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MisterBananaFoam

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Licensed Games that Live Up to their Franchises (list is a WIP)

Licensed games have been a huge anomaly in the market. Most of the time, games about licensed cartoons, movies, and other media are shoddily programmed and burned onto several thousand discs in a shallow attempt to make more cash off of the brand name. With movie tie-in games, it's often no surprise, as most of the time, development is rushed so that the game releases around the same time as the movie does, resulting in less quality assurance. However, the trend also seeps out into tie-in games based on television series and toy brands and whatnot, so clearly time isn't always the issue; in those cases, it's more about whether or not the developers give enough of a damn to produce something that's actually worthwhile.

Fortunately, some licensed titles have managed to escape the fate of eternal mediocrity and surprised us with engaging story lines, smooth controls and streamlined gameplay elements. The best titles are those that could be considered classics even among standalone franchises such as the Mario and Halo games. This is a compilation of Licensed Games that Live Up to their Franchises.

You know what they say, a little effort goes a long way...

List items

  • Despite titles like Superman 64 tarnishing their name, superhero licenses often get the better end of the stick when it comes to licensed games, especially so because they don't always tie into a movie or television series. The best of the best are the ones that truly give you the impression that you are the hero, and any powers at his disposal are yours to control. Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction does exactly that.

    If any of you have played Prototype before, you know how fun it is to wreck anything and everything standing in your path as an unstoppable creature of destruction. Well, this was, in essence, the Prototype TO Prototype, if that makes any sense. You could free-roam as Hulk across a couple of expansive locales filled with secrets and densely-populated areas with private military personnel that are just begging to get their skulls crushed in. What more could you want? It's GTA with the goddamn Hulk. Not only that, but it's GTA with a goddamn Hulk that has an expansive upgrade tree that unlocks brutal new moves as a reward for picking up collectibles and causing chaos. You have moves that let you release gigantic gamma shockwaves, turn cars into packed metal gauntlets and one particular move that even lets you SURF ON A CRUSHED BUS THROUGH THE STREETS, PLOWING INTO EVERYTHING IN YOUR WAKE. As an added bonus, there are cheats and secrets that unlock plenty of alternate modes and wacky skins for the Hulk; the most memorable one that I can recall was the Mr. Fixit cheat that turned the Hulk into a suited businessman that spouted cheesy one-liners every now and then.

    I have never seen a more accurate subtitle for a game than this one. The amount of absolute carnage you can cause in this game is simply phenomenal. Hulk Smash, indeed.

  • Do you remember anything about the second Spider-Man film? Me neither. I remember Alfred Molina did a great job as Doctor Octopus, but I don't really remember if anything significant happened in that film.

    The game, on the other hand? Flipping fantastic. You'll notice a trend in this list where superhero games that are open-world in a GTA sense tend to be more well-received, and while I can't say the same for some of the more recent Spider-Man titles, Spider-Man 2 hit the nail on the head. The controls really sell this one, too; swinging around the city is a blast and fighting thugs on the street is made enjoyable with Spider-Man's deep moveset that expands with more and more upgrades. Better still, aside from beating the main missions, you can also foil crimes in the streets and save the day in a multitude of different ways, from subduing robbers to retrieving lost balloons for children. The story loosely follows the plot of the movie and even involves other notable villains such as Mysterio.

    Spider-Man 2 was the perfect example of a free-roam Spider-Man game done right. Just don't try to bring up the PC version. Or Spider-Man 3. Or any of the recent Spider-Man tie-in games.

  • Nobody knew we needed a Bug's Life game until we got it, and the results were surprisingly above average if you go in with adjusted expectations.

    While the graphics were nothing to write home about, the unique mechanic of growing seeds to use them as platforms and upgrading said seeds with collectibles made for some interesting puzzle-solving segments and challenging boss battles. The environments, while a bit drab, were fun to roam around, and the sound quality was quite good for a late-90's 3D licensed title, with some very catchy music to boot.

    While far from the Pixar equivalent of Crash Bandicoot, A Bug's Life easily subverted my original expectations and remains as a fond memory to this day, even when I go back to reminisce it with a playthrough or two. Just remember - you'll always need more grain.

  • Even in the primordial ages of the Genesis and the Super Nintendo, developers found a way to ensure a quality product out of a well-respected franchise, with Pixar and Disney receiving the most focus. Toy Story is a rare case where the entire series of main-line movie tie-ins can be considered good. While I haven't played Toy Story 3 at all and have only fond memories of Toy Story 2 on the N64 from my youth, I have gone back and took a few jabs at the Genesis and SNES ports of the first Toy Story tie-in, and for its time, it's an intriguing platformer. Most, if not all of the characters from the film are present in one way or another, there are several different innovative gameplay changes between levels, and the game (for the most part) accurately follows the plot of the movie. You have classic scenes from the movie such as The Claw and Cid's dog show up as boss levels, and the animation is quite well done for its time.

