Working Title 05.20.11: Working Mini-Rant - Movie Tie-In Games: No More Excuses
Posted by Jordan Williams on 05.20.2011
Thor: God of Thunder is the latest in a long line of video games adaptation of blockbuster films to get poor marks! Why of all of the genres and types of games out there have these lagged so far behind? 411's Jordan Williams takes a look in this week's Working Title!
You know what? I'm going to keep the old banner around for a bit
Welcome to the #1 Column to really not care that PSN is back up, WORKING TITLE. PSN is BACK!! So? We all know that I still don't own a PS3 so my interest is what goes on there is a bit iffy at best but my thing is that the PSN Outage of 2011 should have never happened.
Yes, we can blame the people like Anonymous but the LENGTH if the outage all falls on Sony. They should have had measures in place to combat this. Whomever did the hacking may have been very skilled but are you seriously going to tell me that a MULTI-BILLION dollar worldwide company doesn't haven't a team that should've been monitoring just for shit like this? I'm not saying they should've had some super hacker sq--…You know what? That's exactly what I am saying! They should've been prepared for this! You are a MAJOR player in the electronics world and you don't have a top notch IT team? Come the fuck on.
In short Sony can eat a dick for letting this go on so long and I for one will not rejoice the fact that they took nearly a month to fix something that should've taken a week at MOST. Also before the Sony Trolls say "IT HAPPENED TO MICROSOFT/XBOX 360, TOO!" that doesn't make it acceptable either…fuck, that just makes it WORSE.
But you want to really REALLY know what isn't acceptable? SHITTY MOVIE TIE-IN GAMES.
It seems that everyone complains about these for some reason or another but you know what? These have sucked forever and a day so OBVIOUSLY we have not complained enough about them. We already know why most of the them suck…they are rushed out to meet a deadline and are usually done by some B-Team Studio who is contraction ally obligated to do so. We also know that they usually have to meet some sort of ‘artistic vision' that goes with the movie. But you know what? I'm done buying that as an excuse.
But why? Why now when these sorts of shitty games have been going on for DECADES?
THAT'S WHY.
You see, I have to review this piece of shit game this week and while an official review is on its way soon, I can unofficially officially tell you that this game sucks big fat Odin dick. And when you really think about it there is no excuse for it anymore.
Working Wrant – Movie Tie-In Games: NO MORE EXCUSES
Alright, I am going to just go ahead and tell you flat out why there is no excuse for most movie tie-in games (ESPECIALLY THOR) to suck. Most of these movies coming out nowadays that get a movie tie in are either reboots, rehashes, or based off an existing medium like comic books, novels, or cartoons. So that means especially for the comic books side of this that you have NEARLY FIFTY FUCKING YEARS worth of story, characters, plots, and fucking FUN to work with. But for some reason they decide to just fucking go
"NOPE! LET'S MAKE IT THE PLOT OF THE MOVIE INSTEAD".
WHY? IF I AM GOING TO FUCKING GO SEE THE MOVIE WHAT THE FUCK DO I WANT TO PLAY THROUGH IT?
There is no excuse why someone didn't step up and go "Why not just make this a [IP] game instead of a movie game?" But that's unheard of! No one has even had the balls or gumption to make a movie tie-in game that wasn't directly dependent on the plot and trappings of the movie! No one has ever EVER gone outside of the box and used the universe of the movie to make something decent and appealing while still generating interest for the movie it is promoting.
Oh yeah…that.
So that means that the vast majority of the teams behind making these games are just in it for the quick buck versus making an actual good product. I know I should be the last one on this site bitching about someone making a quick buck seeing as I am the one who supports DLC, D1DLC, Casual-Oriented Games, AND Online Passes...but you know where I draw the line at?
When the company wants to make an extra buck at the expense of its own reputation. You see all the things I listed above benefit the company/consumer or protect them in some way. You might not LIKE how it benefits them but it does in the long run. But how does a shitty MTIG (Movie Tie-In-Game) benefit the company? They might make some money off of the name value alone but in a world where Metacritic rules all it touches it is really worth making a small buck on a game that's going to be rated a 40 (THOORRRR) overall? And com to think about it…do they even sell that much to begin with? When was the last time you saw a MTIG on the NPDs? I can't think of one.
