20 WORST Licensed Games on PS2

20 Worst Licensed Games on PS2

Welcome to MojoPlays and today we’re looking at the games that gave the licensed game genre a bad name during a time that produced some of the best licensed games of all time.

“American Idol” (2003)

It was almost impossible to ignore the hype around American Idol when it first began back in the early 2000s, and of course we got a video game to coincide with the budding reality series. However, rather than play to the strengths of the reality show, namely the singing it’s known for, the video game adaptation instead decided a rhythm-based game was the best possible option. And yet, they still even failed at a genre that dates back to the early days of the PS1. Button prompts don’t match with the singing or even the songs themselves and if you manage to make it through your audition, you are rewarded with the most generic responses from some of the most bizarre representations of the judges panel due to the game’s weird graphical style. Honestly, you’d be better off singing into the mirror like we know you already do.

“Home Alone” (2006)

Home Alone is a timeless holiday classic full of laugh-out-loud and heartwarming moments. And they made a video game about it that made the pointless sequels look like Oscar contenders. A game that had no reason to exist already set the bar low, but Home Alone on the PS2 hit rock bottom and somehow kept digging. The simple gameplay loop consists of booby trapping the levels to fend off Temu Harry and Marv, all while controlling not-Kevin through incredibly basic levels, fighting the controls more than the home invaders. As far as the musical score, there isn’t one, so get used to hearing your character’s footsteps and almost nothing else for the entire graciously short runtime. Adding further insult, getting caught results in a full game over, sending you back to the start of the game. You know it’s bad when you somehow made the NES Home Alone game look like a classic.

“Mr. Bean” (2007)

Mr. Bean is an icon of comedy genius. The Mr. Bean video game is not. Released a full decade after the peak of Mr. Bean’s popularity, the game follows the animated version of the character and his quest to track down his beloved teddy bear and the opposite of hilarity ensues. At first glance, the game looks like it should have been released back on the PS1, and the overly simplistic gameplay only reinforces these perceptions. Character animations and environments are downright ugly and lack any real detail. The variety of minigames lack any real depth or cohesion, instead feeling slapped together just like the rest of the game. With none of the heart or humor of the British comedy legend, playing the Mr. Bean game does more to tarnish the memory of the series than honor it.

“The Mummy Returns” (2001)

The Brenden Fraser Mummy movies remain absolute classics, but all the fun and charm of the original duology isn’t even remotely present in the video game tie-in to The Mummy Returns. Almost nothing about the game is redeemable. From the clunky and imprecise controls to the graphics that make the CG Scorpion King from the movie look cutting edge, to the repetitive and boring puzzle and level design, all hampered even further by a broken and buggy camera system makes simply playing the game more of an exercise in patience than the enjoyable escapism like the movie. The only interesting incorporation was the dual campaigns where players controlled both Rick and Imhotep through different storylines, but even this concept was hampered by everything else built around the core gameplay itself. Even The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is more fun than this. But just barely.

“Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007)

Anyone familiar with Marvel’s First Family’s track record in gaming can already see where this is going. Naturally, every member of the Fantastic Four is playable and players are free to switch between them at will, which is necessary for solving the game’s rudimentary puzzles. Thankfully, every character’s powers are also unique and mostly useful in the various combat encounters, and that's about it. The game’s biggest issue isn’t the controls, the camera, or any of the usual game mechanics that hold back a title like this, it’s just the fact that it’s so freaking boring. The entire gameplay loop is moving from one area to another, fighting a bunch of baddies, maybe solving a door puzzle or destroying some kind of mechanism, and repeating this ad nauseum. It’s basically the exact same formula as Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but they somehow managed to make playing as four members of a superpowered family boring as hell.

“Robocop” (2003)

While today, the formula for a solid Robocop experience has been nearly perfected, back on the PS2, we were suffering through game adaptations almost as bad as Robocop 3. Almost. Robocop commits the worst crime for a game about playing as a cybernetically enhanced police officer in a futuristic, crime riddled Detroit: it made it boring. Not only are Robocop’s movements laughably slow, but the game’s AI is also horrendously inept, and the ugly graphics and terrible controls, particularly in the game’s targeting, don’t help. The game also suffers from balancing issues due to enemy’s bullet sponge health bars eating up all the player’s ammo supply and leaving them completely vulnerable in the sparse and open areas with no cover. Robocop might be one of the worst game adaptations based on a popular IP, which makes sense when you realize it was designed by the same devs as Superman 64.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Pro-Am” (2007)

Anyone who grew up with the OG Adult Swim will have fond memories of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but even the most dedicated fans knew a video game adaptation wasn’t going to work. And yet somehow, we ended up with a game that shouldn’t exist and is about golf of all things. Admittedly, the humor of the show remains mostly intact, especially thanks to the inclusion of the show’s main voice actors, but suffering through the monotonous and choppy gameplay doesn’t really make it worth playing for a few lines of funny dialogue and story moments. Everything from the golf mechanics themselves to the rest of the minigames just feel like ideas that were never fleshed out. Given the show regularly parodies video games, this could be a big meta joke about video game adaptations, but we doubt it.

