Dont you think that games based on movies feel "cheap"?

I tried to play a few games based on movies and they always feel kinda "cheap" or unoriginal. I dont know why. The only one i liked is Batman AA. I want to try and play Back to the Future: Episode I, because i really love the trilogy but i dont know if its worth my time. What do you think about games based on movies?Tanya_19

As a matter of fact i do share your opinion. I tend to stay away from games like this - you know, Avatar, Iron Man and alike...

Most of them *are* cheap movie tie-ins, rushed to release at the same time as the film in order to make a few extra dollars in merchandising. A few of them can be good, but the awful games definitely outnumber those.

Some get it right though, and those are generally the games made after the movie's release. I mean, why release these games after the film's hype has died down if they aren't good games, right? For example, the N64's Goldeneye came out two years after the film did, and that extra time allowed the developers to take the time and care to craft both an excellent game and a faithful tie-in to the film.

I think this upcoming Back to the Future series fits into that category too. The first episode definitely shows that the developers know the franchise really well, and it does feel like a genuine BttF story. The gameplay isn't fantastic so far (this episode was too easy, but they'll fix that for later episodes) and it's really only the early beginings of what looks to be an epic adventure, but fans of the series might really enjoy it simply for feeling like part of the series.

if you like tell tales style of games then you will love BTTF. if you don't you won't

They don't 'feel' cheap, they 'are' cheap. They recover license costs by cutting development costs, resulting in less quality. Of course there are rare exceptions like Riddick and Batman AABlack_Knight_00

Although Riddick is debatable, Batman AA is NOT a movie tie in game.

The reason they feel cheap is because movie games are cheap, they sell purely on the hype generated by the film. Attempting to make a bit more cash for the major blockbuster films.

Yeah, I always felt that way with most movie-games with the exception of Spiderman. Now that I think about it, they probably did a good job on it because it was based on the comic (though I've never read the comic). I remember when I first played the demo on the original xbox at Circuit City, I was astonished by the graphics and gameplay. Afterwards, I ended up playing both the first and second games in the series, but never bothered with the third as it didn't seem to fit the original style anymore, rather it just tried to immitate the movie. I imagine a spiderman game with the realism of GTA4 would be a nice successor for the series.

there ment to turn a buck not be an addition to the industry.. its like novelty t-shirts sure their cool and appropriately priced.. but they wont end up on the cover of fashion monthly or w/e

their ment to turn a profit based on association and impulse buys after that its jsut filler.

there are some misconceptions about them however. like someone mentioned above an association by franchsie and not by the movie itself is different from a movie tie-in

hence why i give thumbs up to AA but not to knock off dark knight games.

its also why id salute sw:battlefront or tfu but not direct movie knock-offs (this amy have been a bad example)

or one can say the same thing about say.. tf: war for cyberton its associated by franchsie to revenge of the fallen but only the game by the same name is associated with the movie.. and is made of suck

to date ive NEVER had a true movie tie-in impress me enough to buy it (though tron nearly did me in i did resist)

(most(99.99%))movie tie-ins = suck

franchise associated games = dont (most of the time(im looking at you T:WfC))

Most are just dog doos in a box, but there have been a few that were actually decent, if not great, like Spiderman 2, the last 2 Lord of the Rings games and most of the star Wars games. Yes, most of them feel "cheap", and sometimes unfinished. The thing that really gets me, though, is that many have potential to be great games. I mean, look at Iron Man. The subject matter alone is practically a video game!

Most are just dog doos in a box, but there have been a few that were actually decent, if not great, like Spiderman 2, the last 2 Lord of the Rings games and most of the star Wars games. Yes, most of them feel "cheap", and sometimes unfinished. The thing that really gets me, though, is that many have potential to be great games. I mean, look at Iron Man. The subject matter alone is practically a video game!

turtlethetaffer

tron: legacy

i jsut made you shudder in your boots i bet :P

Yeah, as others have said, they just rush movie based games to get them out the same time as the movie. There is the occasional good one though, like Goldeneye, which was released a couple years after the movie.

I actually really liked X-men origins Wolverine too. Even though it was rushed to get out with the movie, and it shows at times, it was made very well for the most part.

[QUOTE="Tanya_19"]I tried to play a few games based on movies and they always feel kinda "cheap" or unoriginal. I dont know why. The only one i liked is Batman AA. I want to try and play Back to the Future: Episode I, because i really love the trilogy but i dont know if its worth my time. What do you think about games based on movies?EvilSelf

As a matter of fact i do share your opinion. I tend to stay away from games like this - you know, Avatar, Iron Man and alike...

Pider Pan!

