Movie games suck!

[Vic George 2K3]

Please enlarge the picture, it's a mite too small to see the detail.

[godzillajoe]

What about all the cartoon games (Taz, Snoopy vs. The Red Baron etc.) counting as TV or movie games.

 

I mean those old Warner Brothers cartoons were originally shown in theaters

 

And though Peanuts started as a comic strip there were TV specials

 

Then there are the Muppet games

 

Did anyone mention Star Trek or Buck Rogers yet?

 

Some of those were decent

[Shawn]

What about all the cartoon games (Taz, Snoopy vs. The Red Baron etc.) counting as TV or movie games.

 

I mean those old Warner Brothers cartoons were originally shown in theaters

 

And though Peanuts started as a comic strip there were TV specials

 

Then there are the Muppet games

 

Did anyone mention Star Trek or Buck Rogers yet?

 

Some of those were decent

 

 

IMO, all of those games you mentioned are decent.

[Zwackery]

This topic is actually of great interest to me as it is the subject of my doctoral dissertation. I go from the beginning days of video games all the way to 2005, and of course Atari features quite prominently in the first chapter. I should hopefully have the final product done later this year; it's been quite an adventure trying to investigate this particular area of video games.

 

In what area are you going for a doctorate and how does the history of video games fit in?

 

I'm in the Critical Studies in Film, Media, and Culture track of an American Culture Studies program. I basically set up an interdisciplinary dissertation topic between the film and video game industries. The first 3 chapters are looking at historical developments in terms of the games that were produced and their relation to cinema.

[Lonely Mountain Hermit]

I think sucky movie games didn't officially start until the NES hit the scene for example:

 

Back to the Future

Rambo

Goonies

Friday the 13th

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Top Gun

Platoon

Days of Thunder

Total Recall

and the list goes on.....

 

 

I agree...the Atari's library of movie-to-game suckage doesn't hold a candle up to the vast cornicopia of digital diarrhea that the NES delivers. However, with that said...Goonies was easily one of the best titles on the console.

 

(Note: whoops...didn't notice before that Goonies was already removed from the list. )

Edited February 7, 2008 by Lonely Mountain Hermit

[Lucky Man]

EDIT: Moved

Edited February 7, 2008 by Lucky Man

[Vic George 2K3]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

[Lucky Man]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

True. But I don't think there is a chance in hell it would have become a video game if not for the smash hit TV show.

 

EDIT: Although, now I see that all of Fox's other games were based on their movies. Perhaps this should be under movie-based games?

Edited February 7, 2008 by Lucky Man

[midnight magicman]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

True. But I don't think there is a chance in hell it would have become a video game if not for the smash hit TV show.

 

EDIT: Although, now I see that all of Fox's other games were based on their movies. Perhaps this should be under movie-based games?

 

Did you know Fox's "Earth Dies Screaming" was based off a movie? Directed by my fav-all-time director Terence Fisher. Kinda cheesy, but fun.

 

"Alligator People" was also a 50's era scifi/horror.

 

Peace

[Lucky Man]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

True. But I don't think there is a chance in hell it would have become a video game if not for the smash hit TV show.

 

Did you know Fox's "Earth Dies Screaming" was based off a movie? Directed by my fav-all-time director Terence Fisher. Kinda cheesy, but fun.

Checking IMDB I see that Fox did release a movie with that name. In the game instructions it says the aliens are Trillians. Are they the same in the movie or did Fox just use the same title for the game?

[midnight magicman]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

True. But I don't think there is a chance in hell it would have become a video game if not for the smash hit TV show.

 

Did you know Fox's "Earth Dies Screaming" was based off a movie? Directed by my fav-all-time director Terence Fisher. Kinda cheesy, but fun.

Checking IMDB I see that Fox did release a movie with that name. In the game instructions it says the aliens are Trillians. Are they the same in the movie or did Fox just use the same title for the game?

