Movie Tie-in

There are two main reasons for the poor quality of most of movie tie-in games. The first reason is because the games are rushed to meet the movie release. This is a basic marketing technique, since there are a lot of potential buyers in people who have just seen the movie. Putting out movie tie-ins while the movie is still big, ensures that a lot of people, usually uninformed of the poor quality, buy it. There are some exceptions such as Superman Returns (which got low reviews regardless).  Another reason is that, game companies have no intention in putting precious and costly working hours in a game that will sell very well regardless of the quality (i.e. Spider-Man 3). Usually, however, it is a combination of both.

There are a few diamonds in the rough for movie tie-in's though. One of the most infamous and fondly remembered games of all time, Goldeneye 007, was based on the mediocre James Bond film of the same name. The game was credited for being the first game to truly bring four player multiplayer to consoles when it hit the Nintendo 64 on August 25, 1997 and became a runaway success. To this day Goldeneye is regarded as one of the greatest games of all time. Another example is The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, a 2004 game by Starbreeze. The game is widely considered to be among the best XBOX games, and is considered much better than the movie it was based on.