Alex Navarro Assistant Editor	Just Started Playing: Ape Escape 2 (PS2) Still Playing: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC), Animal Crossing (GC) Will Never, Ever Play Again: Charlie's Angels (GC)

Movie-Licensed Games That Might Not Suck

Please forgive this brash generalization, but I have recently come to the conclusion that games based on movies completely and utterly suck. I know, I know--why am I just figuring this out now? Well, I'm not actually. I'd just never bothered to try to comprehend the reasoning behind why so many of these games are totally unplayable. Whether it be Enter The Matrix, The Italian Job, Finding Nemo, or the more recently putrid Charlie's Angels, all of these games are quite bad in their own right. This isn't a new thing either--games based on films have almost always been complete garbage, dating all the way back to the earliest days of gaming technology (anyone remember Ghostbusters for the NES? Ugh.).

I could rant for thousands of words why these games are so often horrible, but instead I'll sum it up in a single sentence: These games are designed to sell the movie, and nothing else. Frankly, I'm tired of it. I'm sick of every big-budget blockbuster getting a cheap and dirty game that is less a game and more a lackluster piece of promotional material. I'm fed up with film executives realizing that a game to go with their movie would really boost ticket sales, but only realizing it three months before the potential release date of the film, thus not giving the developers enough time to do anything with the concepts. I want quality games based on my favorite movies, and if I have to be the one to come up with the ideas, then so be it. I hereby present to you with five movies that could be turned into great games, if done properly.

Title: Requiem for a Dream
Year: 2000
Movie Genre: Drama
Game Genre: Adventure/RPG
Likely ESRB Rating: M

OK, so this is a slightly insane movie to start off with, but it's also the exact kind of movie that exemplifies another point of mine: Games based on movies don't always have to be based on major blockbusters. Requiem for a Dream follows the lives of four main characters--Harry, Marion, Sara and Tyrone--living their lives in the heart of New York City. All of the characters are connected by blood relation or by friendship, and all are connected by addiction. Harry, Tyrone, and Marion are all heavy needle-drug users, and Sara has acquired a desperate need for diet pills, related to a possible chance to be on television. It's a depressing subject, but one that could make for a compelling game in my twisted mind.

Coming up with a gameplay style for Requiem certainly isn't an easy task; there's no combat to speak of in the movie and not really much in the way of action or adventure either. Rather, the basis of the game would focus more on the lives and addictions of each character. Addiction levels would be monitored by an addiction meter, similar to the sanity meter found in Eternal Darkness. In fact, Eternal Darkness is a pretty good example of what the overall look and feel of the game could be like, with a lot of brooding atmosphere and stylized visuals, similar to the look of the film. Obviously there wouldn't be any supernatural stuff going on, but it's the right concept, with a similar method of play and design. Given the movie's rather bleak ending, that ending probably would have to serve as the result of failure, and a different ending would have to be concocted to reward you if you successfully saved your characters from the perils of addiction--plus, hey, it would make for a pretty good antidrug message.

OK, fine, this one is a bit of a stretch, but it's my column, so just bear with me. The rest aren't nearly as bizarre.

Title: Run Lola Run
Year: 1998
Movie Genre: Drama/Action
Game Genre: Action Adventure
Likely ESRB Rating: T

If you've never seen Run Lola Run, you're missing out. The movie hails from Germany and explores the options and constant choices we are faced with each day in every situation, regardless of how miniscule or gigantic. Lola, the title character, is faced with a very gigantic crisis: The life of her boyfriend, Manni, is in jeopardy, unless she can somehow get 100,000 marks and bring it to him in 20 minutes. Three different versions of her quest are shown in the film, each with different choices made, and each with drastically different outcomes.

The idea surrounding a Run Lola Run game, at least in my mind, would be to let the player explore these various choices and decisions in a similar fashion. One option would be to just have the game follow the plot of the movie exactly, giving you exactly 20 minutes to find the money and get it to Manni before the gangsters come and kill him. The idea would be to play through the story multiple times, trying different routes, different options, and interacting differently with people each time, all with the goal of coming to the best outcome possible. You would be able to see how the different interactions would affect each person. Perhaps bypassing certain people altogether would lead them to live a very dull and uninteresting life, but maybe by bumping into them or knocking them over, you could see a very different life path laid out for them, which could be seen via the same photographic montage used in the film for similar characters.

