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The Least Faithful Movie Games

Game not fun enough? Make stuff up!

Words: Shane Patterson, GamesRadar US

There’s probably no genre more reviled than movie-based titles. We think it’s agreed upon that most of these games generally suck. And we get it. With the development team having to hit a specific release date, there is no way programmers have the necessary time to make a stellar title. That’s why we get crap like Enter the Matrix. More often than not, we get titles that take great liberty with the material.

If you’ve found yourself wondering why Marty McFly needs to escape hula dancers in Back to the Future for the NES, then this list is for you. Note: these aren’t the worst movie-based games, but the least authentic to the film they’re based on.


Movie
Batman - back when it was Michael Keaton - hunts the nefarious Joker - back when he was Jack Nicholson. The supremely gothic climax has the two battling on a cathedral tower, until the Joker starts to make his exit on board a helicopter. Batman (while dangling off the building) shoots his grappling hook around the Joker’s leg and a nearby statue. With nowhere to go, Joker plummets about fifty stories.


Game (NES)
As you can tell by these screens, the Batman literally could not give a shit about his moral compass and just punches the Joker off the building - satisfying kiddies with a more definite ending. In hindsight, it was probably difficult for the NES developer to program a climax without worrying about the differences between first-degree murder and accidental deaths.


Movie
SPOILERS: Cute, sentient trash compactor Wall-E falls in love with the sleek EVE, a reconnaissance bot for humans. EVE leaves the planet with Wall-E in chase. During a routine checkup, EVE is dismantled and cleaned, which promptly scares Wall-E into thinking she’s being hurt. And in a five-second visual gag, he grabs EVE’s laser and aims it at the other robots.


Game (Multi)
The entire middle section of the game tasks Wall-E with blasting enemy robots to pieces using EVE’s laser, which is completely unlike the *almost* violence-free film. There’s very little conventional action in the movie, yet we figure children would get bored if they didn’t get to kill something.


Movie
In the first film, Jason wasn’t even the killer. His mom was. But yes, in all of the other films, he terrorizes/murders teenagers in gruesome ways with any number of deadly instruments (our favorite was his bare hands). Fun fact: he doesn’t get the hockey mask until Part 3 (which was in 3D). Go eighties!

Game (NES)
Playing as a camp counselor, you spend most of the game fighting zombies in broad daylight. Jason shows up periodically to kill children (kids were rarely in peril in the films). Also, Jason scampers off when you beat him up, something he never did in the movies. And when he was finally defeated, he didn’t just slump into a corner. He usually fell in the lake or something and slept for a year until the next sequel came out.

 
30 Comments
ClusterShart - 2 months 21 days ago
sweet article
slickmcwilly - 2 months 21 days ago
GR is really cranking out the articles this week. Good job guys!
Juriasu - 2 months 21 days ago
I hate movie-based games, nay, I despise them!
(above sentence is supposed to be cool)
lewis42025 - 2 months 21 days ago
very interesting. loved it, although, i gotta say i thought robocop would be in there
NelosAngelos - 2 months 21 days ago
Wow...I think I just started hating movie based games even more now.
ikillchicken - 2 months 21 days ago
Random and pointless nitpick:

Your picture from Ghost in the Shell is actually from the later TV series, not the original movie.
GamesRadarShanePatterson - 2 months 21 days ago
Whoops. Well, in a pinch that'll do. Good eye.
Alcyones - 2 months 21 days ago
I'm proud to say I've only played a few of these.
Amnesiac - 2 months 21 days ago
I'm not sure if I've played any of these.

Oh and @ Alcyones, dig the Kefka avatar.
coda_ - 2 months 21 days ago
Dats Coo.
PivotPlurals1 - 2 months 21 days ago
Nice Articles. it may me a noob to ask, but why does it go to gamesradar when i got to Pc Gamer's site?
LilBompie17 - 2 months 21 days ago
nice ARTICLE!
ALF - 2 months 21 days ago
My thoughts EXACTLY.
darthpat - 2 months 21 days ago
the reason it goes here is cause pcgamer abadonded there site cause it wasnt too great and more or less took over the pc section here
Da-Ku - 2 months 20 days ago
I Played The PS2 Ghost In Shell XD
londonjack - 2 months 20 days ago
E.T. the game is the greatest game to ever be released to the public you just dont like it becease u didnt know the holes represnted ET's desencent into insanity
Kehno - 2 months 20 days ago
I had to watch Ghost in the Shell twice before I understood the whole thing. @_@
Herschal - 2 months 20 days ago
LOL HOME ALONE 2
I never knew they made a game out of that. :S
bron1417 - 2 months 20 days ago
nice article guys im really looking foward to GF 2 by the way.
abcdef1 - 2 months 19 days ago
games based on movies suk horiblee
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