Let's discuss for a moment one of those vices we all have but never talk about. As the title suggests, I'm talking about guilty pleasures. They may be in the form of "chick flicks", bad 80's music, or some other form of entertainment that you would be absolutely embarrased to have your friends find out that you enjoy (I'm not talking about hentai you perverts!). I'm writing this because I've been partaking in quite a few guilty pleasures in the past few days, but most notably licensed video game tie-ins.

Oh, they are sooooo bad aren't they? But let's face it, you've all gone out and tried at least one movie-based video game right? If you say you haven't, it's a good chance you're lying. Of course, there are a select few titles that hold up to the calibur of their movie counterpart, such as Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers and Return of the King (PS2, GC, Xbox) and Goldeneye 64 (N64), but we all know that for the majority, tie-ins are just above the bottom of the barrel when it coms to gaming. But that doesn't mean that they aren't fun.

I found a used copy of Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (PSP) a few days ago and I grabbed it up. I was thinking to myself "this is going to be aweful and I know it". Sure enough, the Predator was clunking around like he had arthritis and the Aliens looked like cardboard cut-outs, the story was very loosely based on the film, and even went so far as to omit the main draw to the film, the hybrid Pred-alien (it was replaced by a "boss" battle with a helicopter on the hospital roof???). So why did I keep it and play through the entire game? When I went into the first level and switched to the Predator's thermal vision, I got goosebumps. That part they got right. And that's all it took for me to play through. Maybe I've got a little hidden fan-boy in me, but I enjoyed every painful mission in that game.

And speaking of painful missions, I'm currently working on X-men: The Official Game (Xbox 360). Exactly how many times can you kill the same 3 or 4 soldiers over and over and over again? And let's take a moment to point out how bad the boss battles are in this title...I thought I would never kill off Multiple-Man with Nightcrawler. But I keep playing because there is some part of me that just loves to beat the crap out of endless hordes of clone soldiers as Wolverine, and I'll admit, Nightcrawler is probably the coolest character in the game (they got the teleportation ability to work! Not perfectly, but it works!).

Now I'll step away from movie tie-ins, and over to television tie-ins. 3 games in particular: X-Files (PS1), X-Files: Resist Or Serve (PS2), and 24 (PS2). When I found out about the new X-Files movie, I pulled out the season 9 DVDs and decided it was time to finally finish the series before the film hit the theaters. A few days later, I was in a used book shop and they had a copy of the original PS1 X-Files game. Of course, I already had Resist Or Serve, but I still haven't finished it. But now seems to be a good time. I've also recently found time to watch season 2 of 24. Some of you may already know that the game takes place between seasons 2 and 3, so a part of me wants to play through the game before I start watching season 3. For all three titles, I really don't care what the reviewers think of the games; I just enjoy being able to take control of some of my favorite characters for a little while. Of course it would be nice if they got things right in the gameplay, but that's exactly why I wait until I can get a cheap copy.

So, who else is going to join me and share their guilty pleasure titles? Don't be shy...maybe we'll form a support group for people who enjoy those titles that get critically mediocre reviews. And for my testimony: "Hi, I'm Will and I play mediocre games...I've recently added New Zealand Story Revolution to my collection, and I had a lot of fun playing Garfield's Nightmare, Snoopy Vs. The Red Barron, and Brave: The Search For Spirit Dancer." Tell me all about your guilty pleasure games...in the meantime, I'm getting ready for the Duran Duran concert tonight. Seriously...pictures will be posted.

Cheers!