured two hours of

exclusive cut-scenes shot by

the Wachowskis. The game

was rushed to be released on

the same day Reloaded hit

cinemas, which is probably

why it had more bugs than a

Bushtucker Trial.

BATMAN (Game Boy) A bit of a curious choice this,

but Batman on the Game Boy

is a personal favourite of at

least two members of the

ONM team. It may look rather

rubbish, but what it lacks in

visual fl air it makes up for in

pure gameplay. Based on the

fi rst movie, this sees the

player as Batman, getting to

drop Jack Nicholson’s Joker

into a vat of chemicals,

blasting through enemies in

the Flugelheim Museum, and

even fl ying the Batwing. A

great little retro gem.

CATWOMAN(GameCube) To be fair, the Catwoman

game is actually very similar to

the Halle Berry movie it was

based on, that being a

complete pile of kitty litter

too. The saddest thing here

isn’t the atrocious camera

which tries its best to show

you Berry face-on at all times

instead of where you’re meant

to be going. It’s the fact it was

developed by Argonaut, the

once-great British developer

who created the Super FX chip

for Starwing on the SNES.

SPIDER-MAN 2 (GameCube)Although the main game is

pretty by-the-numbers and

the game’s side-missions are a

little dull, what made this so

enjoyable were the sections

when you were left free to

roam and swing through the

streets of New York. There’s

nothing like climbing a huge

skyscraper and looking over

the whole city – Hudson River

and all – then leaping off and

fi ring a web at a nearby

building to swing yourself

down to street level.

SUPERMAN 64 (N64)Back at E3 1998, developer

Titus told everyone that the

reason the levels in its

Superman game were

plagued with an extremely

thick fog was that it was

“Kryptonite Fog” developed

by Lex Luthor to kill

Superman. In fact, the fog was

there because the game was

so badly developed it wasn’t

able to draw in backgrounds.

The glitchiest, hardest-to-

control game we’ve ever

played, this is probably the

worst Nintendo title ever.

LEGO INDIANA JONES (Wii)The Star Wars games were

fantastic too but LEGO Indiana

Jones took the supremely

playable LEGO Star Wars

gameplay engine and

developed it slightly further to

encourage a more enjoyable,

less repetitive experience. The

characters may not be as

memorable as those in a

galaxy far, far away, but that’s

the fault of the movies rather

than the game. Besides, there’s

another Star Wars series that

we reckon is better...

HOTEL FOR DOGS (Wii)We were going to include Iron

Man in this list until this little

canine treat left a brown

deposit on our Wii’s carpet

recently. Simply put, Hotel For

Dogs is the worst game on the

Wii. It’s got atrocious N64-era

graphics, a ridiculously

complex and uninformative

tutorial, and the controls are

just broken. The developers

should be ashamed of

themselves for allowing this

garbage to be unleashed on

the nation’s children.

SUPER STAR WARS SERIES (SNES)These three games based on

the original trilogy were

simply awesome. Never mind

all that plot rubbish, Super Star

Wars and its sequels delivered

what every Star Wars fan really

wanted – to run about

blasting enemies and hacking

at bad guys with a lightsaber.

With great music, non-stop

action from start to fi nish and

a great soundtrack, this was a

fantastic series of games. Why

isn’t it on the Virtual Console?

A travesty!

CLIFFHANGER (SNES)One of the most popular

Sylvester Stallone movies of

the early ’90s and the sort of

fi lm you see often on Channel

5 when they don’t have

anything else to show (along

with stuff like Speed and Die

Hard), the SNES version of

Cliffhanger wasn’t quite so

enjoyable. One of the most

frustratingly diffi cult, clunky

games of all time with a

soundtrack that sounded like

it was composed by a drunk,

deaf crocodile walking over a

keyboard. Avoid.

BLOCKBUSTERS

B-MOVIE BOMBS

Our top fi ve games-based-on-movies. Have you played them all?

To stand out among so many rancid tie-ins takes a special breed of awful – here’s the worst movie games ever

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLYIntroducing the best tie-ins ever, and the worst…


LICENCE TO THRILL? So why are most games based on fi lms absolutely rubbish?


FEATURE

CAUGHT ON CAMERA


It’s two-way traffi c, y’know. ONM presents a brief history of terrible movie adaptations of your favourite videogames MORTAL

KOMBATStarring: Christopher Lambert, Robin Shou

Relatively speaking, this one isn’t bad! There’s

some well choreographed scrapping, plot is

kept to a bare minimum, there’s some fun special

effects and it sticks fairly closely to the source

material. All things considered, this is the Citizen

Kane of videogame movies. Its sequel, on the

other hand, is an audio/visual abomination that

we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy.

LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDERStarring: Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, Daniel Craig

Of all videogame adaptations, none have

wasted such esteemed acting talent and

cinematic source material quite so fl agrantly as

this sorry effort. It should’ve been easy: a sexy

hero + Indiana Jones-style adventuring + scenery

chewing bad guys = a rollicking good time, right?

Wrong. This is boring, cheaply made and utterly

unthrilling. Somehow the sequel is even worse.

SUPER MARIO BROSStarring: Bob Hoskins, Jon Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper

The stinker that started it all and the last word

in videogame sacrilege. Among the hideous

ticklist of wrongness: setting the action in New

York rather than the Mushroom Kingdom; Bowser

depicted as a human; Princess Daisy has a ball of

pink snot for a father; Toad is a lizard; Mario’s full

name is revealed as ‘Mario Mario’… we dare you to

watch it and not weep tears of despair.

STREET FIGHTERStarring: Jean Claude Van Damme, Kylie Minogue

A lthough not quite as rancid as the

forthcoming Street Fighter: The Legend of

Chun Li, this still successfully redefi ned terrible.

With a nonsensical plot that recasts Ryu and Ken as

conmen and Zangief as a gurning goon, and some

of the most pitiful SFX this side of an episode of

Thunderbirds, sitting through this movie is more

painful than a tiger uppercut to the groin.

LARA CROFT:

19931994

1995

2001Stink-o-meter:

Stink-o-meter:

Stink-o-meter:

Stink-o-meter:

0

30

60

90

120

150

Which videogame movie made the most money?

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Tom

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Movies

FEATURE


FEATURE


“Ironically, our favourite videogame movie ever made isn’t actually based on a game at all”

RESIDENT EVILStarring: Mila Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, James Purefoy

A gain, this could have been a cracker. After

all, how hard is it to make a bad zombie

movie? Somehow, Paul W Anderson manages it

though, thanks to a tedious plot that focuses too

heavily on conspiracy, double crossings and

malevolent computer systems rather than

relentless zombie killing. That bit with the laser

wall o’ death is kinda cool though…

FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHINStarring: Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Donald Sutherland

A bit of a weird one this. Not only does it bear

no relationship to the series from which it

takes its name, it’s also not strictly a fi lm, featuring

ground-breaking computer generated animation.

Well, it was ground breaking in 2001. Now it just

looks creepily unlifelike.

HOUSE OF THE DEADStarring: Jurgen Prochnow, Jonathan Cherry

Ah, it’s time to introduce the great Uwe Boll!

The German writer/director is infamous for

his staggeringly inept videogame tie-ins (don’t

see also: Alone In The Dark, Bloodrayne, In The

Name Of The King) and this sorry zombie effort

probably ranks as his most offensively poor effort.

Scareless, goreless, witless and generally abysmal

in every conceivable way.

THE KING OF KONGStarring: Steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell

Ironically, the best videogame movie ever

made isn’t actually based on a game at all.

The King Of Kong is a brilliant documentary that

charts the acrimonious rivalry between two

astonishingly skilful gamers as they attempt to

beat each other’s Donkey Kong high score world

record. It might not sound like blockbuster

material on the face of it but this is hilarious,

uplifting and genuinely thrilling. You absolutely

need to see this. A fi ctional remake is apparently

in the works too.

FINAL FANTASY:

2001

2002

2007 2008

Stink-o-meter:

Stink-o-meter:

Stink-o-meter:

ONE TO

WATCH

CASTINGCOUCHWho should play famous gaming icons in the movies?

Luigi

Mr Resetti

Jessica Simpson

Zac Efron

Jorge Garcia

JoePesci

Borat

Kirby

Princess Peach



FEATURE

RAD’ INFLUENCE


Game developers have been mining cinema for inspiration for years. We take a look at some of the most explicit examples

KING KONG We have to topple a giant

ape who’s kidnapped a

pretty young lass? That

sounds familiar. Universal

Studios certainly thought

so and brought a legal

action against Nintendo for

breach of copyright.

EVENT HORIZON The game’s high concept plot

concerning a deserted vessel

in deep space terrorised by

mysterious alien forces is

highly reminiscent of Paul W

Anderson’s gory 1997 sci-fi

horror Event Horizon.

ALIENThis forthcoming Wii blaster,

due for release later this year, is a

near perfect distillation of two

sci-fi classics. The claustrophobic

shocks and female lead suggest

the developers

have been

watching Alien,

while the

non-stop, violent

onslaught of

parasitic alien

lifeforms indicate

they’re pretty

big fans of the

sequel too.

THE RUNNING MANMadWorld’s plot is a

straight lift of Arnie’s 1978

classic The Running Man.

