Top 10 Games Based On Movies

The Top Ten Best Games Based on Films

Hollywood doesn’t have a great reputation when it comes collaborating with game developers – pretty much every film that’s ever been based on a game has been forgettable dross at best.

Well, except for the Hitman movie maybe. That’s actually kind of fun in a stupid don’t-have-to-concentrate kind of way, if you ask us.

The failings aren’t just one-way though; common opinion holds that nearly every game that’s ever been based on a movie has been poorly received too. From Sega’s Iron Man game last year to the irredeemably awful Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game, it seems that the world of films and games are just destined to never really mesh.

At least, that’s what the developers of the really bad games would have you believe anyway, what with their excuses about deadline pressures and the requirement to stay close to the plot of the movie. Contrary to popular opinion though there are some decent games based on films – they’re just that little bit rarer and harder to find than the bad ones, so we’ve rounded up ten of the best below. Check them out and, of course, let us know what you think in the comments section.

10: Tron 2.0

Developer: Monolith Productions
Platform: PC, Mac, Xbox 360
Year: 2003

Arriving almost 21 years after the film that it was based on, Monolith’s videogame sequel seemed to come a bit out of nowhere when it was released in 2003. There was no tie-in movie alongside it, no revival of the franchise (and the upcoming Tron Legacy is still a long way off), nothing. It just appeared on shelves – a game based on the Tron series, from the developers of No One Lives Forever.

With no console version available until a year later and a reliance on the geek street-cred that the Tron series holds, it was no surprise that Tron 2.0 was a bit of a flop despite the positive reviews. It was a good game though, even though it sold poorly.

Set a good few years after the film, Tron 2.0 focuses on the adventures of Alan Bradley’s son, Jet, who is pulled into the neon computer world just like his father was in the film. Jet is taken on a rip-roaring ride that sees him fending off evil corporations, searching desperately for his father and battling all sorts of chalk-outlined baddies.

A shooter and RPG hybrid somewhat similar to Monolith’s No One Lives Forever 2, Tron 2.0 lets you upgrade your weapons and abilities as you go along, which gives the game plenty to recommend it, despite the headache-inducing graphical style. One of the highlights of the game though is the way it irreverently mocks and references all sorts of computer and gaming conventions – something that manifests clearly in the levelling up mechanic that sees you collecting version numbers in order to unlock skills such as ‘Megahurt’.