The best movie game of all time

So this is a bit of a spin off on the greatest game of the year thread. But after thinking about it, this is an area that is often lamented as a cheap way for companies to make millions when in reality the game itself is usually terrible. I'm open to the idea of a vote, or a poll, but just wanted to gauge what people thought. So, what is your favourite game based on a movie ever. And conversely, what do you think is the worst.

My favourite game has only recently been claimed. And it is alien isolation. It is a terrifying master piece. And I love how the developers stuck with the clunky 80s technology to make it real. The alien is also lethal, and surprisingly enough the AI was actually good. I remember backing down a corridor having recently torched the alien with my flame thrower. The alien jumped out in front of me. I got out my flame thrower, raised it, and the alien backed off. Then it came, I gave a squirt, and it butted me in the chest and scuttled off up a vent. It was very very well done.

An honourable mention goes to dune. One of the first RTSs and a great and deep game to boot. Only drawback was you couldn't mass select units. So fighting large battles was a micro managing nightmare. Still, a very good game.

As for worst game, here I struggle, as I have studiously avoided them for knowing they are bound to be bad. And most I don't even remember. But I think the worst I played was a terminator game.

Other good honourable mentions go to:

Terminator future shock
Aliens on the Commodore 64
Shadows of mordor

GoldenEye 007 is a big one.

I really liked Casper (the friendly ghost) for ps1. Oh and also Harry Potter 1 for ps1, the gameplay was utter crap but free flying around hogwartz exploring for collectibles and hidden stuff was awesome in a time when open levels like that was pretty unheard of to me. This was when I was young and not too good at judging overall quality of games though. Pretty much haven't bought any movie game since the ps1 era I think. Had a disney Hercules game with danny devito voice acting the goat trainer guy that was also pretty cool I guess.

Not really interested in those kind of games nowadays.

Edit: Also I think for it to fully count as a movie game it has to have some sort of direct connection to a movie so say, KOTOR doesn't count as a star wars movie game. Shadows of Mordor wouldn't quite count either IMO.

Surely Dune II is the most influencial game which was adapted from a book (iirc it is a little older than the movie as well).

I misread at first and thought best movie based on a game and was going to comment how the all suck =p We'll see how warcraft movie does!

But games based on movies... is the criteria directly based on a movie so like spiderman the movie based video game counts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Spider-Man_(2012_video_game)

But these two don't?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Spider-Man_vs._The_Kingpin#Mega_Drive.2FGenesis_version

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom/Spider-Man:_Separation_Anxiety

We have to draw a line somewhere and I think that example is pretty clear since the latter two are based on the comics. Similarly Batman Arkham series is really good, but not based on any movies. But is shadows of mordor based on the books or the movies? That's a tough call. Regardless I haven't played it.

Goldeneye for n64 was AMAZING back in the day. Definitely like top 5. Lans were still so new, people still played like doom and stuff but this really showed the masses what a multiplayer shooter could do. The single player was fun too, a great adaptation of the movie.

I also really liked Aladin for genesis back in the day. It was actually a really great platformer to og along with the likes of mario and sonic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney's_Aladdin_(Virgin_Games)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp1XvV8BBfQ

Tie Fighter would be one of my all time faves too. I think it should count because you reenact battles from the movies like hoth and leading up to the second death star. If not then lego star wars cus it directly reenacts the movies!

Wasn't command and conquer essentially a dune clone? I think that launched a ton of rts series.

Walking dead isn't a movie but the telltale walking dead games are excellent.

Might be impossible to make clear critera for what counts really. I just think the stigma against "movie games" is particularly focused on the kind that is churned out to coincide with the release of the movie, often having an identical title to the movie.

Shadow of Mordor is a completely original story, afaik, only watched some of it on youtube but I am a pretty huge tolkien geek and it was obviously not based on any story in the books other than background lore and setting. In a way though it was clearly much more based on the universe of the movies than the universe of the books (in my subjective interpretation at least), but that makes it more of a spin-off game for the current lotr franchise than one based on the movies themselves to me.

It's gotta be Spiderman 2

civvver said:

Tie Fighter would be one of my all time faves too. I think it should count because you reenact battles from the movies like hoth and leading up to the second death star.

Click to expand...

This is where I was going but X-Wing because I played it forever.

Ghostbusters for the C-64 - saw the movie, bought the game, got home and it wasn't a cartridge !! Had to go back to the store and buy my first disk drive.

Indiana Jones - Temple of Doom - stand up arcade game rocked.
While we're still in the arcade, Tron

Also give credit to every Enter the Dragon ripoff. Bruce Lee was so ahead of his time - 7 levels with a boss battle at the end of each level!

Dune2 was awesome but I'll credit the book, not the movie. Sting not involved in the game.

And yes, Golden Eye was good and everywhere.

The more i think about this, the more i think it is rather difficult to define what constitutes a movie game. It is true that Shadows of Mordor does not bear any resemblance to either the book or the movie. It is however very lore friendly. The elf lord Wraith is the smith of Gilgalad, who fought Sauron in the first war of the ring (at the start of the first movie with Isildour). And the rangers of gondor being pushed from the black gate also happened. I believe that the story probably took place some time between the Hobbit and the fellowship.

The same can be said of Alien Isolation. It isnt based on the movie per se, but it is lore friendly with Ripley being the daughter of Ripley in the film. And the nostromo flight recorder being stored on Sevastopol station is also believable.

I should also havegiven a shout out to X wing, as that is a great game in my opinion. And also based upon the films. Lucas arts studios in their early years were simply brilliant.

There are some good games based on movies. I remember The Great Escape for Spectrum as one of the pioneers. Most are mediocre though.

Much much worse is the opposite thing: movies based on movies. All are horrible without exception.

I think that to count as a proper movie game the game would have to have at least levels replicating or based on the events of the film(s).

So no Shadow of Mordor, KOTOR or Tie Fighter. Maybe X-Wing, X-Wing: alliance or Rogue Squadron (since they all replicate film events).

That said, Goldeneye is still, to me, the obvious winner.

Anyone given any thought to the worst game based on a movie? The two that spring to mind for me are:

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600)

It is credited with the gaming crash after all, was coded in 5 weeks, rushed out to coincide with the holiday season, and basically was the forerunner to how most games based on movies tend to go.

Another mention should go to:

Superman (Nintendo 64)

I still have nightmares about this game after playing it.

Spider-Man 2. No question.

KOTOR

does that meet the requirement? It isn't based off a specific movie, but a movie franchise. I don't play many movie games, so this is easily my choice for the best movie game.

Surely the LEGO franchise of movie spin offs have to count? They're never going to be mistaken for Bioshock or the Witcher III, but they are simple, fun games to play. 2 player Lego: Lord of the Rings with the kids is tremendous fun.