It’s no secret that movies and games don’t mix. Unfortunately, nobody was willing to throw themselves in the way of these flaming shitwagon titles that somehow made it to store shelves. This could have been much, much longer, but here’s a look at six of the all time worst games made from movies.
6. 007 Tomorrow Never Dies for PS1 (1999)
Just two years prior to this coming out, Rare released GoldenEye on the N64, a game which revolutionised first person shooters. Developed in partnership with EA for the original Playstation, you’d think they would have kept many of the key ingredients in Rare’s genre defining masterpiece.
But instead they opted for a third person viewpoint and scrapped the multiplayer altogether. The game stays true to the plot of the movie, albeit with a lot more shooting stuff, but with such low graphics you’re probably better with the DVD.
5. Reservoir Dogs for PS2 and Xbox (2006)
A full 14 years pass after Quentin Tarantino made his directorial debut before someone decided to cash in on the success of Reservoir Dogs. The game attempts to fill in the blanks – all the parts we didn’t need to see in the movie, basically – such as the heist itself or a training sequence.
Where Tarantino avoided clichés, developers Volatile Games made a beeline for them, and what’s worse is that only one of the original actors (Michael Madsen, AKA Mr Blonde) agreed to lend his voice and likeness to the project. Apparently everybody else was too busy not touching this horror show with a shitty bargepole.
4. Home Alone for NES, SNES, Master System, Genesis and Amiga (1991)
A game vaguely featuring the plot and likeness of a popular movie franchise in order to make a quick buck. A pattern takes shape.
As Kevin McCallister, you have to swipe every valuable possession not tied down and place them in the family vault for safekeeping before the Wet Bandits raid them. Well, I mean they’re already in the house, but they just go back and forth and try to hurt you rather than actually be bandits. There’s also some extra cookie cutter gangster-style enemies throughout the level, and each segment ends with you having to go down to the basement to lock the vault, only to encounter a giant rat/spider/ghost, because what the hell?
3. Fight Club for PS2 and Xbox (2004)
The idea that someone wanted to cash in on the movie of the book about the futility of pop culture and evils of capitalism in modern society makes my fucking head spin. Story mode is basically a series of two-round fights haphazardly strewn together, and separated only by the most inane, low budget cutscenes I have ever come across. It’s literally a string of still images with a piss-poor excuse of a voiceover accompanying them. Like Reservoir Dogs, only one guy reprised his role from the movie and that was Meatloaf. The only positive I can possibly think of, is that you get to kick the shit out of Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst. So there’s that.
2. Back to the Future for NES (1989)
If the developers came out and admitted they hadn’t seen the movie at all, then I’m sure nobody would be surprised. Co-writer of the Back to the Future films Bob Gale even went as far to say it was one of the worst games of all time, and in interviews, discouraged fans from even buying it. Gale offered to help developers LJN Toys during production, but was shut down at every turn, reportedly because it was too late in development stage.
Subsequently, what we got barely even resembled the movie it was based on. Marty McFly’s signature dress sense? Nope. Doc Brown? Nope. The Delorean? Well, yeah, but it’s at the very last stage and involves you having to AVOID lightning bolts. A movie about time travel should’ve lent itself to video games perfectly, but instead we got a slew of mediocre mini-games and a Paperboy rip-off where you collect clocks.
1. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial for Atari (1982)
This was placed in a landfill for a reason. To be fair, creator Howard Scott Warshaw was pressured into rushing a game following the surprising success of the movie, and had a schedule of five-and-a-half weeks to design and finish it in time for Christmas 1982. The results were catastrophic. Despite the game selling well initially, its poor design, lack of clear direction and any real sense of fulfillment led to angry parents returning the game in droves, thus crippling video-game titan Atari, and almost destroying the industry as a whole.
No wonder it’s cited as the single worst game of all time.
