10 Ridiculous Ways Adverts Were Built Into Video Games
1. Darkened Skye's Entire Magic System Is Based On Skittles
Not counting Sneak King and Pepsiman, all of the games on this list are fully-functional products with advertisements added on top. But third-person adventure game Darkened Skye took a completely different approach: it used an outside brand as the basis for its primary magic system.
The game has you playing as Skye, a young woman searching for her lost mother. As you play, you'll encounter an assortment of fantasy enemies, and you can take them down... with the power of Skittles! Skye can perform magic using the multicoloured sweeties, and there's even a whole menu dedicated to managing and customising her powers.
The worst thing about all of this is that the game's cover makes no obvious mention of this tie-in whatsoever. All you get is a Skittles trademark in the bottom-left of the back cover, rendered in the smallest of small print. Darkened Skye just looks like your run-of-the-mill adventure game, and it plays like one too, complete with bland environments and repetitive button-mashing combat.
Imagine buying this thing, taking it home and slotting in the disc, only to discover that what you thought was a quaint fantasy adventure is actually a massive advertisement attempting to sell you a cheap bag of sweets. No thanks.