8 licensed video games from the past (good or bad)

Much has been said in recent days about the fusion between cinematography and the videogame medium. When Keanu Reeves stepped onto the Microsoft conference stage for launch the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer, in the cast of which the Canadian actor himself will be part, the awareness that the closeness between the two universes had reached its zenith has become palpable even for those who had never been interested in video games before.

On the matter we invite you to read it too special on syncretism media written by our Riccardo Liberati. This union, however, certainly was not born yesterday, but has deeper roots despite having generated fluctuating results over time, also due to lower economic possibilities and less general importance that the world gave to video games.

So many times we have heard of tie-in or licensed video games, in past generations these licenses, as today, not only included collaborations between publishers and the world of cinema, but also with comics and even toy manufacturers.

In this article we compile a list of eight licensed video games, good or bad, that show that video games have always sought contact with other media. We have decided to focus on less mainstream titles, therefore, you will not see, for example, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

8 licensed video games from the past

ET the Extra-Terrestrial

Let's start with a bang, the video game licensed by the most famous alien in the history of cinema. ET is one of the ugliest video games in history and contributed to the great crisis that the video game industry faced in 1983. The video game was marketed in 1982 on the Atari 2600, but commercialized is a big word since hardly anyone bought it. A large number of unsold ET cartridges were buried by Atari itself in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. What a fag. However one of the first licensed games in history.

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis

Spielberg again protagonist. Video game released in 2003 on PS2, Xbox and PC that could boast the license of one of the most loved films of the American director. Management and strategic in real time that saw us engaged in the construction and subsequent management of the Jurassic park. Our job was to make sure that both the dinosaurs and the visitors were comfortable and that nothing unpleasant happened. A good title for lovers of management and large prehistoric puppies. Its spiritual sequel is Jurassic World Evolution, which we reviewed. Click here to know what we think.

Action Man: Operation Extreme

A game that exploited the license of the animated series which in turn exploited the license of a toy. Action Man was an action figure that at the time (from the 2000s to the early 1s) was selling like hot cakes. If you didn't have an Action Man, you were nobody. The toy was first produced by Palitoy and later by Hasbro. The character of the puppet was inspired by GI Joe, more American. The action video game Operation Extreme was released in XNUMX on PSXNUMX and was not a masterpiece, but it was basically a title in which brute force was always needed. Explosions, muscles and a lot of bravado. Nothing to do, however, with the sacred monster of the genre: Duke Nukem.

Hot Wheels: Turbo Racing

Hot Wheels, another toy line that made history. These model cars were distributed by Mattel, an American company that today can boast of having produced about ten thousand different models. Given their success, the development of a video game that exploited this license was almost taken for granted. Hot Wheels: Turbo Racing was a racing games for Nintendo 64 and PS1 that took up the game mechanics of the so-called Tamarracing, that is driving games with such absurd dynamics as to be considered tamarri. Fuel from Metallica was also featured in the game's soundtrack.

Batman Begins

The film of the same name from which the video game is based is the first of the Dark Knight trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan. Released in 2005 in theaters, the role of Batman was played by Christian Bale. The video game released the same year was developed by Eurocom and featured a gameplay devoted to infiltration and stealth kills. A pure enjoyable stealth and quite well done, obviously a far cry from the quality and depth both playful and narrative of the Batman titles of the Arkham series.

The Matrix: Path of Neo

The Matrix started a lot of young people into science fiction and quickly became a cult among longtime fans of the genre. The video game faithfully reproduces the entire trilogy by putting the player in the role of Neo and offering a very varied gameplay, thanks to the high amount of executable combos. The Path of Neo, in fact, was a product oriented towards hand-to-hand combat that allowed players to unlock 500 different moves during the adventure. The encounter between cinema and videogame medium in this case was very strong because some sequences, including the ending, were reviewed by the film's directors. Ah, needless to say: the main actor was Keanu Reeves. In Path of Neo, cutscenes were created with computer graphics montages of the film's sequences.

007 – GoldenEye

Absolute masterpiece released on Nintendo 64. Inspired by the 1995 film of the same name starring James Bond, a character that needs no introduction, GoldenEye 007 is considered a milestone and a cornerstone of the history of the first person shooter genre. The title was optimized to perfection to give the best even on consoles, so as to further push the spread of FPS outside the world of PC gaming. GoldenEye is undoubtedly one of the most convincing licensed titles and favored the meeting between cinema and video games in the years to come. Video game that made it worth living the year 1997.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

The exception that proves the rule: all licensed games are bad. Escape from Butcher Bay was a great title, released on Xbox and PC, it served as a prequel to the sci-fi film Pitch Black, in which Vin Diesel played Riddick himself. A mixture of pure action, shooter and stealth, a believable context, a well characterized character and many fun missions. The aim of the game was primarily to escape from the Butcher Bay maximum security prison, the very same prison where, in the film, Riddick was to be brought back from the Hunter-Gratzner spacecraft.

These are just some of the licensed games from the past that we wanted to share with you as readers of WelcomeGaming.com. Which are the ones you are most attached to and which other titles would you have included in this list? Below, you will find the special video on the topic of video games and licenses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMdARCp4cMs