10 Best Video Games Based On Movies

From the Silver Screen to the gold standard of games.

the warriors
Rockstar

There was a bleak time in the late 90s and early 2000s where a specific genre of video game hit the market like a semi-truck filled with bad vibes and plowed right into the heart of the industry, souring the experience for many in the process.

This offshoot of awfulness was known as "The Movie Video Game Tie In" or "WHY HAVE THEY DONE THIS?" and was often the laziest squirt of piss possible done to rake in as much money from fans of successful movie properties as possible. Charlies Angels, The Fight Club video game, Street Fighter: The Movie.....the game.

Excuse me while I fill this basket with vomit. *Wretches*. Excellent turns out that was made of wicker.

However while many of these low-effort low-quality projects dragged the median way, way down, that wasn't to say that all of them were terrible. In fact, some movie video game tie-ins managed to be true love letters to the source material and provided additional insight into beloved franchises.

So let's rise out of the muck and celebrate the true gems as they worked bloody hard for it.

10. John Carpenter's The Thing

the warriors
Universal Pictures

Survival Horror video games always strive to invert the typical video game relationship between empowerment and the player. Whereas most games seek to make you feel like a world-beating badass, horror seeks to strip you of this and make you feel like a dirty little grub crying out to an uncaring world.

The Thing video game takes this to the absolute extreme, making you not only feel utterly helpless at the best of times but also undermines your trust in your team to the point where paranoia truly does set in.

This game's central gimmick is that your fellow soldiers can turn on you at any time, either through being assimilated or by losing their own grasp on reality. As such the title not only plays out as a terrifying bug hunt experience but also sees you having to gift precious ammo and resources to keep the few remaining survivors on your side.

This creates an atmosphere to taught it feels like it's tearing you limb from limb, something which the horrifying monsters of the title are more than happy to help you achieve. It's a stunningly well-made game that manages to expand on the lore, even if it's non-canon, making it a must-play for fans of John Carpenter's classic.

In this post: 
The Warriors
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Jules Gill hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.