It's become very clear to us Hardcore gamers that most licensed games suck. However, not all of them suck. In today's top 10, I take a look at my personal favourite licensed games. The criteria for this list is that it has to be based on a franchise that's not all games, the length has to be reasonable, the game must stay true to the film's storyline as much as possible and most importantly, the gameplay has to be great and replayabilty is key. One more thing that I should point out and that is that I haven't played every single licensed video game that ever existed and all the games on this list are games that I have played so I apologise if none of your favourites made it. So on with the list:
10: Some of EA's Harry Potter games
Now I will give EA credit that even though all their Harry Potter games (including the Quidditch spin-off) don't follow the story as well as the films do, they are still fun to play. However, I will say that the final 2 games suck, the Goblet of Fire sucks, Order of the Phoenix is OK for the most part, Half Blood Prince I'm not sure of and the first 3 games (Philosopher/Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban), they actually are pretty fun. Sure they don't follow the story that well (in fact, you'll mostly be learning spells and doing some stealth work, more than any story based tasks), but considering how long the games are, and the replay ability afterwards, there are OK for the most part. As for the other games, Goblet of Fire doesn't follow the story at all and is mostly a level based game that you only play to find the Triwizard shields Order of the Phoenix visually looks great and tries it's best to give us a more realistic look at Hogwarts and the characters and is possibly the only one to have a focus on the story, more than anything else and there's even some secrets to find and a lot of minigames making this one great, Half Blood Prince I would say is like Order of the Phoenix only bigger and the potion making is pretty good. But as for the final 2 games, I personally think that they suck and I have no intention of playing them, because as I said a while ago, I don't like most shooting games and this one in particular, doesn't appeal to me.
9: The Simpsons: Tapped Out
Now, even though this game has been very controversial since the servers went down for a while, earlier in 2012 and has had many problems since then, any Simpsons fan would love this game, purely because it involves you making your own Springfield. Basically you play God and you have to create your own Springfield. Creating Springfield is great and in addition to that, you can make any of the characters in the game, do stuff to get more XP and money to buy more things. It's not the greatest Simpsons game out there, but considering the Simpsons games that I have played, this one is the best, despite the criticism.
8: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Now, I'm quite surprised that many critics have overlooked this game for what it is. I find it to be a fun game that allows you to explore the world that Wallace and Gromit live in, while trying it's best to stay with the story of the film. During the day, W and G are tasked with stopping the many pests that are around the area and free their world from these pests. The pests come in the form of rabbits, squirrels, sheep, cows and all sorts of others. However in the night, Wallace is the were-rabbit and Gromit has to team up with a rabbit that thinks he's Wallace. In the night, Gromit and Wallace's alter ego as it were, are tasked with fighting the many were creatures that are causing havoc in their world. For both times of the day, you get to do different tasks for the people in this world and you can also do these challenges that reward you well, where you have to either get rid of all the pests within the time limit or destroy 3 devices that are used to make the were creatures, again within the time limit, both depending on what time of the day it is. All 3 characters have a vacuum device that they use to suck in those pests and throw them in the tornado on the ground. Of course, if there's a number of pests and/or they are too big for the vacuum, then you just have to herd the pests into the tornado. Gromit may have better acrobatic skills than Wallace and his alter ego, but Wallace and his alter ego can use their gadgets and gizmos to solve puzzles and unlock new areas. While all this is happening, Gromit can go back home to check on his prize marrow and prepare it for the prize vegetable competition later on and can shop for any supplies if necessary. For every task done, you get a card that after a number of them are collected, will turn into a full picture. I know I've gone on about this game for a while now, but I strongly recommend trying out this game, because you may be surprised.
7: TT Games's LEGO Series
There's no denying that TT Games do a brilliant job of creating the many LEGO games and do their very best to make it stay true to the franchise, and they do a good job of it. Each game that's made in the series, always has something new to add to the table. For example, LEGO Indiana Jones 2 was the first to introduce a level creator and split screen co-op while LEGO Batman 2 was the first to have an open world environment and voice acting (but I will say that it's not the first ever LEGO game to have voice acting as the first was LEGO Island 1). I enjoy playing each one and I look forward to more in the future.
6: Epic Mickey
Epic Mickey is a series of games that plays tribute to the many forgotten Disney licensed properties and it's classic films. And it does a good job of it too. The games have you play as Mickey Mouse (in his original form) and you're tasked with helping him save a world called the Wasteland, a world where many forgotten Disney characters live. One in particular, is Oswald the rabbit, who plays a key role in the games as an ally to Mickey in his quest to save Wasteland. As you'll come to expect, the games feature a lot of different worlds and characters from Disney classics and some abandoned Disney projects, not to mention some worlds are based on particular parts of the many Disney theme parks around the world. Now if the next game had Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm stuff in it, that would make the next game truly epic (as the title suggests).
5: Some of the many Disney games out there
Now while Epic Mickey is a great game, no doubt about it, there have been some other great games based on many Disney properties. Some of the more earlier films in the 90s and early 00s have been great. Some that I can recommend are The Emperor's New Groove, The Incredibles (any of them) and another big one that I will explain about below.
4: Angry Birds Rio and Star Wars
Since their debut, just a few years ago, the Angry Birds have become something like a legend in the world of apps. The addition of Rio and Star Wars, increased their chances of becoming even better as both games stay true to the franchises and give us a good enough experience to make them great and always great in the world of apps.
3: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Vader may have been the apprentice of Palpetine, but did you know that he had an apprentice for himself? Many people have said that the games in this series, haven't been the best. However, putting that aside, these games show us the aftermath of the great Jedi purge as well as the rise of Darth Vader, giving us some facts that we didn't know about until now. Set between III and IV, we see Vader get himself an apprentice which he dubs Starkiller. He has him wipe out the remaining Jedis, until Vader gets him to form a team of politicians which at that point, Starkiller, betrays Vader and puts his goal for the aftermath of the first game, to have his revenge on Vader at any cost. In the end, his family crest would be used as the symbol for the rebels. On occasions, other characters from the Star Wars universe will appear in this game. This includes the likes of Palpetine, Yoda, Leia, Luke and maybe even R2-D2. Ultimately, the story is good, the game is OK and for any Star Wars fan who has wondered what happened between the prequel and original trilogies, this would be the best game to explain it.
2: Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts, could possibly be the best Disney game out there. It may not follow the story of each and every Disney film (when you get a chance to explore the film's world that is), but for any Disney fan, you will love this game. It has an original story that tries its best to incorporate many worlds based on Disney films. In addition to this, some of Square Enix's own franchises, are thrown into the mix and what do you get? A big, RPG that shows emotions, great character development and shows that even the no so great Disney films, can be great, all thanks to this one franchise. And with Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm now part of Disney, the game can become even more epic than it already is.
1: Batman: Arkham Asylum and City
OK, I know this is possibly the 3rd time that Batman has become number 1 on my list, but I'm just a huge fan of the caped crusader himself and having played 2 of his more recent games, easily made him number 1 on my list. The game pretty much gets you playing as Batman and use all his gadgets and skills to complete the game. It plays tribute to all that is Batman and I love every single moment of it. But I think that after the shocking end of Arkham City, this has had the most character development in any game that I have played on this list. Any Batman fan should definitely get this game if your a hardcore fan like myself. Now if only we could have a great game featuring some other DC heroes. By that, I mean games that focus on just one hero instead of several.
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