“Little Britain: The Video Game” (2007)

Adapting a sketch comedy series like Little Britain into a video game was already a bizarre decision, but the end result was even worse than anyone could have imagined. Everything about the game is ugly, from the graphics to the environments, character models and even the musical score is torturous to listen to. The controls are somehow even worse. Every minigame naturally has its own controls to contend with which are ridiculously unresponsive and not one of them feels like they were tested even once. Little Britain: The Video Game pulls sketches from the series' most popular moments and removes everything that made them funny and instead just downright unfun to play. Despite Little Britain being one of the best sketch comedy shows to come out of Britain, it feels like the developers actively hated the IP they were developing for.

“Crazy Frog Racer 2” (2007)

Hey, remember that annoying frog with the stupidly catchy song from the early 2000s? Want to be subjected to that song and annoying sound on repeat but also take control of that stupid frog in a bizarre kart racer? Well then, do we have the game you need to avoid at all costs. Ignoring the fact that this idea got TWO video games, who was really asking for even one of these? By the time the first game released, the Crazy Frog craze was already dying out, so the sequel was quickly thrown together and was somehow even more abysmal than the first. Controls barely function, races are boring and repetitive, and the constant rave music becomes immediately grating even for the most dedicated techno head. Crazy Frog Racer is a game that never should have existed let alone twice, but it’s somehow still less annoying than “67”.

“The Simpsons Skateboarding” (2002)

If you’ve ever played a game based on The Simpsons, you already know how hit and miss the experience can be. Just before we got timeless gems like The Simpsons Hit & Run and The Simpsons Game, fans were subjected to one last obvious cash grab from the license, The Simpsons Skateboarding. Clearly attempting to cash in on the popularity of the Tony Hawk franchise, the fact that the original voice cast and show writers returned was the only highlight of the experience. Shallow and broken gameplay and controls made what in the Tony Hawk games feel like second nature, an agonizingly frustrating experience made worse by poor level design and bland, lifeless environments. This isn’t even mentioning the ugly graphics, countless bugs, glitches and unbearably long load times. With none of The Simpsons family’s usual charm, the title is more infamous for how bad it is than its association with the famous family.

“Pimp My Ride” (2006)

MTV’s Pimp My Ride was a guilty pleasure reality show we all watched in the mid-2000s just to see how ludicrous these cars would turn out, but no one was looking for this to be an interactive experience. Everything about the design of this game is just ridiculous. From driving around trying to impress random NPCs with your car and “Ghost Ride the Whip” (their words not mine) through rhythm-based button prompts and cringe-inducing dance moves to earn enough cash to renovate one of these eye sore vehicles into an even bigger eye sore, but now with flashy colors. And when you finally pimp the ride, it’s nothing but another series of quick time events and rhythm games. And then you repeat the cycle, again and again, until the phrases “Pimp My Ride” and “Ghost Ride the Whip” have lost even more meaning than they had at the beginning.

“Mike Tyson: Heavyweight Boxing” (2002)

Given Mike Tyson is one of the best boxers in the history of the sport, you wouldn’t think they’d just slap his name on any “boxing” game and call it a day, but apparently that’s exactly what they did with Mike Tyson: Heavyweight Boxing. Firstly, controlling your boxers is incredibly cumbersome and broken with unresponsive and confusing button mapping, leading to fights breaking down to simple button mashing and hoping for the best. And then there was the graphics and presentation. Given this was still early in the PS2 lifecycle, some poor graphics could be forgiven, but this was beyond the pale. Collision detection was spotty at best and even the announcers would routinely recite the same soundbites endlessly, and when they weren’t doing that, their commentary was completely inaccurate. The Create-A-Boxer mode was interesting but not enough to save this extremely low effort cash in on Tyson’s name.

“The Shield: The Game” (2007)

Although mostly forgotten by today’s streaming addicted audiences, The Shield was one of the best police dramas of the early 2000s and naturally received a video game adaptation to capitalize on that popularity. To its credit the game does its best to adapt the gritty, realistic take on the police procedural to video game mechanics, but instead further proves why this game shouldn’t exist. The AI is insanely stupid, the investigation mechanics either don’t make sense or are completely broken, the gunplay is barely serviceable and the hand-to-hand mechanics and their inclusion are poorly executed and barely functional. And this isn’t even mentioning the controls which actively fight against you over the most basic mechanics. The Shield: The Game is a game that literally shouldn’t exist as it was canceled but saved from execution at the final hour only to commit further crimes against its audience.