This brings me to my next question…well…more like the same question just stated differently. WHAT THE FUCK IS THE POINT OF PURPOSELY RELEASING A SHITTY GAME? What is the point of having your reputation as a developer by being tied to a shitty game? The game gets bad word of mouth, bad reviews, and then no one buys the piece of shit in the first place which doesn't promote the movie WHICH IS THE ENTIRE REASON IT WAS MADE.
So this ends HERE.
We are going to fix this shit NOW. Well…I am going to say what needs to be done to fix it because we all know no one of import is going to really read this. But it's fun to act like you are relevant sometimes. And that right, The Witcher 2?
LIST AHOY!
Use the Universe
Like I said above, there is no excuse why some of these games have to be like this. They have years upon years of universe and characters they can use. In some cases DECADES of material they can use. I understand that the point of the game is sometimes to relive the fun and action of the movie…BUT THAT IS FUCKING REDUNDANT. WHY? REFER TO THE NEXT UNDERLINED AND BOLDED TEXT.
Stop Retreading the Movie
THIS IS WHY! Why the FUCK would I want to play through the movie I just watched? I know what's going to happen. I know what the outcome is and the main plot points. So why not go outside of the box and give me something that the movie didn't. Maybe some explanation on a plot hole? Maybe the story from a different perspective? Just show me something I haven't seen which would make me more interested in the product even IF I haven't seen the goddamn movie yet!
Don't just shit it out!
Oh my fucking God. Not every MTIG has to be an action platforming beat-em up. For most of them it doesn't even make SENSE for them to be. Do the fucking research; make the levels or the gameplay style relevant to whats going on. And if you REALLY REALLY think that the subject matter forces it to be another goddamn hack and slash game how about you put some EFFORT into it? I don't want to see another fucking "REALLY HUGE" boss fight. No more quick time events, no more fucking random ass orbs I need to collect to level up. PUT SOME GODDAMN THOUGHT INTO IT. Was Arkham Asylum based off of a movie? NO. Was it still creative as all fuck and more importantly WORKED WITH THE STYLE OF THE SUBJECT MATTER? YES. Stop making really bad God of War clones and slapping the movie's name on it.
STOP FUCKING RETREADING THE FUCKING MOVIE
IT NEEDS TO BE SAID TWICE. I swear, if there does happen to be someone from Team Liquid, Sega, or any other one of the guilty parties here. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP THIS. Yes, I know that the Thor game doesn't follow the movie so it's an exception but SO MANY OF THE OTHERS DO. You remember Enter The Matrix? Shit sucked like no other but I at least give them props for trying to do something not connected to any of the Matrix Movies like…retelling them. Which if there was ANY movie game I would've given a pass on strictly retelling the movie via the game it would've been The Matrix.
I know I am probably making this sound a lot easier than it really is and it probably is just as futile as trying to drink syrup with a straw…but in this day and age there should just be no reason why this is still happening. Virtually every genre/type/make of game has gotten better over the generations. Racing games, fighting games, RPGs, PC games, Puzzle games, Music games. They have all taken steps to become better…with LESS TO WORK WITH.
Your only job is to take something that has been handed to you on a silver fucking platter and just MAKE IT GOOD.
Working Question
You've heard me bitch and moan about it. Now it's your turn.
What needs to be done to make MTIG DECENT? I am not talking fucking five star ratings here…just what needs to be done in order to make them not the fucking laughing stock of the games industry?
Until next time, I'm Jordan Williams...and...just watch this in celebration of Soul Calibur V
"Also before the Sony Trolls say "IT HAPPENED TO MICROSOFT/XBOX 360, TOO!" that doesn't make it acceptable either…fuck, that just makes it WORSE"
Wait...what? When did Xbox Live ever get hacked anywhere near this kind of thing? Answer is never.