Another option would be to add multiple stories in the game, letting players try out as many different situations as they like, each with hundreds of available outcomes. Maybe it's a bit of a lofty idea, but it would certainly be interesting if done correctly.

Title: Strange Brew
Year: 1983
Genre: Comedy
Game Genre: Hockey Adventure
Likely ESRB Rating: T

Any self-proclaimed aficionado of classic comedy has to be familiar with Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas' magnum opus about a pair of Canadian goofballs who have to help an orphaned girl regain the brewery founded by her dead father. Along the way, they find themselves fighting insidious brewmasters, evil hockey teams, and their own general ineptitude, as they try to return the Elsinore Brewery to its rightful owner and stop a plot to enslave humanity via drugged beer.

Strange Brew would be an easy flick to give the game treatment to. The plot of the movie follows the classic adventurous story arc that could easily be planted into an NES-style adventure game. Of course, nowadays the game would likely have to be in 3D, but if the emphasis were kept on wacky action, and the mechanics were sound, it could easily make its way into the current gaming generation. Additionally, the game could have tons of minigames and side quests, including zany hockey games. Additionally, if a company were willing to go all the way with the concept, it could get Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas to reprise their characters through their voice talents--it's not like they couldn't use the work.

Title: Battle Royale
Year: 2000
Genre: Action/Drama
Game Genre: Action
Likely ESRB Rating: Quadruple M

Few American moviegoers have ever heard of Battle Royale, largely because the film has never seen an official US release. Released in Japan in 2000, Battle Royale was based on a wildly popular and controversial novel of the same name and told the story of a class of Japanese middle school students in a not-too-distant future, placed on an uninhabited island and told that they must kill one another off in a three-day battle royale. If the three days pass without a winner, all will be killed, thanks to explosive collars that have been forcibly attached to each participant. The purpose of this violent exercise? To teach the nation's out-of-control youth population a lesson about survival in this turbulent world.

While the game is extremely dark, and possibly a bit too much for some people in terms of subject matter, there's no denying the fact that the plot of the movie screams for a game to be made in its image. In the game's story mode, you would play as any of the 40 students, and you could play however you wish, forming alliances, looking for alternate methods of escape from the island, or just going on an all-out killing spree. Additionally, at the beginning of the game, you would be given a bag full of supplies, including a random weapon. Your weapon could be anything from a submachine gun to a pot lid. As you go, you could pick up other players' weapons and supplies. The game could also feature a multiplayer mode with the inherent deathmatch option, as well as all the other standard multiplayer games, like capture the flag. Maybe this one is a bit too twisted and sadistic for the standard American gaming audience, but for someone as demented as I am, it would be an absolute blast.

Title: Fletch
Year: 1985
Genre: Comedy/Mystery
Game Genre: Action Adventure
Likely ESRB Rating: T

Anyone who saw our last GameSpotting Live likely already knows of my love for Fletch. If you've never seen the flick, it's all about Chevy Chase as Irwin R. Fletcher, an investigative reporter with a quick wit and a knack for getting into ludicrous situations. Simply put, the Fletch movies are some of the funniest movies ever made, and they really need to be put into game form.

A Fletch game would be easy. The movies are based on a series of novels featuring Fletch, and any of those could be used for new storylines, if for some reason a development team didn't want to use the ones from Fletch or Fletch Lives. While Fletch isn't exactly all about action, there would be plenty of platform-style obstacles for him to navigate, as well as lots of snooping and exploration as he tries to solve whatever mystery is put in front of him. Another key detail would be the narration, which is easily the best part of the Fletch films. In the game, a Max Payne style of narration could be used to represent Fletch's internal dialogue, and if someone were to pony up the cash to get good old Chevy to come in and do the voice work, it would be a marvel.

And that's that. Five movies I believe could rock the gaming world. There are, of course, lots of other movies that would make great games, such as The Cannonball Run, Midnight Madness, Bad Lieutenant, or Ghostbusters (someone do this franchise right, for the love of god!), but this is a nice sampling of movies that I think could make film-to-game translations entertaining, instead of painful. Whether I'm right or completely out of my gourd, well, that's up to the game companies to decide. All I know is that any of these games would be a welcome change of pace from the usual slew of sad-sack movie-licensed garbage that's been tossed our way for too many years, and it really is about time for a change.