Licensed games, games that are based on an IP from another media format, are usually not that good. Gamers relentlessly mock the laundry list of games that adapt movies and TV series as usually weak entries in those respective larger media franchises. However, this isn’t always the case and there are some that end up being very interesting.
Sometimes though, these entries should have taken an opportunity to focus on turning a side character into a protagonist. There are many options for games in these universes, and sometimes they choose the wrong character to focus on, mistaking them for a potential video game goldmine.
7 The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
The most recent and one of the most egregious examples of a licensed game taking the wrong path is that of the new Gollum game. A stealth-based ride through the years Gollum spent imprisoned in Barad-Dur before meeting Frodo and Sam on their journey with "the precious," LOTR: Gollum was an unfortunate attempt to make Gollum a protagonist by raising the audience's sympathy for a much-maligned being.
Not only has the gameplay been mocked by fans, but the story and entire idea of making Gollum a protagonist, when he proved himself incapable of overcoming his worst tendencies with his death in The Lord of the Rings, was mishandled. There are many other characters in The Lord of the Rings universe whom this game could have focused on; many elves in that world would be suitable for a stealth game, such as Legolas. Alternatively, telling a different story of another hobbit going on a grand adventure would have been more in the Middle Earth storytelling realm.
6 Marvel’s Spider-Man
There is no denying that the new Spider-Man gaming franchise has proven to be a huge success. Insomniac Games have managed to release two games, with a third on the way, that have upped the ante for superhero games in gameplay and narrative terms. However, there were some ways in which this franchise could have been improved, as proven by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
That franchise has found fresh success in the Spider-Man universe by focusing on a different Spider-Man to Peter Parker. Instead of making a Miles Morales game that was shorter and less focused than the main entries in the franchise, the franchise should have been about Miles Morales from the beginning. The feel of a teenage Spider-Man is the one thing this game was missing by focusing instead on an adult Peter Parker.
5 Batman: Arkham Knight
By the time Arkham Knight had rolled around, the Batman: Arkham games had done a fairly good job of introducing much of the Bat-family and the world of Batman to audiences. The introduction of Arkham Knight and the entire story which was produced from this entry in the franchise proved that it may have been time to move on with new characters instead.
Sticking to Bruce Wayne as Batman is a traditional, time-honored classic route for franchises. However, within the confines of the gaming world, fans may not have cared too much if Dick Grayson or another Robin, or a Batgirl, or even one of the anti-heroes, had become the face of this game instead of Bruce taking the reins once more when his story was a little worn through at this point. Instead, Arkham Knight is remembered as the lesser entry in this franchise, which is an unnecessary shame.
4 X-Men: The Ravages Of Apocalypse
Released in 1997, before the X-Men movies began to hit cinemas, The Ravages of Apocalypse was a surprisingly insane game that was almost universally reviled upon release. This is because it focuses on an unknown protagonist fighting cyborg clones of popular X-Men characters. The problem is the huge level of violence in the game includes a lot of blood, making it feel more like the player is just brutally executing all the X-Men.
The game was just a conversion of the Quake engine, and players needed to have the original Quake if they wanted to play this one. It was considered a total disaster money grab which came from the desperation of Marvel in the dark age of comics.
3 The Ring: Terror’s Realm
The Ring was a game that almost entirely forgot to include Sadako, the girl who crawls out of the TV. Instead, the game focused on a different character as she was transported through a cursed computer program into a world where she is dressed as a police officer and had to fight zombies.
The bold but ridiculously unsuccessful attempt to copy the Resident Evilsurvival horror style with unknown characters, all very loosely based on The Ring movie, was laughable. It was an unfortunate attempt to spread the idea of The Ring from the VHS tape and the dying in seven days curse to just generic curses within technological forms.
2 GoldenEye 007 (2010 Remake)
One of the strangest changes made in a video game remake to date is when GoldenEye 007 featured the right protagonist but in the wrong body. Instead of remaking the game with the protagonist modeled after Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, GoldenEye 007 tried to be amusing and updated by replacing him with Daniel Craig’s likeness.
This bizarre move baffled fans, as the plot of GoldenEye received only minor changes but had Craig shoehorned in as Bond over Brosnan; this was a reviled remake that didn’t make any sense whatsoever.
1 Pepsiman
Simply one of the strangest video games ever to exist, Pepsiman is a video game about the infamous internet meme Pepsi mascot running after Pepsi cans and trying to grab them. Only released in Japan, this game and the entire idea should have focused on... well, anything else.
It isn’t that Pepsiman was the worst simplistic licensed game of the 90s; it was simply one of the most ludicrous games featuring possibly the most ludicrous character ever seen or invented by any game company. Not only all of that, but somehow it actually got a remake to boot.