Posted By: Rod Oracheski (Guest) on May 20, 2011 at 02:09 AM
I agree, good sir.
Personally, the movie-based games I've enjoyed most (Chronicles of Riddick, The Warriors, The Lord of the Rings games) basically gave you the story before, during & after the events of the film, not a simple retread. Also, they had the attention to detail, the loving craft that many video game adaptations lacked. You knew that these games were made by people who were out to make a great game first and a loving homage to the film second.
Posted By: Vince Osorio (Registered) on May 20, 2011 at 03:09 AM
i agree with most of what you said 100%
it just makes devolpers look bad.. and for what??? they dont even make much...
one of my friends works at a gamestop... a mom came in asking for a copy of thor and the manager said no.. i cant sell it to you.. its a piece of shit... let me help you find a game worth your money...
all game stores should be like this...
im aganst you in the topic of online passes and day 1 dlc...
see usually day 1 dlc is content on dics thats activated when you purchase dlc... meaning your paying for what you already own...
and online passes are the worst thing to ever happen to games... the economy is fucked games are expensive..
most cant afford to by every game new for 60... thats why the used market is good... online is the most important feature now and most wont even buy a game with out it... so all their accomplishing is pushing interested gamers away... losing money...
now on to the good movie games... ther are some... few great ones and some worth playing...
the best movie game ever is
RIDDIK ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY...
its a masterpiece... and the expansion assult on dark athena while not completely nextgen was good too...
i found the most recent wolverine game to be pretty awesome... yeah its typical hack and slash but it had some depth and the story was presented much better than the film which i believed sucked...
conan was pretty average but had good moments...
batman arkam aslum was a great game...
spiderman 3 and beyond have all been good games and im not a spidey fan...
but your point on following the movie is noted and you can tell the difference in game...
while spidey 3 was good, spidey web of shadows was so much better... gamplay and story were amazing... brought the world to life...
i disagree with you on enter the matrix.. i dont think it was terrible... though it was nothing more than average.. it was enjoyable and the story was unique and had good scenes...
and the one that follows the movie that i have no problem with is MATRIX:PATH OF NEO... just the triology for a story but the game play was much better than the 1st game and i found it to be alot of fun...
here is my ratings for them:
RIDDIK:ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY 9.5
RIDDIK:ASSULT ON SARK ATHENA 8.5
WOLVERINE: 8.5
SPIDERMAN 3: 7.5
SPIDERMAN WEB OF SHADOWS: 9.0
CONAN: 7.0
ENTER THE MATRIX: 7.0
MATRIX PATH OF NEO: 8.0
BATMAN ARKAM ASYLUM: 9.0
im not even going to get in to the bad though...
i could probably list over 20 at a 5.0 or below... most movie games are trash...
so just stay away from them till you get a fair review and find out if their good...
let some other idiot make the mistake for you... lol
Posted By: Guest#2060 (Guest) on May 20, 2011 at 04:01 AM
I see your point about retelling the story but I only partly agree. Aside from the fact that the games company will get the license to make the game based solely on the movie so they wont have the choice to do an independent story (The rights to the Thor movie story is one thing, the rights to do a game about Thor with any setting - different and more difficult kettle of fish) there are a lot of people who DO want to play the movie. Kids (who these games are made for) see the movie and then want the lunchbox (might be showing my age here) thermos, clothes, ringtone and all the merchandising that comes with it. That includes the game. If it is based on a completely different story, that these kids don't have a clue about, then they'll be alienated and upset. After all it is the GAME of the MOVIE and they want to play their favourite scenes and hit the bad guy.
Of course this is very limiting but that's juist what happens.
Normally these games DO sell pretty well, not the huge numbers that a big game might get but they make a good profit.
The matrix movies were different as it was all about the tie ins and getting different bits of the story from different mediums so it worked.
I also wish that they made better tie ins with movies but that just doesn't happen. There are almost always too many restrictions with what they can do, including the story and the timeframe, to create something great.
