I visited a used game store today and noticed they had a ton of movie tie-ins. They even had a Gameboy version of Pinocchio, which felt ancient.
It got me thinking about some that really stood out.
The first Scooby-Doo live-action movie had a GBA version that wasn’t much like the movie, but the plot was still really cool. I still want to track down a physical copy because I remember being oddly hooked on it.
I recently picked up some Cars games on Steam for my toddler, and I was genuinely impressed. Open-world, original voice actors, and a story that takes place right after the film. The controls were decent, though a bit wonky on the Steam Deck.
Also, the first Narnia movie had a surprisingly great RPG adaptation on GBA. I was really into that one. The PS2 version, on the other hand, was a bit sillier.
They created custom footage featuring the actual directors, actors, and score, which strengthened the connection. It truly felt like an integral part of the movie canon.
Yes, I believe you essentially reenact the scene before Ghost and Niobe blow up the power plant in the film, so it purportedly follows the canonical events that Ghost and Niobe were involved in.
If I remember correctly, the first level took place in a post office where you had to retrieve a package mentioned in one of the Animatrix shorts. This set the stage for the canalization scene in Matrix Reloaded, where the important details from that package are unveiled.
It was marketed as an official tie-in, and I recall purchasing it on release day, just a few days before the movie came out, as I was eager for more Matrix content.
I loved the parts of the game I could play. I remember my computer struggled to run it at the time, but it felt so cool playing as Ghost and sniping the wheels of a plane before it could take off. It was an amazing experience.
You also play the segments right before and after Niobe and Ghost rescue Morpheus on the highway, where you need to pursue the truck he’s battling the agent on.
I loved the driving game in Die Hard Trilogy. It felt like a high-octane version of Crazy Taxi really challenging and full of hilarious voice clips. I had to use a Game Shark for infinite continues, though, because the game was incredibly long with no save feature.