    While its quality compared to its successors can be debated, Toy Story for the SEGA Genesis and Super Nintendo still holds up quite solidly, and it gives a good excuse for you to open up that toybox one last time. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the damn RC Car levels. Yeesh.

  • For the longest time, the Caped Crusader had been wallowing mostly in the dark when it comes to quality tie-ins, the most rancid of which can be seen on many Worst of All Time lists. It was time that the gaming industry did the man some justice - and Rocksteady more than delivered with Arkham Asylum, a game that not only renewed my faith in the ability of developers to create superb licensed titles, but shocked and awed me with its combat, stealth, and puzzle-solving glory in such a large way that it deserves to be mentioned on not only lists of the greatest licensed games in history, but on greatest of all time lists as well. The fluid Freeflow combat system is hands down one of the most convenient and badass fighting mechanics I've witnessed in action-adventure games to date, all of Batman's gadgets are available for you to toy around with (ranging from explosive gel to the grappling hook to the classic line launcher), and Batman's nemeses have never looked or acted more menacing, with a flawless voice cast to back it up. As the games progress, the innovations just keep coming (barring Arkham Origins, of course, but we don't talk about that one as much) with the latest installment promising to let us cruise the streets of Gotham City in the trademark Batmobile.

    To say these games are deserving of being on this list is selling it way too short. They deserve to be on here hundreds of times over. I cannot stress this enough, if you grew up and witnessed Batman in any shape or form in your lifetime, try out one of these games and see for yourself how freakishly awesome it is to be Batman.

  • THIS is the game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe should have been. An extensive cast of characters, a variety of super moves, immersive and lively locales and shit tons of cameos and other DC goodness. The plot is a bit bizarre, but let's be honest, you didn't go into Dead or Alive expecting Kubrick-tier writing, did you? Besides, Superman would've totally been OP.

    Whatever. Get this game. Enough said.

  • Take Banjo-Kazooie and replace the main character with an anthropomorphic sea sponge, bringing along the excellent writing of the early seasons, and you have Battle for Bikini Bottom. It may not be as fleshed out as a game like Banjo-Kazooie, but kids and fans of the show are absolutely sure to have a blast with it.

    Although he doesn't actually wear that combat helmet in-game, unfortunately. Way to falsely advertise, Heavy Iron Studios.

  • Okay, okay, Telltale makes a living with licensed visual novel-like adventure games, so I'll try to keep this as the only game of theirs on this list (lest it get overwhelmed with Telltale adventure games) but damned if this game doesn't perfectly capture the atmosphere of the source material. Character development on par with the show and the comic, surprising and heart-wrenching twists, an excellent score and tight gameplay fuse together to create the quintessential undead apocalypse tale.

    Customers who bought this game also bought: several boxes of tissues.

    Because you will cry. A lot.

  • Some games actually manage to become more timeless than the shows their based on, to some. I doubt any of you distinctly remember any episodes of the Goof Troop TV show starring Goofy and his son Max (I know I sure didn't), but if one good thing came out of that show, it was its SNES tie-in puzzle adaptation. Catchy music, innovative character-switching mechanics, and plenty of challenge to go along with it, atop that signature Disney art style... there really isn't much else to say.

    Let's be honest - there's a reason that the Game Grumps channel launched with a playthrough of this game. Gwarsh.

  • Not only did GoldenEye 007 manage to live up to the signature action sequences of the Bond films, it did so in a way that kickstarted the widespread popularity for the FPS genre as a whole, and garnered an immediate and well-acclaimed spiritual successor in the form of Perfect Dark. If that doesn't earn it a spot on this list, I don't know what will.

  • Ever watched the Jurassic Park films and thought to yourself, "Man, those guys are idiots! I could totally run a theme park filled with dinosaurs by myself!"

    First, you're probably delusional, but second, that's not stopping you from trying with Operation Genesis, a game that lets you build your very OWN Jurassic Park, filled with whichever dinosaurs you fancy and modeled however you please. In the same vein as Zoo Tycoon, you can create exhibits for all of your captive creatures, build pathways, construct attractions and gift shops, and maintain the health and safety of both the attractions and the staff, all at whichever pace and difficulty setting you please. There's even a few mission-based modes to keep you occupied, if you'd rather not simply screw about in sandbox mode.

    Either way you play it, Operation Genesis shows that running a dinosaur peep show can be both profitable and enjoyable. Even better, there isn't a fat nerd trying to steal your research and get everyone killed this time.

    To be fair, though, you'll probably end up doing that anyway.
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