Thoughts on licensed games, part 1

Let me start by saying this: I am too young to have owned an Atari 2600, and played the legendary monstrosity that is E.T. the extra terrestrial. So from now on I shall make no further reference to it as though I have any idea what I'm on about.

Coming soon to a landfill near you

What I will talk about is other licensed games - where they go wrong and which ones get it right. You see them stuffing the shelves in Tesco (or Wal-Mart if you're from the other side of the pond): movie tie-in games, with their low quality attempt to convert a one and a half hour family film into an 8 hour game.

Now, I understand that no game designer goes into the industry planning to make the new tie in to Dreamworks' latest hit - and I know that the games are not shoddy through lack of skill, rather lack of time, money, and source material. The designers are doing the best with what they're given, and the movie producers don't care how crappy the games are, it's more money in their already bulging pockets.

But, let's be honest, the games are terrible. Dreary action/adventure platformers with none of the charm of the big screen equivalent. But, fear not, there is a solution: don't make a game to tie in with a movie, make it to tie in with an established franchise - it's worked out many times before:

These are all great games, taking characters and locations from established canon but using them in fun ways, unconstrained by a release date imposed by ignorant movie studios.

So this method works: it still raises money for the license owners, but also gives us gamers something that's actually worth playing. So, while I'm at saving the gaming world, what other franchises could we resuscitate?

Harry Potter

There has never been a great Harry Potter game. To be fair, the Prisoner of Azkaban was alright: the graphics were nice, the missions were pretty fun and the settings were inventive. But the only way to make a truly great Harry Potter game is to let go of the hand of the movies and make a free-standing winner. Potter is actually an especially good franchise for this, with an enormous established canon, well-written characters, plenty of action and locations good for games. My suggestions for making a good Harry Potter game go as follows:

1) You shouldn't play as Harry. Ok, I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out. We know Potter's story. We've followed 7 years of his life in minute detail. There's nothing left to tell. I don't even think it should be set in the same time period as the books. No, my game would be set during the first rising of Voldemort. James is too unsympathetic a character to play as, so I think we should flip the series on it's head and play as You-Know-Who himself. We've seen enough of his early life to flesh out a story, but with space for action during his time at Hogwarts. He's also a character who the audience feels quite attached to, despite his evil nature. Imagine walking down a rain-soaked street, wand in hand, with witches and wizards cowering as they see you. You walk into a bar and ZAP, with a wave of your wand and a flash of green light, another soul is dead. Everyone loves to be a bad guy.

2) Make it in Unreal Engine. I know this is a Source blog, but Source just doesn't have the capacity to make a game like this. Unreal is great with lighting and water and effects like lightning. I would base it on BioShock: replace plasmid powers with magic and guns with...well, magic, I guess. Replace Rapture with Hogwarts, and allow travel to other areas like Knockturn Alley. This game will be much darker than any of the other games, with all the violence of the books. Another suggestion for an engine, if Unreal doesn't work out, is the Force Unleashed's engine: Jedi are practically wizards anyway, and the engine can handle lightning, smoke, sparks and massive destruction without effort. Imagine walking into the Ministry of Magic, throwing one guard accross the room, electrocuting another, before smashing the statue in the lobby into tiny little pieces. Sounds good to me.

Join me in part 2, where I'll look at some other franchises we could revive in this way.