Also fantastic games tend to be driven by a strong individual or team who has a vision and can make the game in their way. A tie in game has to be approved by dozens of people across the whole movie before it can be released and a committee does not make a good game.
Posted By: Rasher (Guest) on May 20, 2011 at 06:13 AM
Spider-Man 2 was actually one of the few movie games that brought in characters from the franchise's history and worked them into the story. Goldeneye did this as well, and possibly Hulk.
Posted By: Guest#0998 (Guest) on May 20, 2011 at 08:13 AM
One of the issues with trying to use back stories is the fact that different writers don't necessarily want to have it used in other ways except in comic form. Perfect example is look at X-Men III (movie). They did the Phoenix Story, but it was totally and completely changed from the original story because they couldn't use it in its original format. Same with Video Games as well.
It's mainly because of copyright and what the game company is allowed to use or not.
I mean I would LOVE for them to do up The Infinity Gauntlet series but if the original writers don't allow it then they have to change it up.
Posted By: Galen H. (Guest) on May 20, 2011 at 08:14 AM
I agree with your article, however must say this--- Matrix Reloaded gets a pass for TRYING something, regardless of its failure/success.
Also I believe Arkham Asylum came out in 08 or 09? Was that marketed around the time of The Dark Knight? If so I'd count that one too
Posted By: Guest#7377 (Guest) on May 20, 2011 at 10:09 AM
You know what the worst part about this is? It's been happening since essentially the dawn of gaming. ET on the Atari; Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future, Top Gun, and countless others on the NES...all the way up until now.
To be fair, the earliest games didn't necessarily follow the movie, but they sucked nonetheless.
Posted By: Rick (Guest) on May 20, 2011 at 10:30 AM
Goldeneye and Spiderman 2 - that being said, the few exceptions make it even tougher to swallow when developers try to blame short turn-around time on why a game is crap. It's been done before, meaning you were just not skilled enough to make it happen
Posted By: JP (Guest) on May 20, 2011 at 10:39 AM
Totally dug that Wolverine game based on the movie a couple years back. It was dumb fun.
Anyone played the Van Helsing game (based on the awful, awful movie)? That game's actually pretty fun. It's basically a Devil May Cry rip off, but it's a good Devil May Cry rip off.
Huh, fancy that. Two good movie tie-in games, both starring Hugh Jackman.
Posted By: Vince Osorio (Registered) on May 20, 2011 at 03:47 PM
The Warriors, to me, has always been the most underrated, and best, movie-tie-in video game. That's because instead of just stretching a two-hour film out, Rockstar gave us 12 more hours of play, showing the events leading up to the movie, how the Warriors formed and more. Yes, it helped they were doing a 25 year old movie but still works best when you try to flex it up a bit. Still says something when the only good movie tie-ins nowadays are those Lego games.
Posted By: M A Weyer (Registered) on May 20, 2011 at 04:42 PM
My goodness, that's a great deal of adult language in your article.
Posted By: Comment Board Poster (Guest) on May 21, 2011 at 08:03 AM
I agree with movie tie-in games. These IMO, are the good ones: Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Aladdin, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, The Warriors, and Spider-Man 2. Beyond these games, most are terrible.
Posted By: Guest#2796 (Guest) on May 21, 2011 at 03:09 PM
synergy is a tricky thing. studios probably don't want the games to be better than the movies.
Posted By: Guest#1273 (Guest) on May 21, 2011 at 05:54 PM
To the above commenters: Spiderman Web of Shadows has nothing to do with a movie. And Arkham Asylum has nothing to do with a movie either. Just because it came out around the same time as a Batman movie doesn't mean it's a fucking movie game. Have you played it? It doesn't even slightly resemble The Dark Knight. Idiots.
Posted By: Guest#7606 (Guest) on May 22, 2011 at 09:42 PM
I disagree entirely, why bother doing an MTIG and then having it be nothing to do with the movie?
Oh, and the original Goldeneye says "Hello, I disprove every single point you have to make". One of the many flaws of the remake is how it follows your suggestions
Posted By: Guest#3164 (Guest) on May 26, 2011 at 06:07 PM
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