by Ryan Stokes

Created on: July 30, 2009

Some movies were born to be games, and some were not. A great movie puts you in the action, and a great game puts you in control of the action. From years of abuse we have come to expect bad things from movie games. Most of the time, we are right, the game is poorly developed and an obvious attempt at our wallets. Occasionally, we're treated to an enjoyable game and even rarer still is both the movie and game being worthwhile.

Some of the best games were made from movies. Goldeneye had all of the elements a great game needs to succeed as well as adhering very closely to the movie. The key to success is an appropriate movie, and good game design. Action movies could make good FPS games, and adventure movies RPG's. When a good movie is picked, and the plot stays intact, a good game is usually the result. If the movie doesn't have an appropriate plot for a video game, it should probably be left alone. Nothing is worse than playing a Tetris style game with an -insert movie title here- background.

With so many new games that come out in a month you would need a job to pay for them all. Of course, in order to play them all you won't have a job much longer. Some games can never be excused for being made. These game producers ride on the coattails of the movies success. They expect people to buy the game simply because it has the movie's title. A movie based game is usually a sign to stay away. A bad movie-game will usually show at least 1 of 3 elements.

The first, the game was rushed to meet the deadline of the movie. Most games take years to produce, and would require independent deadlines and release dates. When a game is rushed we see more glitches and shorter game time.

The second, the game was produced on an incredibly low budget. These games look like they were made for dad's commodore 64. The producers don't expect anyone to actually enjoy the game, they only need to have something with the movie's title on store shelves.

The third, the movie has no elements that would make it an enjoyable game. These are easy to tell just by watching the movie. For example: Wall-E, Jaws, ET, Back to the future, all great movies but made awful games. When watching a movie ask yourself, how would I make this a video game? If your answer involves a generic platformer, chances are it's going to suck.

As is the case with any book, movie, or game; read a review, watch a preview, or play a demo before making any judgments. The worst movie game to date is still Street Fighter 2: The Movie: The Game. It's a game, based on a movie, based on the sequel of a game.

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