The best ever video game movie tie-ins

This won't be a long list, there aren't many good ones.

A couple months ago I wrote an article discussing the best and worst video game movies, but you may be thinking "I've never yet read a comprehensive list of the best movie video games" well now you can. I was tempted to do both the best and the worst but there are so many terrible movie tie-ins that the list would soon end up being way too long so we're just doing the best. You might also be thinking "are there even any good video game movie tie-ins?", the answer to that is not really (except Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup which is beyond great).

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Treyarch's Spider-Man 2 is a masterpiece. I'll admit that it looks a little bit dated now, but gameplay wise it still holds up better than you might expect. The web swinging is still one of the best examples of it yet, it was the first time that you actually had to attach your webs to buildings rather than the invisible sky blocks that have featured way too often in Spider-Man games. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, J.K Simmons (for some reason only on the PSP), Alfred Molina, and Bruce Campbell all return. Manhattan, Roosevelt Island, Ellis Island, and Liberty Island make up the New York City map. Combat is very much in line with the much loved Arkham style combat (yes the Arkham games came after, but they're often said to be the games that refined the system) with combos, spidey-sense counter attacks. The plot slightly differs with extra characters such as Black Cat but that's expected with a bit of run-time padding needed to fill a video game. Spider-Man 2 is an excellent film and an equally excellent game, a childhood favourite for many.

Star Wars Battlefront (2004-2017)

The Star Wars Battlefront series is probably one of the most universally loved movie tie-in series of all time. The first two (2004 and 2005 which is a remarkably quick turnaround) have always been fairly well regarded while the most recent two (2015 and 2017) didn't do quite as well. However, in recent times all four games (I'm not including the various spin-offs) have become fan favourites, with many people hoping for a third EA installment. They look gorgeous, the maps are all perfect, the guns all have their distinct sounds and play styles, and you can play as Nien Nunb (and Luke Skywalker). These games are a must play for any Star Wars fan. The latest one even included a pretty solid story mode that even tied directly into the sequel movies, truly cementing it's place in this list as a great movie tie-in game.

Batman Begins (2005)

If you wanted to play a pretty good Batman game you'd probably play the Arkham games right? What if I told you that there's actually a pretty solid Batman Begins movie video game. It has very similar stealth and combat to the Arkham games and it has some pretty good Batmobile content (and I don't mean horrible tank combat). You get to wield several iconic Batman gadgets such as the grappling hook, the batarangs, smoke grenades and a sonar bat summoning tool. The whole movie cast returns to voice the game, they even managed to bring back Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Cillian Murphy. The plot is beat for beat the same as the movie so if you're a fan of the Nolan trilogy this might be one to check out.

Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup

I've actually already done an article about this one that you can check out here so I'm not going to go into this one but you should absolutely get your hands on this game if you can. It's excellent.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

As with the Harry Potter game I have already done two articles on this one so click here for the review and here for an article about what makes it so great. I easily could have put the Complete Saga here instead but despite popular opinion The Skywalker Saga is a better game, I'm sorry.

Goldeneye 007 (1997)

Goldeneye 007 is definitely beginning to show its age but it's still great fun. It includes a single-player campaign and the infamous multiplayer mode in which you could play as the way too short Oddjob to cheat your way to victory. It's the third best selling N64 title of all time, it sold more than eight million copies. Goldeneye didn't neccessarily revolutionise or pioneer in the world of first person shooters but it definitely popularised the format and helped the format gain traction in the mainstream by introducing a slightly more realistic approach to the genre. In fact it could be argued that Goldeneye 007 is not just seen as one of the best tie-ins but also one of the best video games of all time with many people still being fans of the splitscreen pvp mode.

To be honest I could have been a little more generous with this list and added more items, but I only wanted to include games that are actually good standalone games rather than including games that are "good for a movie game". So there we have it, that's the list. As always giving this article a like would help a lot as would leaving a comment (both of which you can do below!). You can also sign up here to get notified everytime a new article comes out!