I have one PC game based on a movie/book (the book was written long before the movie came out) and that is The Sum of All Fears that was made by RSE and if you ask me, was really underrated. While the movie was OK, the game was really decent. Using a slightly tweaked version of the GR engine it performed and played well. Before that, the Tron arcade games were great back in the day. I never tried Tron 2.0 though, maybe I should see about the demo and try it out. I always liked the light cycles and tanks.

there ment to turn a buck not be an addition to the industry.. its like novelty t-shirts sure their cool and appropriately priced.. but they wont end up on the cover of fashion monthly or w/e

their ment to turn a profit based on association and impulse buys after that its jsut filler.

there are some misconceptions about them however. like someone mentioned above an association by franchsie and not by the movie itself is different from a movie tie-in

hence why i give thumbs up to AA but not to knock off dark knight games.

its also why id salute sw:battlefront or tfu but not direct movie knock-offs (this amy have been a bad example)

or one can say the same thing about say.. tf: war for cyberton its associated by franchsie to revenge of the fallen but only the game by the same name is associated with the movie.. and is made of suck

to date ive NEVER had a true movie tie-in impress me enough to buy it (though tron nearly did me in i did resist)

(most(99.99%))movie tie-ins = suck

franchise associated games = dont (most of the time(im looking at you T:WfC))

ionusX

[QUOTE="ionusX"]

there ment to turn a buck not be an addition to the industry.. its like novelty t-shirts sure their cool and appropriately priced.. but they wont end up on the cover of fashion monthly or w/e

their ment to turn a profit based on association and impulse buys after that its jsut filler.

there are some misconceptions about them however. like someone mentioned above an association by franchsie and not by the movie itself is different from a movie tie-in

hence why i give thumbs up to AA but not to knock off dark knight games.

its also why id salute sw:battlefront or tfu but not direct movie knock-offs (this amy have been a bad example)

or one can say the same thing about say.. tf: war for cyberton its associated by franchsie to revenge of the fallen but only the game by the same name is associated with the movie.. and is made of suck

to date ive NEVER had a true movie tie-in impress me enough to buy it (though tron nearly did me in i did resist)

(most(99.99%))movie tie-ins = suck

franchise associated games = dont (most of the time(im looking at you T:WfC))

MrSolvo

It's really the same problem the Wii has: no effort. I bet that most of the movie games that come out could be really good, it's just that the devs put 0 effort into it and the resuly is a big steaming pile of shovelware.

It's really the same problem the Wii has: no effort. I bet that most of the movie games that come out could be really good, it's just that the devs put 0 effort into it and the resuly is a big steaming pile of shovelware.

turtlethetaffer

I'm sure the developers put plenty of effort in to them; it's just that the development cycles are so tight that they can't get any fine-tuning or polish done, which is why most movie tie-ins are horrible. If they were just given more time their efforts would probably produce some better results. Problem is, though, that no one sees any need for a change because movie tie-ins still consistently sell reasonably well. The heads of the publishers probably take that to mean that everything's fine as is and is in no need for revision.

Like it has been mentioned by previous posters there are a few games that don't suck that were movie tie ins ( IE Wolverine Origins ( Next Gen Systems only) , Spider-Man 2 , and the LOTR games) but i agree that most of the movie tie in games are very cheep indeed but these games were never meant to be game of the year contenders though.

[QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

It's really the same problem the Wii has: no effort. I bet that most of the movie games that come out could be really good, it's just that the devs put 0 effort into it and the resuly is a big steaming pile of shovelware.

c_rake

I'm sure the developers put plenty of effort in to them; it's just that the development cycles are so tight that they can't get any fine-tuning or polish done, which is why most movie tie-ins are horrible. If they were just given more time their efforts would probably produce some better results. Problem is, though, that no one sees any need for a change because movie tie-ins still consistently sell reasonably well. The heads of the publishers probably take that to mean that everything's fine as is and is in no need for revision.

yes well.. the wii is suffering and eits either the consoles fault or the games themselves.. personally im pointing my big finger at nintendo over it.. they have 3 exclusives for the 1h 2011 their eing beten by every other console the 360 is 3rd 2nd place is the ps3 and the pc holds the numero uno slot.

What about Star Wars :P

The only movie 'tie in' game that interested me was 'Citizen Siege' (oddworld inhabitants).. But it seemed to die a death !

There is no bottom line that can really be drawn with game based on movies. There are some games that are fantastic and represent their movie as well, or even better than the movie which they are based on, but many can also be considered very little more than cheap marketing scam, where very little work needs to be put into the game because it is going to sell regardless. You can see a lot of trends by both the generation of gaming (for example, during the later fifth generation it seemed like licenses of any kind were getting slapped on awful games left and right), and you can also see differences in quality by which developers and publishers worked on it. I must agree with OP that a quality license should get a quality game, and unfortunately, the casual audience doesn't realize that this certainly isn't the case. However, for us well-informed gamers, we should know what we are getting into, and at this point, it does little to criticise the poor uses of a license, but does much more to praise ones which use it well.