Celebrities appearing in video games isn't out of the ordinary nowadays. Back in the '90s, though, budgets were tighter and games were much less cinematic. Even with the advent of CD-ROM and the interactive movie genre, most developers had to make do with amateur performers or just whoever happened to be in the office that day.
Some studios with greater ambitions bucked this trend, splashing out on well-known actors from movies and TV. Typically, there wasn't much money left for the actual game, with the hope being that slapping a recognizable face on the box would drive sales. The result was a slew of releases that probably wouldn't be remembered were it not for the celebrities attached to them.
10 Tim Curry in Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster
When people think of Tim Curry and full-motion video, they'll undoubtedly remember his endlessly memeable performance in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. Less well-remembered is his appearance as the titular doctor in the adventure game Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster.
Introduced by jabbing himself with a needle filled with goodness-knows-what, this Frankenstein isn't the regretful, tragic figure of the novel. Curry's doctor spends most of his screen time ranting about his genius and cackling at the player's sorry predicament. If only he was on-screen more often, it might have made the game more exciting.
9 Christopher Lee in Ghosts
A game set in a haunted house, with Christopher Lee as the player's spooky guide sounds like a perfect combination. Lee appears to the player as Marcus Grimalkin, a doctor of the paranormal who needs help in gathering his research, setting the stage for an adventure game like The 7th Guest.
Unfortunately, Ghosts is little more than an edutainment title about real-life hauntings and paranormal investigators, featuring VHS tapes and photographs featuring testimonials from ghost hunters and images of supposed sightings. Players who aren't persuaded by the paranormal won't find much of interest here unless a few grainy videos of Lee seems worth the trouble.
8 George Lazenby in Fox Hunt
Published by Capcom of all companies, Fox Hunt is an interactive spy movie parody, starring a painfully unfunny twenty-something who is drafted into becoming a secret agent. Cue the wacky hijinx, such as him careening around hospital corridors on a rocket-powered wheelchair and avoiding falling anvils while skydiving.
The protagonist's mentor and personal gadget man is played by one-time James Bond actor George Lazenby. No prizes for guessing why he was cast in that role, but he plays it serviceably despite the silly disguises and lame jokes. Unfortunately, it's hard to look good when your co-star is chewing the scenery like he's angling to be the next Jim Carrey.
7 Christopher Lloyd in Toonstruck
Christopher Lloyd's two best-known movie roles are arguably Doc Brown from Back to the Future and Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The makers of Toonstruck were clearly fans of the latter, casting Lloyd as a cartoonist who has been sucked into an animated world of his own creation.
Sadly Toonstruck's production values can't really compare to its big-budget inspiration. Lloyd is decent as the straight man, but occasions in which he's expected to interact with animated characters come off as shaky at best. Not helping matters is that the game was released unfinished, ending on a cliffhanger intended to be resolved in its canceled sequel.
6 John Hurt in Tender Loving Care
Some interactive movies are more interactive than others, but Tender Loving Care nearly does away with interactivity entirely. Intended to be a movie before being converted into a game, it tells the story of a man whose wife has been badly traumatized by the death of their child. They hire a live-in nurse to help her cope, but her erratic behavior makes the husband suspect that she is trying to turn his wife against him.
John Hurt plays their psychiatrist Doctor Turner, who also addresses the player during gameplay, asking the player their thoughts about what has transpired so far. After that, they are free to search a replica of the family's home for clues. Finally, he asks various odd psychological questions such as "Is bullfighting cruel?" and "Would you like to spread paint on a woman's body?" The player's answers influence the story's ending, but it feels very superfluous. The only reason to play is to see how this bonkers soap opera unfolds.
5 Christopher Walken in Ripper
For a video game, Take-Two Interactive's Ripper had one of the most ambitious casts of its day. This bizarre cyberpunk murder mystery features Karen Allen, David Patrick Kelly, John Rhys-Davies, and Burgess Meredith, not to mention Paul Giamatti in an early role. But the one that's remembered by everyone familiar with Ripper is Christopher Walken as Detective Magnotta.
The cigar-chomping Magnotta is a cartoonishly corrupt cop, smashing evidence, brutalizing suspects, and being generally unpleasant. Walken's performance flip-flops between apathetically reciting techno-babble and intensely growling long-winded threats. A particular highlight involves him threatening to show the protagonist "what it's like to be a human shish kebab, rotating in one of our fine penal institutions!"
4 Clive Owen in Privateer 2: The Darkening
The Wing Commander series is no stranger to celebrity appearances, with Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell starring in its third and fourth entries. Its spin-off sequel Privateer 2: The Darkening is certainly no slouch in this regard either. Christopher Walken and John Hurt pop up in supporting roles, as does the late great David Warner. Lesser-known at the time was Clive Owen playing the lead, years before he broke into Hollywood.
Owen plays an amnesiac space pilot who awakens in a strange galaxy, which appears to be under complete control by a crime syndicate called the Kindred. He picks up odd jobs as a privateer, both so that he can survive and perhaps learn more about his true identity. It's no surprise that his mysterious past is connected to the Kindred.
3 Dennis Hopper in Black Dahlia
Take-Two Interactive's Black Dahlia, loosely based on the unsolved murder case with the same name, is much lighter on the big-name talent than the studio's previous effort, Ripper. However, the team did manage to land Isabella Rossellini, alongside her Blue Velvet co-star Dennis Hopper. Of the two, it was his involvement in the game that was highly touted on the front cover.
Dennis Hopper's prominence on the box doesn't translate to screen time. His brief role as Walter Pensky, who was investigating the titular case before his unbelievable findings got him institutionalized, is nonetheless an important one to the mystery at hand. It's a shame that players only get about fifteen minutes with him, most of which is taken up by dry exposition that gives Hopper little room to do his thing.
2 Jeff Goldblum in Goosebumps: Escape from HorrorLand
Of all the actors chosen to don Dracula's cape and fangs, Jeff Goldblum seems an unlikely candidate. Sure enough, he did play the Count in Goosebumps: Escape from HorrorLand, based on the popular book and television series. A sequel to the story One Day at HorrorLand, it has the player attempting to rescue some children who have disappeared into the haunted amusement park.
Being one of many classic monsters who antagonize the heroes, Dracula's role in the story is small and seems like nothing more than a cameo for Goldblum. He doesn't exactly get lost in the character either, putting on the usual Goldblum smarm and charm as he hypnotizes one of the protagonists, then gets zapped away by a magic ring.
1 Sylvester Stallone in Demolition Man
Most CD-ROM games based on movies would simply insert some grainy footage from the movie into cutscenes and call it a day. Demolition Man for 3DO instead goes the extra mile. The developers rolled out the green screen for Sylvester Stallone himself, producing new footage of John Spartan jogging through CG backdrops and pointing guns at the camera.
If a player is able to struggle through the game's mix of sub-par shooting galleries, first-person segments, and some truly frustrating one-on-one fights with Simon Phoenix, they get a personal congratulatory message from Stallone himself. Conversely, hitting a game over means they'll be greeted by one of several videos in which Sly, in no uncertain terms, tells them just how much they suck.