Licensed games, games that are based on an IP from another media format, are usually not that good. Gamers relentlessly mock the laundry list of games that adapt movies and TV series as usually weak entries in those respective larger media franchises. However, this isn’t always the case and there are some that end up being very interesting.
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Sometimes though, these entries should have taken an opportunity to focus on turning a side character into a protagonist. There are many options for games in these universes, and sometimes they choose the wrong character to focus on, mistaking them for a potential video game goldmine.
7The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
The most recent andone of the most egregious examplesof a licensed game taking the wrong path is that of the newGollumgame. A stealth-based ride through the years Gollum spent imprisoned in Barad-Dur before meeting Frodo and Sam on their journey with “the precious,“LOTR: Gollumwas an unfortunate attempt to make Gollum a protagonist by raising the audience’s sympathy for a much-maligned being.
Not only has the gameplay been mocked by fans, but the story and entire idea of making Gollum a protagonist, when he proved himself incapable of overcoming his worst tendencies with his death inThe Lord of the Rings, was mishandled. There are many other characters inThe Lord of the Ringsuniverse whom this game could have focused on; many elves in that world would be suitable for a stealth game, such as Legolas. Alternatively, telling a different story of another hobbit going on a grand adventure would have been more in the Middle Earth storytelling realm.
6Marvel’s Spider-Man
There is no denying that the newSpider-Mangaming franchise has proven to be a huge success. Insomniac Games have managed to release two games, with a third on the way, that have upped the ante for superhero games in gameplay and narrative terms. However, there were some ways in which this franchise could have been improved, as proven bySpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
That franchise has found fresh success in theSpider-Manuniverse by focusing on a different Spider-Man to Peter Parker. Instead of making a Miles Morales gamethat was shorter and less focusedthan the main entries in the franchise, the franchise should have been about Miles Morales from the beginning. The feel of a teenage Spider-Man is the one thing this game was missing by focusing instead on an adult Peter Parker.
5Batman: Arkham Knight
By the timeArkham Knighthad rolled around, theBatman: Arkhamgames had done a fairly good job of introducing much of the Bat-family and the world of Batman to audiences. The introduction ofArkham Knightand the entire story which was produced from this entry in the franchise proved that it may have been time to move on with new characters instead.
Sticking to Bruce Wayne as Batman is a traditional, time-honored classic route for franchises. However, within the confines of the gaming world, fans may not have cared too much if Dick Grayson or another Robin, or a Batgirl, oreven one of the anti-heroes, had become the face of this game instead of Bruce taking the reins once more when his story was a little worn through at this point. Instead,Arkham Knightis remembered as the lesser entry in this franchise, which is an unnecessary shame.
4X-Men: The Ravages Of Apocalypse
Released in 1997, before theX-Menmovies began to hit cinemas,The Ravages of Apocalypsewas a surprisingly insane game that wasalmost universally reviled upon release. This is because it focuses on an unknown protagonist fighting cyborg clones of popularX-Mencharacters. The problem is the huge level of violence in the game includes a lot of blood, making it feel more like the player is just brutally executing all the X-Men.
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The game was just a conversion of theQuakeengine, and players needed to have the originalQuakeif they wanted to play this one. It was considered a total disaster money grab which came from the desperation of Marvel in the dark age of comics.
3The Ring: Terror’s Realm
The Ringwas a game that almost entirely forgot to include Sadako, the girl who crawls out of the TV. Instead, the game focused on a different character as she was transported through a cursed computer program into a world where she is dressed as a police officer and had to fight zombies.
The bold but ridiculously unsuccessful attempt to copy theResident Evilsurvival horror stylewith unknown characters, all very loosely based onThe Ringmovie, was laughable. It was an unfortunate attempt to spread the idea ofThe Ringfrom the VHS tape and the dying in seven days curse to just generic curses within technological forms.
2GoldenEye 007 (2010 Remake)
One of the strangest changes made in a video game remake to date is whenGoldenEye 007featured the right protagonist but in the wrong body. Instead of remaking the game with the protagonist modeled after Pierce Brosnan as James Bond,GoldenEye 007tried to be amusing and updated by replacing him with Daniel Craig’s likeness.
This bizarre move baffled fans, as the plot ofGoldenEyereceived only minor changes but had Craig shoehorned in as Bond over Brosnan;this was a reviled remakethat didn’t make any sense whatsoever.
1Pepsiman
Simply one of the strangest video games ever to exist,Pepsimanis a video game about the infamous internet meme Pepsi mascot running after Pepsi cans and trying to grab them. Only released in Japan, this game and the entire idea should have focused on… well, anything else.
It isn’t thatPepsimanwas the worst simplistic licensed game of the 90s; it was simply one of the most ludicrous games featuring possibly the most ludicrous character ever seen or invented by any game company. Not only all of that, but somehow itactually got a remake to boot.