Throw in a few

Blaxploitation references

and some Sin City stylings

and MadWorld is the

ultimate movie pastiche!

DAWN OF THE DEADAnyone who’s seen

George Romero’s classic

1978 shopping-mall set

horror Dawn Of The Dead

(or the 2004 remake) will

notice Dead Rising owes it

a huge debt. Capcom duly

found themselves on the

receiving end of an

(unsuccessful) copyright

infringement claim from

the movie’s owners.

PLANET TERRORSega’s zombie

shooter was so

indebted to

Robert Rodriguez

‘Grindhouse’

pastiche, that it

could effectively be

passed off as an offi cial

tie-in. Hammy dialogue,

ridiculous violence,

grainy graphical effects…

this one has the lot.

FEATURE

KING KONG We have to topple a giant

ape who’s kidnapped a

pretty young lass? That

sounds familiar. Universal

Studios certainly thought

so and brought a legal

action against Nintendo for

breach of copyright.

KING KONG KING KONG

THE RUNNING MAN

PLANET TERRORSega’s zombie

shooter was so

indebted to

Robert Rodriguez

‘Grindhouse’

pastiche, that it

could effectively be

non-stop, violent

lifeforms indicate

DONKEY KONG

(1981, NES)HOTD:

OVERKILL (2008, Wii)

DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION (2009, Wii)

DEAD RISING

(2008, Wii)MADWORLD (2008, Wii)


FEATURE

TAKING LIBERTIESWhen tie-ins throw the script in the bin and make it up as they go along


BACK TO THE FUTURE (UNIVERSAL, 1985)

Marty McFly’s friend Doc Brown

creates a time machine, sending

Marty back to 1955. Accidentally

making his past mum fall for him, he

has to get her back together with his

dad or he’ll no longer exist.

WAYNE’S WORLD (PARAMOUNT, 1992)

Wayne and Garth run a small local TV

show called Wayne’s World. A TV

executive offers to take their show

national, but he has a hidden

agenda: he wants to make Wayne fail

and run away with his girlfriend.

TOTAL RECALL (CAROLCO, 1990)

The year is 2084. Douglas Quaid, a

construction worker, has been

having dreams about Mars. He goes

to get a memory of a holiday to Mars

implanted in his brain but ends up

caught up in a Martian civil war.

ALIEN 3 (20TH CENTURY FOX, 1992)Having escaped at the end of Aliens,

Ellen Ripley’s pod crash-lands on

Fiorina 161, a prison planet. Aliens

start killing the prisoners, but since

the planet has banned weapons they

need to fi gure out how to kill them.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (NEW LINE, 1984)

Nancy and her boyfriend Glen

(Johnny Depp) have to fi gure out how

to defeat Freddy Krueger, the evil,

burnt child murderer who kills

people by invading their dreams and

murdering them with a razor glove.

JAWS (UNIVERSAL, 1975)When a giant great white shark starts

killing swimmers and fi shermen off

the shores of the quaint beach resort

of Amity Island, it’s up to tough

police chief Brody, a marine biologist

and a brave fi sherman to hunt it

down and destroy it.

TOTAL RECALL (NES, 1990)The year is 2084. Douglas Quaid, a

construction worker, has to walk

through various different

platformed areas fi ghting dogs,

cops, skeletons, soldiers, mutants

and strange bearded midgets

wearing pink jumpsuits.

WAYNE’S WORLD (SNES, 1993)Garth has been kidnapped by the evil

purple alien Zantar. Wayne has to

jump through four stages including a

guitar store and donut shop, using

his guitar to fi re sonic beams that

destroy various alien enemies.

ALIEN 3 (SNES, 1993)Having escaped at the end of

Aliens, Ellen Ripley’s pod crash-lands

on Fiorina 161, a prison planet.

Aliens start killing the prisoners, so

Ripley uses a huge arsenal of

weaponry including a giant

fl amethrower to kill them.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (NES, 1989)A nameless teen has to enter various

houses on Elm Street and collect

bones while fi ghting wasps and

snakes. Every now and then a big

Freddy glove or Freddy head appears

as a boss character.

JAWS (NES, 1987)A fi shing ship goes in search of a

shark. Every so often, the ship stops

to let a diver search for shells while

fi ghting jellyfi sh and manta rays. A

bonus level sees a helicopter

dropping bombs on more jellyfi sh

for some reason.


BACK TO THE FUTURE (NES, 1989)Marty McFly has to travel up a vertical

scrolling screen picking up clocks as

he avoids park benches, manholes

and men carrying panes of glass.

During a bonus level he throws

milkshakes at bullies.


feature - amazon web services€¦ · angelina jolie, jon voight, daniel craig of all videogame...

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