 

Gosh,

 

It's been a very long time since I've seen it. But "Trillians" sounds right. There's a midnite movie double feature dvd that has EDS on it. It's on my "to buy" list currently.

 

Peace

[A.J. Franzman]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

Did you know Fox's "Earth Dies Screaming" was based off a movie?

Checking IMDB I see that Fox did release a movie with that name. In the game instructions it says the aliens are Trillians. Are they the same in the movie or did Fox just use the same title for the game?

I believe all of the 20th Century Fox VCS game titles are from their movies; though in some instances the gameplay has nothing to do with the movie.

[A.J. Franzman]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

But, it was a book first.

[Lucky Man]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

True. But I don't think there is a chance in hell it would have become a video game if not for the smash hit TV show.

 

Did you know Fox's "Earth Dies Screaming" was based off a movie? Directed by my fav-all-time director Terence Fisher. Kinda cheesy, but fun.

Checking IMDB I see that Fox did release a movie with that name. In the game instructions it says the aliens are Trillians. Are they the same in the movie or did Fox just use the same title for the game?

 

Gosh,

 

It's been a very long time since I've seen it. But "Trillians" sounds right. There's a midnite movie double feature dvd that has EDS on it. It's on my "to buy" list currently.

 

Peace

Let me know if you ever pick one up. All it says about the movie on IMDB is some kind of robots are taking over the earth. I'm curious if the game is actually similar to the movie or if Fox just used the title like they did for quite a few of their other games. Granted, quite a few movie-based games don't follow the movie plot exactly, but I think they should at least be similar to count, not just share the same title.

[midnight magicman]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

True. But I don't think there is a chance in hell it would have become a video game if not for the smash hit TV show.

 

Did you know Fox's "Earth Dies Screaming" was based off a movie? Directed by my fav-all-time director Terence Fisher. Kinda cheesy, but fun.

Checking IMDB I see that Fox did release a movie with that name. In the game instructions it says the aliens are Trillians. Are they the same in the movie or did Fox just use the same title for the game?

 

Gosh,

 

It's been a very long time since I've seen it. But "Trillians" sounds right. There's a midnite movie double feature dvd that has EDS on it. It's on my "to buy" list currently.

 

Peace

Let me know if you ever pick one up. All it says about the movie on IMDB is some kind of robots are taking over the earth. I'm curious if the game is actually similar to the movie or if Fox just used the title like they did for quite a few of their other games. Granted, quite a few movie-based games don't follow the movie plot exactly, but I think they should at least be similar to count, not just share the same title.

 

I've seen the movie a long while back & from playing the game briefly on emulator, it really doesn't have much of a connection with the movie.

 

EDS is more of an "invaders among us" schlocky 50/60s scifi. There are no battles between anysorts of spacecraft in the movie. I'm mostly purchasing it to fill out my Terence Fisher collection.

 

Peace

[Lucky Man]

M*A*S*H was also a movie.

True. But I don't think there is a chance in hell it would have become a video game if not for the smash hit TV show.

 

Did you know Fox's "Earth Dies Screaming" was based off a movie? Directed by my fav-all-time director Terence Fisher. Kinda cheesy, but fun.

Checking IMDB I see that Fox did release a movie with that name. In the game instructions it says the aliens are Trillians. Are they the same in the movie or did Fox just use the same title for the game?

 

Gosh,

 

It's been a very long time since I've seen it. But "Trillians" sounds right. There's a midnite movie double feature dvd that has EDS on it. It's on my "to buy" list currently.

 

Peace

Let me know if you ever pick one up. All it says about the movie on IMDB is some kind of robots are taking over the earth. I'm curious if the game is actually similar to the movie or if Fox just used the title like they did for quite a few of their other games. Granted, quite a few movie-based games don't follow the movie plot exactly, but I think they should at least be similar to count, not just share the same title.

 

I've seen the movie a long while back & from playing the game briefly on emulator, it really doesn't have much of a connection with the movie.

 

EDS is more of an "invaders among us" schlocky 50/60s scifi. There are no battles between anysorts of spacecraft in the movie. I'm mostly purchasing it to fill out my Terence Fisher collection.

