I love movies. I love video games. The marriage of the two is so natural, it would seem to be part of God’s plan.
Why, then, are there so many crappy movie games?
I rented “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” after some gaming friends threw around words such as “awesome” and “dude” on its mention. After seeing the MTV documentary on making of the game — which has no precedent, and in itself is amazing — I knew that all the original actors recorded the voices and that there were snippets of movie footage here and there.
The synergy the game has with the films is impressive, but easily taken for granted. It would be wholly unacceptable to have scenes from the movie and then have different voices for the game cinema. But the movie selections don’t really help the game. Sure, they comfort me until I can buy the second DVD, but otherwise I’m just waiting to get to the gutting.
The game is essentially a brawler where I slaughter assorted orcs, goblins and trolls. So it really doesn’t matter that Viggo Mortensen is the one making Aragorn say: “Huh! Hoo! Haa!” while I furiously mash buttons.
The other playable characters are Legolas and Gimli, and once you beat the game with all three, a secret character becomes available. It’s not Gandalf. I don’t care.
There are other incentives to mastering the game, mostly interviews with the actors, that dangle like carrots promising to stretch out a relatively short game. As it turns out, I don’t like carrots that much.
Instead of putting me in the movie, the game makes me feel removed by my lack of play control — I hate games where I can’t jump; real people can jump — and insulted by the way the game glances over the films. The game action starts when Aragorn meets the hobbits in “Fellowship” and continues through the battle of Helm’s Deep at the end of “Two Towers.” All this is 13 levels. Pfft. It’s like a Reader’s Digest video game.
The game isn’t a loss, it’s just not up to snuff. The battle at Helm’s Deep (broken into three separate parts) is frustratingly hard — it captures a feeling of despair from the books that doesn’t always transfer in the film. You know they’ll live in the movie. In the game, you can die — and I did … a lot.
A more successful franchise game is “Star Wars: Bounty Hunter,” where you play as Jango Fett. Like most Star Wars games, this is an extension of the movie mythos and establishes how Jango was selected to be the model for the clone army.
Similar to “Two Towers,” the actor who played Jango adds his voice to the game. But by being its own game, “Bounty Hunter” avoids a greatest hits feel and draws you in with a coherent plot — before it becomes a laser melee.
Adding to the experience are the rich 3-D worlds. After paying the price of an absurd load time, not only can you jump, but you can briefly fly around using
Jango’s jet pack. My only real qualm is that he doesn’t use a lightsaber. Jedi with jet packs. Now there’s a game.