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Top 10 Unlikely Movie Games

Making a video game based on a movie is a tricky business. Even films that you think would be perfect for a video game adaptation - like, say, RoboCop or The Matrix - can turn into unmitigated disasters. But this isn't a list of great films that resulted in disappointing video games. These are 10 movie-based games we're surprised someone was crazy enough to attempt in the first place.

Beastly
If you're a regular reader of the site, you probably already know all about Beastly. This modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast follows the romantic entanglement of two high school students played by Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer. I have no idea who those people are, probably because I've already gone through puberty.

Anyway, the guy suffers from nonsensical disfigurements and face tattoos, which I'm guessing were caused by a witch's spell because he was a jerk or something. The rest of the movie is about the two teenagers overcoming their prejudices and realizing that real beauty is on the inside - the perfect premise for a video game.

How did the video game turn out? I could try to explain it...or you can watch Reiner and Phil play through the entire game in 70 minutes. Yikes.

 

White Men Can't Jump
This comedy/drama from the early '90s focuses on the evolving relationship between white college basketball player-turned hustler Billy Hoyle (played by Woody Harrelson), and black streetballer-turned partner Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes). As the unlikely duo team up to hustle unsuspecting players and ultimately run afoul of mobsters, they overcome their racial differences and forge a lasting friendship.

How did the Jaguar game based on the film capture the intricacies of the plot and characters? It didn't. Instead, High Voltage Software threw everything but the title out the window and delivered shoddy 2-on-2 basketball. At least the game delivered a comparable amount of laughs - though most of them resulted from how bad the game was.

 

Dune
Frank Herbert's award-winning sci-fi novel received a surreal film adaptation thanks its director and screen writer, David Lynch. Although the game is mainly based on the novel, it contained footage from the movie, as well as voice acting - a rare feat for games of the era. These innovations didn't make the basic premise of the story - a political conflict over a spice mining operation on planet Arrakis - seem any more conducive to a video game. Although Dune received mixed reviews from critics, future RTS games based on the series fared much better. The only thing I remember from the movie is that Kyle MacLachlan could use his voice as a weapon, which seemed pretty ridiculous at the time, but Bethesda thinks it's cool, so what the heck do I know.

The Untouchables
I don't know about you, but when I think of potential subjects for great video games, the first thing that comes to mind is Prohibition. Ocean Software took Brian De Palma's gritty depiction of the bootlegging racket of the 1920s and turned it into a cartoony side-scrolling shooter. Despite boiling down the movie into a series of drawn out shooting sequences, the game's ending retains some semblance of historical accuracy, with Al Capone being sentenced to 10 years in prison for tax evasion. Prohibition and tax evasion? Exciting stuff.[PageBreak]

Bram Stoker's Dracula
The Castlevania series has proven that slaying vampires is a popular premise for video games. But making a kid-friendly game based on Francis Ford Coppola's disturbingly violent movie adaptation of a 100+ year-old literary work seems like more of a burden than starting from scratch. The worst part about this video game adaptation is that it actually could have been good as an adventure game, given the deduction-based puzzles found in the book (for more thoughts on what could have been, check out Tim Turi's blog). Instead the game plays like a cheesy Castlevania ripoff, with you slashing your way through an endless stream of cellar rodents, flying bats, and nonsensical boss fights.

The Godfather: The Game
The Godfather didn't make this list because it's a bad idea per se - we're just surprised Electronic Arts managed to get everyone on board to make it happen. Not only did EA score the rights to make a game based on the film (without the knowledge of Francis Ford Coppola, who later denounced the project), but James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Abe Vigoda all provided voice acting and their likenesses for the project. Marlon Brando also appears in the game, though due to his failing health the dialogue he recorded was scrapped for an imitator. Al Pacino is the only main cast member missing, thanks to an exclusivity contract he signed for Scarface. Not the best decision Pacino has ever made.

 

Little Nicky
Holy crap. We don't even know how Adam Sandler got the go-ahead to make Little Nicky the movie - who actually thought making a Game Boy Color title based on this flop was a good idea? The only scenario I can imagine that would result in this game getting made is if someone actually convinced Satan's emo son to use his demonic brainwashing powers on whomever greenlights projects at Ubisoft.

The Blues Brothers
Considering the other titles on this list, we're not actually surprised that someone would make a video game based on a musical comedy based on a blues band that derived from an SNL skit. The Blues Brothers video game came out in 1991, just 11 short years after the movie it was based on, proving there's no expiration date on a bad idea. The Blues Brother looks a lot like Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers, only instead of dodging robotic dogs, you bludgeon old ladies and police officers with crates. As if that wasn't bad enough, developer Titus Software felt compelled to make another Blues Brothers game based on the movie sequel, Blues Brothers 2000. It also wasn't good.

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Comments
  • Wow. Most of these weren't even good movies. Nevertheless them turning them into games!!
  • I always thought Ghostbusters was an interesting choice too, but playing it makes it seem like a natural fit for gaming. I'm just disappointed someone could make a game based on The Godfather but Pineapple Express is somehow ignored in the gaming medium.
  • What about E.T.?
  • little nicky the game i would love to hear an 8 bit rob Schneider saying "you can do it!!!"

  • High Voltage destroys everything it touches.

  • They made a Little Nicky game? Who would buy that?
  • its kind of funny that out of all of that the cyber sex part got put in the FILED UNDER list.
  • Hadn't heard of a lot of these games, which I'm not ashamed to say. I also didn't know The Blues Brothers had a sequel. Also, I don't think "the old monkey" sang Circle of Life, unless by old monkey you mean Elton John. But I doubt that.
  • I can't think of a movie that I would like to make a video game. Maybe King Arthur.

  • What about the Space Jam game?
  • Yikes the past has dark memories lucky for us that almost never happens

  • OH MAN! Has anyone else ever played that Dune game? One of my very first PC games, and HOLY HELL was it fun. There was just so much to do! At least I remember it being so :P It was incredible getting to summon your first worm.. memories! Good 'Ole Games needs to update this! Exclamation mark!
  • I laughed when you said that the Lawnmower Man game took serious liberties. I don't know if anyone on here has read the original short story. But it's about some guy who call a lawn service company to send someone to mow his lawn (a lawnmower man). A grossly fat guy shows up, takes off all of his clothes, and crawls around on his hands and knees eating the grass and anything else that gets in his way. In the end, the guy gets in the lawnmower man's way, trying to stop him, and ends up getting eaten himself.
  • Fight club.... need i say more
  • LOL. They made a game based on a movie that was based off of the game... (Street Fighter)

  • i wholeheartedly agree streetfighter: the legend of chun-li was horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i mean since when is m bison a blonde hair blue eyed prettyboy?

  • Rofl, I didn't know SF the Movie had it's own game... WHY!?
  • xD nice.

  • Most strange movie to video games came out on the Atari 2600.  Some of them include Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and MegaForce.

  • i enjoyed the godfather game
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