 

Peace

That's what I figured. Along with Crash Dive, and Spacemaster X-7, these games aren't actually based on the movies, Fox just used the titles because they already owned them.

 

I am still curious if the Trillians do make an appearance in the EDS or if Fox Games just made it up?

[Asaki]

I can't think of any Atari 2600 examples, but let's not forget that this works the other way around...I can probably count the amount of good movies based on videogames on one hand (and that list is probably just as subjective as this one).

 

Uwe Boll isn't helping, either >_<

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

What about all the cartoon games (Taz, Snoopy vs. The Red Baron etc.) counting as TV or movie games.

 

I mean those old Warner Brothers cartoons were originally shown in theaters

 

And though Peanuts started as a comic strip there were TV specials

 

Then there are the Muppet games

 

Did anyone mention Star Trek or Buck Rogers yet?

 

Some of those were decent

 

Snoopy vs. The Red Baron is an excellent game....

[8bitgamer]

In today's RedEye, which is the Chicago Tribune's free daily newspaper, there's a very small write-up about how video games based on movie suck and always have sucked. At the beginning of the article is a picture of the E.T. game box with a sentence or two about the game. Interestingly, no mention of the horrible game play; just a knock on the blobbish graphics.

 

E.T. should have been a Pac-Man clone, with E.T. running around eating Reese's Pieces. It would have been easier to program and more fun to play. Derivative, but playable. There could have been telephone pieces that appear in the maze like the fruits in Ms. Pac-Man or the bonus items in Mouse Trap.

[Diabloabsher]

In general yes, movie games do suck.

 

But, for the few that are good, it more than makes up for the rest. I don't know about the 2600 specifically, but in general, Alien 3 (not Master system version) Most Tron games, Aladdin and other old disney platformers (Not Mega Drive versions) Chronicles of Riddick, T2 The Arcade Game and a few more i can't think of right now, are all awesome.

 

The real problem is that sucky cash in developers suck, not movie games. All movie games have the potential to be good, even a bad movie can produce a game with decent gameplay, but no, developers just dont seem to bother.

[Asaki]

...a few more i can't think of right now, are all awesome.

 

True Lies, Goldeneye... You could almost say that Goldeneye practically reinvented the movie-based game genre, except that nobody really followed suit afterwards.

 

Not to mention games that are obviously inspired heavily by certain movies, but without the license...Metroid, Resident Evil, Carmageddon...

[Diabloabsher]

God i totally forgot Goldeneye, how could i do that?! Shame on me. (I'm not being sarcastic, i really dont know how i couldve forgotten about Goldeneye)

 

Imo though, the very best movie game ever was The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, anyone who didnt check it out will be pleasently surprised. (The same people did a good job, but not quite as good a job as Riddick, on The Darkness, but that's a comic.)

[shadow460]

I don't know if I've ever come across a 2600 movie game I didn't like much. Mega Force, maybe, as that game does kind of stink. Even The Entity was decent when I played it on hardware.

 

As for ET, I think it has very rich graphics, and an innovative concept. It was plagued by a few problems, though, like the pits. It's also a bit too repetitive, but it's something I actually care to finish when I play it.

[Asaki]

(The same people did a good job, but not quite as good a job as Riddick, on The Darkness, but that's a comic.)

 

Starbreeze

 

Two guys I know work there...while working on The Darkness, they were given fairly liberal control over the grafitti, so there's inside jokes and shout outs to our chat room all over ;D

 

...I still gotta play those games... ¬_¬

[Diabloabsher]

And they built their own engine for it. Top stuff

 

And yes, you should play those games Or, wait for the re-release of Riddick, they are remaking it for the 360 with an extra story afterwards (instead of making a seperate game they decided that although the critical response was good, the sales didnt reflect this and they want more people to experience the game, as well as expanding the story of the character Riddick. I forget the name of the sequal portion, it's been a while since i researched it)