5 Worst Movie Tie-In Games Ever Made

As many of us know, great video games and great movies can certainly coexist. There have been a ton of fantastic games based on movie franchises over the years, from some truly stellar Jurassic Park titles to open-world delights like Hogwarts Legacy. However, not every movie translates to a great video game. Sometimes the potential might be there, but the concept doesn’t deliver. Other times, studios make some baffling decisions when translating source material into a gaming format. At any rate, some of the worst games out there have been born of cursed movie tie-in attempts.

When I was a kid, it seemed like every movie or TV show had a tie-in game. I played games based on everything from Harry Potter to the Sabrina the Teenage Witch cartoon and beyond. These days, blatant promo tie-in games released alongside big movies are a bit less common than they once were, and for good reason. Trying to turn every IP into a video game had some truly horrifying results, as these awful movie tie-in games can attest.

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Once upon a time, the Harry Potter tie-in games were good. At least once a month, I still daydream about the experience of playing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on my GameBoy Color. But as the years went on, the games strayed from inventive deep cuts drawing from the book source material to baffling attempts to keep current with gaming trends. No game showcases what a bad idea this was quite like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, which released for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2010.

The earlier Harry Potter games were action adventure games with fun spellcasting mechanics and puzzles for players to take on. By contrast, Deathly Hallows does something far more baffling. It turns Harry Potter into… a shooter? Yes, this game has been absolutely torn to shreds by reviewers for its mechanics being far more akin to a FPS game like Call of Duty than a magical wizard RPG. It has a horrifying 38 Metascore, with user ratings only treating it ever so slightly more gently.

4. Fight Club

With a name like Fight Club, it’s no surprise someone thought the movie might make a good video game. Released in 2004 for the PS2 and Xbox, the tie-in game came out five years after the movie that inspired it. So, it already missed the mark in terms of striking while the iron was hot. But the game also failed to understand the point of its source material in any way.

While many players admit the game visually looked good for its time, that’s about all it had going for it. As a fighting game, it suffers from overly simple mechanics that make it downright boring to play. As a supposed translation of the story of Fight Club, the game doesn’t manage to capture its source material. It offered lackluster cutscenes, shoddy storytelling, and a total avoidance of the primary themes that made the movie so popular. No wonder it got a 37 Metascore and has all but faded from memory.

3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

What’s the only thing worse than the 2005 Johnny Depp remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? The even more ill-advised tie-in video game that came along with it. There was maybe a world where a loose adaptation that let you make inventive chocolates and explore the factory could’ve worked. But the game we got was not that. It released in 2005 alongside the film, with versions for Game Boy Advance, PS5, GameCube, and Xbox. And all of them were received… incredibly poorly.

In the game, you follow the plot of the movie as Charlie, helping him to solve various challenges to progress the story. This includes finding the money to buy the fateful Wonka Bar, riding Blueberry-ified Violet Beauregarde, and more. The game’s primary issues, aside from never asking if it should exist in the first place, stemmed for the game’s abysmal controls and boring gameplay. It may render the Chocolate Factory beautifully, but it didn’t manage to deliver an enjoyable gameplay experience.

2. Ghostbusters

The first Ghostbusters movie released in 1984, and believe it or not, a movie tie-in game arrived that same year. While the movie has been revisited and iterated upon for years, the game has more of a mixed legacy. While the earlier versions of the game for computers and the Atari were well received, its 1985 port to the NES was a total flop. And unfortunately, it’s this version that many gamers remember to this day.

The NES version of Ghostbusters changed core gameplay components, including ditching certain animations and adding a shooting gallery. It also has a different ending and suffers from pretty shoddy graphics. But worst of all, it’s just plain old not fun to play. The game suffered from unwieldy controls, frustrating repetitive gameplay, and irritating driving sequences. And let’s not forget that the Ghostbusters theme song is basically the game’s entire soundtrack. The English language translation is also questionable at best, adding another layer of frustration to this truly terrible tie-in game.

1. Charlie’s Angels

Another movie tie-in game that didn’t launch alongside the movie is the 2003 beat ’em up, Charlie’s Angels. This spinoff from the 2000 film released for PS2 and GameCube, with plans to expand to additional platforms. However, the game’s reception was so bad, these additional ports were scrapped. In fact, Charlie’s Angels has the lowest Metascore on our list with a Generally Unfavorable 23.

Many reviews cite this attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Charlie’s Angels movie as the worst game that critics ever played. The game had poor graphics, repetitive and uninteresting gameplay, and terrible camera controls. Not only that, but the game launched with several bugs and glitches, and not in the slightly charming Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion kind of way. Does the story at least slightly redeem these bad qualities? Also no, as the game prioritizes throwing bosses into battles over a cohesive narrative. As far as they go, Charlie’s Angels may well be the worst movie tie-in game ever made.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum