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Lies

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Franchises which should have good games but don't

By Lies 21 Comments

You ever run across something in another media form and think to yourself: "this would make a great videogame"? No? Well no matter. Because I did... and this is horrible stylistically. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? These two franchises should have better games than what they currently have.

Harry Potter

Dude look at this PS2 shot of HBP. Wait... PS2???
Dude look at this PS2 shot of HBP. Wait... PS2???
This is a no-brainer, as the books are practically already set up like a game as is. A large, open castle environment with lots of secret places to explore, going to classes to increase abilities, sports mini-games, a continuing story that isn't too overbearing and progresses slowly throughout the year- there could even be dialouge trees or a dating mechanic to inteact with other students and form relationships a la Bioware games. And you know... magic. Spells and potions and shit. Unfortunately, Electronic Arts has seemed content to pump out movie tie-ins with little creative use of the license. The Harry Potter world is vast and expansive- it would be a perfect game world that could support many different game styles. All EA is likely to show us though is Harry's story, which isn't all that compelling since we know where it ends, and it allows the player almost no freedom to make their own choices. Think about an action-RPG or the like set in Hogwarts, putting you in the shoes of a new character as a completely new story unfolded. The setting and world could make great videogames, especially with Wii controls. Maybe after the last movie comes out EA will get a little more creative with the license (or maybe it's something to do with J.K. Rowling). All I know is that Harry Potter has tons of videogame potential, but we haven't seen very much of anything yet.

Lord of the Rings

LOOK AT ALL THAT
LOOK AT ALL THAT
This one is slighty different, as there are some pretty decent LOTR games out there. Nothing too spectacular though (ignoring LOTRO, because I have no experience with MMOs :P). Again, LOTR has an incredible wealth of source material, with Tolkein having essentially mapped out the history, geography, and social structure of this entire world from the moment of creation. The mythos has been treated to an almost insane amount of detail, and there are plenty of interesting ways to use that canon for games. All that we've really seen so far though is hack-n-slash and RTS, set during or around the story put forth in the books and movies. There was a Hobbit game from Sierra recently which was surprisingly good, and The Third Age, which was hilariously bad, but besides that it's been mostly rote. This is probably related to the Tolkein estate, as they tend to keep a tight fist on his work, but the possibilities for games are limitless. Any of the stories from the Simillarion, Aragorn's travels in Harad and Rhun, only breifly touched upon in the books, Gandalf and his Wizard homies (RIP The White Council, it was not yet your time). Middle Earth is so broad, it could do so much more besides RTS and Hack n Slash- or at least try different time periods besides the frame around the books and movies.

Both of those franchises (Both EA Licenses, oddly enough) really are something special, but haven't been put to good use in the videogame space. It's kind of saddening to see such potential not fully utilized, although I'm sure EA is laughing all the way to the bank. Any franchises you feel this way about? Disagree with my choices? Sound off in the comments :)

Thanks for reading. It is appreciated.
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