Awesome Games Based on Movies

It's easy to come up with a list of crappy game-to-movie conversions, since almost every big budget Hollywood flick and its grandmother was followed by a substandard piece of gaming garbage developed by Neanderthals. I'm sure most of them sold well riding on the movies fame alone, but that's a whole other story. When it comes down to great games based on movies though, it's a whole new ball game and you've got to respect the developers that don't budge under studio pressure, and deliver a great game that's an awesome experience independent of the movie fame. Here are a few such games based on movies that have earned our respect:



Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Platforms: Xbox, PC
Released: 2004

If you've not played Escape from Butcher Bay, you've not tasted melee combat in all its glory! There's nothing like pummeling the face of a prison inmate with your bare-fist (or one of the gazillion melee weapons you find in the game) as you hear Vin Diesel's cocky one-liners in his gruff voice, that the lot of us gamers have learnt to associate with all things awesome. If you liked the dark universe of the movie, the game took the gritty setting to the next level through the highly fortified prison complex of Butcher Bay.

You'd traverse multiple layers of the prison, you'd sneak past guards, stab them in the back, and ambush the unsuspecting prisoner with a screwdriver in the face. If you're a fan of the movie and love great melee combat and stealth, you owe it to yourself to play this one.


X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Platforms: Xbox360, PS3, PC
Released: 2009

If you like blood and gore, the Uncaged Edition of X-Men Origins: Wolverine lets you impale, maim, eviscerate, mutilate, decapitate, dismember and down-right mince-ify any and everything you came across! The game didn't follow the movie's story entirely, and the developers added their own bits and pieces to the mix, which is inspiring since developers of movie-offshoot games rarely get that much freedom; this game should be a testament to why they should be given such freedom!

Think of this one as the God of War of the X-Men universe, and Wolverine's Adamantium Claws as the Blades of Chaos; this caged beast chews through almost everything through some of the most visceral, gory and stylish moves that are sure to quench your thirst for blood.

Spiderman 2
Platforms: Xbox, PS2, PC, GameCube
Released: 2004

For once a Spiderman game managed to capture an experience that did the franchise justice! While the game based on Spiderman 2 meandered around the story of the movie, there were many villains included from the comic book series, quite a bit of sidestory added to the mix, and a whole lot of freeroaming included. You could freeroam through the crime ridden streets of New York City, scale the highest buildings, bust robberies and swing through the air at lightening fast speeds, making you feel as epic as Peter Parker did when he donned that suit.

If you're a Spiderman fan, you owe yourself the pleasure of playing this one - it's the best game to come out of the franchise, and perhaps any comic book series!


Aladdin
Platforms: PC, Sega Genesis, SNES
Released: 1993

Based on the super-successful Disney Animated movie 'Aladdin' that released way back in 1992, this game bedazzled the lot of us with some of the best cel-shaded visuals ever.  Aladdin used new technology developed by Virgin Interactive, that allowed the developers to take Disney's detailed animated frames and compress them so that they'd play fluidly using the highly limiting power of PC during those days.

The result was a game that was ahead of its time! This sidescrolling platformer offered challenging gameplay too, as the sword-slinging Aladdin would traverse desert locales, jump over spiked pits, stab weird, scantily-clad, scrawny men that would throw bottles at him all to save the love of his life. Then there were a huge number of bonus levels that would award you extra lives and continues! There was just so much going on in this game, that you couldn't help loving it!

The Matrix: Path of Neo
Platform: PC, Xbox, PS2
Released: 2005

After the first game based on the series called 'Enter the Matrix' disappointed us, Shiny Entertainment did it right with the second called Path of Neo, and picked the best action sequences from the movies and let you play every one of them! While the gunplay was a little lousy, the game featured orgasmic melee combat, where you could learn most of the moves from the movie and incorporate it into the gameplay.

The storyline felt a little haphazard though, so the game would completely confuse anyone who's not a fan of the series. Fans, on the other hand, loved this game completely!


That's it for our list of awesome games based on movies. If there are any such games you'd like reminisce about, please share them with us via a comment.