A few months ago I was reading a book on how the toy industry works, and while it is a creative industry similar to the games industry, there is one major difference. In the toy industry branding is king, better to have a toy or board game involving Dora the Explorer or whatever Saturday morning cartoon is popular now rather then something unique and unheard of. Contrast that with the games industry where games that are based on popular movies, comics, or TV shows are horrible and mostly avoided by gamers.
I think before I go on I should define brands for the sake of this entry. I’m talking about IPs that came from outside of the games industry: comic books, movies, TV, toys, etc. I’m not saying that games like GTA or Mario are not brands but they were created inside the games industry.
When working on a licensed game, certain rules have to be followed such as keeping true to the IP and keeping the game from going too far away from the IP. Those rules don’t apply to unique titles where anything can go, just look at Killer 7 or Katamari Dammacy for that. I think those rules are one of the main elements as to why most licensed games fail.
The first sign of trouble is that when dealing with licenses most often the cost of just getting them (along with the voice actors) takes away most of the development funds. Which most often leaves us with a buggy or derivative game, look at the first Matrix game for this. Another is that license game = dumbing down so that everyone can play it. That sounds really harsh but when you look at the difference between the games based on Spider Man 2 and Spider Man 3 you can see why I’m upset. Yet there are three shining examples that come to mind when the license worked.
First is the Chronicles of Riddick, which as a first was the first game based on a movie (or to be released along side) to do better then the movie . The developers took an interesting character (the above mentioned Riddick), and expanded on his back story and basically gave us an interactive portion of his story that could have been its own movie. Having the full cooperation of Vin Diesel helped a lot, the game had some of the best voice overs I’ve heard in a title. The game also pulled no punches in the game play, instead of giving us mind numbing derivative crap we’ve seen before. The game was a well designed balance of stealth, gun play and hand to hand fighting which I believe was the first FPS game to deliver that. The game was so good that I think we’re getting an updated version for the 360 soon.
Next was The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (not the game based on the first movie). Instead of shoehorning the experience into a movie or comic book story, the game basically gave us the Hulk, a city (and desert), and things to smash while still keeping true to the comics. The Hulk wasn’t a weakling or had to do stealth missions, he smashed and bashed everything and everyone in the game. Boss fights brought characters from the comics for fan service and the game was one of the most fun sand box experiences I’ve had. The newest Hulk title I’ve heard doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Finally is the game that not only was the perfect use of a license, but I think the best licensed game to ever be released so far, Viva Pinata yeah you read that correctly. Viva Pinata quite frankly is an anomaly, the game had every sign that it was going to be bad. The game was based on a children’s cartoon, was developed by Rare which no offense to the people working there ,were not exactly on a hot streak of great games. Lastly the game had next to nothing in terms of advertising. Yet the game worked, it took a unique IP and developed game play for it that was something not done before. Basically a light city builder, the game was designed that both children (the fans of the show) and older gamers could play the game well. The game features numerous rewards and hidden mechanics that the casual younger gamer would never find or think about, but there is an addictive one more reward feel for us. There is something serene about building your garden up, and keeping your pinata alive, and besides their so cute (enjoy that, as that will be the last time I say that on this blog.)
I think the trick to making a good license game is to not rely on the license for bringing in the sales, but the actual gameplay. The license should be the icing on the cake not the cake itself, a lesson the creators of the Dragon Ball Z and Naruto games are slowly learning. While watching the final episodes of the series Avatar this week, I would love to have an excellent action game set in this world, not the same button mashing game made for little children.
For the future, I’m looking forward to the GhostBusters game even though my license game senses are tingling I really hope that this turns out alright.
Josh
note: Before anyone says it, I didn’t include Spiderman 2 among the best licensed games as it would be #4 on my list, and the ones mentioned are the top 3 in my opinion.
