Underrated Licensed Video Games

Just finished watching the latest Demo Derby and one of my favorite parts was the dudes talking over the Harry Potter Behind the Scenes video and the game's stupidly short demo. I also remember reading some of the comments, mine included, that defended Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup for being alright. It made me want to ask the community if there are any licensed video games based off of movies, tv shows, books/comic books or toy brands that they feel are underrated. A bit of a difficult question to ask since normally, licensed video games aren't very good, but at the same time, games like Goldeneye 007, Star Wars: KOTOR and The Walking Dead Season 1 turned out to be great and revolutionized the game genres they were in.

I'll start by saying The Simpsons Hit and Run is possibly the best Simpsons game ever made (sorry to the Konami arcade beat 'em up). It was a GTA like game set in the Simpsons universe where the characters perform different vehicle based missions, such as races, chasing missions, item collecting missions and demolition missions where you have to destroy other cars. Its also the Simpsons Video Game that best lays out the City of Springfield in 3 different sections, from Evergreen Terrace to Downtown where Moe's Tavern and Jedediah's Statue are located. There's also Itchy and Scratchy Cards that you collect that show an image of an item/symbol that references past episodes of the show. There's a lot of good fan service to the fans of the Simpsons and while some aspects of the game don't hold up, its a fun enough experience for me to say its an underrated gem.

Like you kinda said: it almost feels like this conversation needs to be split into two separate discussions. James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing is just a criminally-underrated third-person cover-based shooter (and the actual best Bond video game: just ask GameSpot's own Jeff Gerstmann) that could live on its mechanics and gameplay alone, with or without the Bond license, but then you've also got games like, I don't know, Toy Story 2 for the N64, which was basically just a 3D platformer/collectathon that I seem to remember somewhat fondly despite it just being an unabashed licensed movie tie-in.

I don't know that it was underrated, but maybe commercially ignored, Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay from Starbreeze.

Spider-Man 2 - I remember this game being genuinely cool because I could swing around NYC.

I think you kinda have to define underrated. I usually take the word to mean "it generally didn't review well", in which case, Simpsons H&R, 007 Everything or Nothing, or Spider-Man 2 don't really qualify.

I really liked Tomorrow Never Dies on PS1, that probably qualifies.

Trying to think of ones that are actually underrated or little discussed.

Tiny Toons Acme All Stars was one I liked on Genesis as a kid. It had multiple simple but fun arcade sports games in it and it looked nice.

The Tick is a beat em up you can have some fun with but it has some really annoying aspects, like for one it is super long and repetitive even for that kind of game. Every area is about twice as long if not three or four times as it should be.

007: Everything or Nothing, like previously mentioned, I think is still a game worth mentioning even if it reviewed well because it was forgotten to history really but I think was a very good third person shooter.

Godfather II is a pretty good game actually if you don't care about it staying to the license much. It is an attempt at making a third person action game a strategy mix as well, in a deeper way than even some games do now like Mafia III.

The Thing is also a game that is on there for me. Surprisingly good and tense survival horror game that had mechanics with NPCs that involved trust and fear.

I don't know if Jackie Chan: Stuntmaster counts as getting the Jackie Chan license but that game is actually fun.

I was gonna say Buffy on the original Xbox, which I absolutely love, but to my surprise it's sitting at 79/100 on Metacritic, and 9.1 in the user reviews, so I guess that doesn't qualify at all. That's a nice surprise. I feel like the only person who was talking about it at the time. You can slo-mo bicycle-kick a demon into a goddamn splintered wall and he collapses into dust and it feels dope.

I liked the Scott Pilgrim game and was shocked when I heard some of the guys shit on it. It has fantastic visuals and music, and feels great to play, so there.

Spider-Man 2.

That web-swinging still hasn't been topped. That game is a web swinging SIMULATOR.

Also have to agree with Simpsons Hit and Run. That game is genuinely really good and full of fun references to the show.

Batman Begins - I actually re-bought this one in the past 6 months to replay it and it's still pretty decent.

The Warriors - The way it expanded the mythos around the movie's gangs was pretty amazing.

I definitely agree with the nods to The Simpsons Hit and Run.

edit: I just remembered: Rango was pretty great and got really gonzo towards the end of the campaign. When I played it a few years back, it rekindled my desire to seek out licensed games to find those hidden gems.

It's not always the first thing that's talked about, but Aladdin for the Genesis was one of my favorite games of my childhood.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I finished A Bugs Life on PC. It was a fine game. Each level contained scenes from the movie, and had you do different things. Flying around on a dandelion, platforming, boss fights, having to drag the right colour seed at the right places (trampolines, platforms, turrets etc).

I also remember Hercules being one of my favorite Playstation games. That hydra fight was iconic to me. I think that's actually a better game than A Bugs Life.

Aladdin & The Lion King are awesome games as well.

24: The Game You really had to like the show to enjoy this game but they did a good job with the cutscenes music and the story was alright. Driving was god awful but shooting was decent and integrating enemies was fun.

There was a simpsons crazy taxi rip off I had on ps2. I don't remember the name but I spent so much time playing it it was pretty good.

Simpsons Road Rage? Yeah, it was decent.

Hit and Run is incredible. So much detail for fans of the show hidden, and all of the costumes are great. Devil Homer, urgh.

I also thought the The Simpsons Game was great on 360/PS3. Lots of game parodies and jokes crammed into that thing.

Neverquest, haha.

I'm playing LotR: War in the North at the moment, and it's okay! I was hoping to be surprised by it and for it to tickle the Tolkien itch I get now and then, and it's done that in spots, so it was worth the four bucks or whatever it works out to. £2.36 for me. I wish it was better.

Anyone remember that White Council LotR game that got cancelled? Man, I was excited for that.

Speaking of which, I recall the Lotd of the Rings trilogy games actually having some pretty fun combat mechanics, but I only ever played their demos so I'd need someone to back me up on that. I recall especially playing a demo of Two Towers a lot, it featured the first half of a pretty faithfully large scale battle on the wall if I remember right.

Would really like to see that on a demo derby but they've seemed pretty stuck on PS1 and XBox so far.

Mad Max was pretty good. Yeah it's generic in a lot of ways, but the core driving gameplay was great. Also, I thought it's execution of Arkham style combat was the best yet.

I mildly remember The Great Escape videogame being okay. It definitely wasn't as much of a trainwreck as you'd think it would be.

Rogue Trooper perhaps isn't remembered as fondly as it ought to be.

Barnyard!

@nodima: I saw the 2nd one being played at a friend's house, and yes. That was a pretty solid game.

One hundred percent gotta go with Rockstar's The Warriors. Not only did it expand on the premise and characters in a way that made sense for the source, it was actually pretty well thought out too.

Add some awesome fighting mechanics (hello, full body throw when sprinting) and a spiritual recreation of Double Dragon as a bonus side mode and you've got one of the best games of the PS2 era. Had some laughs with King of The Hill multiplayer too.

It could be my ridiculous over-fondness for the series, but I was a fan of the Avatar the Last Airbender ps2 game. I believe you could also have second player take control of a character? That or I was really good at tricking my little brother while I was in early highschool.

I also agree with @onemanarmyy about the bugs life game. Had some great time with that playing through with my dad and younger siblings. Also, @mocbucket62, I totally forgot about Hit and Run. That was great.

Oh. Does Battlefront and Battlefront 2 count? Man I really loved the ps2.

By no means top class but I was recently reminded how decent Tiny Toon Adventures is on both the Genesis and SNES. Two totally different games, Genesis being a traditional Mario-ish game while SNES is a strange set piece heavy game with some impressive variety. Both were Konami.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a solid action game and has a far more interesting and coherent story than the movie.

In the same vein the Green Lantern game is the best thing to come out of that mess of a film. It's a pretty fun God of War knock-off with lots of good references to the comics.

Also coming to mind are Batman: Vengeance and Spider-Man for N64 which probably isn't as good as I remember but I still beat it many times as a kid.

The Transformers games from High Moon Studios (mostly RIP)! The first two are really fun third-person action/shooters.

The way Simpsons Hit and Run manages to get a lot of locations and jokes from the show into maps that still make sense is actually pretty impressive.