“McFarlane’s Evil Prophecy” (2004)

Todd McFarlane is responsible for some of the most recognizable art in comics, so a video game based on one of his creations should have easily been a new medium for his art to reach a new audience, but sadly that wasn’t the case. With an overcomplicated setup for a simple hack and slasher, the four main characters, which players can switch to at any time, all have unique abilities which in theory should offer a decent enough experience, but the repetitive nature of the genre and basic combo attacks make the gameplay loop incredibly boring, and very quickly. Attacks also feel ridiculously underpowered, even the special attacks, with even the most basic enemies shaking off your strongest attacks. There was a decent concept here, and combined with McFarlane’s art, could have been a decent action game, but instead, it feels like yet another vehicle to push McFarlane’s merch.

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)

Much like Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, don’t let the sweet, sugary exterior fool you. Underneath the colorful exterior is an experience that is rotten to the core. Despite the graphics being above average for a tie-in, the rest of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a pale imitation of the original, just like Tim Burton’s film. Gameplay itself is ridiculously cumbersome and frustrating, made worse by a camera that seems to be controlled by an Oompa Loompa after a few too many Fizzy Lifting Drinks. These frustrations are only exacerbated when you need to control the Oompa Loompas, and you begin to wonder how the factory hadn’t burned down years ago. The Oompa Loompas are worse than Lemmings, unable to follow even the most basic commands without going rogue, leading to simple requests taking far too long to complete. Do yourself a favor, grab a Wonka Bar and rewatch Gene Wilder’s classic instead. You’ll have a much better time.

“Fight Club” (2004)

First rule of the Fight Club video game? We do not talk about the Fight Club video game. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the Fight Club video game. Fight Club is a video game adaptation that not only has no reason to exist but is also about five years too late to capitalize on the film’s popularity. Not only does the very existence of the game go against the film’s anti-consumer messaging, but the game feels like the laziest version of a cash grab tie-in. The graphics are below subpar, the fighting mechanics are basic at best and broken the rest of the time. There is also almost no individuality between the fighters, and everyone has the nearly the same movements and attacks, removing any possible depth from the game’s combat. The static images during cutscenes and the inclusion of Fred Durst as an unlockable character only reinforces the game’s status at the bottom.

“Catwoman” (2004)

Considering what a dumpster fire the Catwoman movie was, it’s no surprise that the video game adaptation is somehow even worse. The entire game is like a parody of what a good superhero game should be. Oversimplified but somehow still broken combat? Check. One of the worst cameras in the PS2 generation? Check. A story somehow worse than the movie it’s based on? Check. Check. Check. Almost nothing in the game works properly or is even remotely entertaining. Exploration is almost non-existent as the game leads the player by the hand from one lackluster encounter to the next, and the graphics would barely pass for a late gen PS1 game, let alone one that came out four years into the PS2’s lifecycle. Catwoman the movie set Halle Berry’s career back years and the Catwoman video game set movie video game adaptations back even further than they already were.

“Beverly Hills Cop” (2006)

Sometimes a video game adaptation comes years or sometimes even decades after the IP’s popularity and manages to reignite interest in its films or series. That’s not what happened here. If anything, it made fans appreciate the films even more. Yes, even the third one. Replacing Eddie Murphy with a generic man with the name Axel Foley, the plot meanders from one location to the next with almost direct ties to one another and is barely enough to keep the game moving forward. Bizarrely, the game is a first-person shooter with some of the slowest gameplay mechanics in the genre and the inclusion of some of the most broken stealth mechanics in all of gaming. Enemy AI is non-existent, and along with some of the ugliest graphics for a late gen PS2 game, the only thing that even remotely ties this game to the film franchise is using the same font as the films on the box art.

“Charlie’s Angels” (2003)

The rebooted Charlie’s Angels films were fun, lighthearted spy flicks that didn’t take themselves too seriously. The video game adaptation of those movies is none of that. Rather than focus on the spy side of the Angels, the video game is instead a run of the mill beat ‘em up and not even a very good one. Telling its own original story, the Angels venture to various locations and beat up baddies in ludicrously skimpy outfits and button mash until they stop moving. Everything in the game is poorly designed, from the levels to the laughably bad animations and combat moves, to the wonky camera that feels like the game’s true nemesis and the blatantly oblivious enemy AI who graciously wait for you to finish pummeling their friends one by one before taking their turn. The game is also riddled with bugs and glitches, making this one mission the Angels should have immediately turned down.

“Bad Boys: Miami Takedown” (2004)

There are some games that are so bad they’re good, but Bad Boys: Miami Takedown isn’t just bad, it’s hilariously bad. Almost nothing in the game works the way it should. From the trademark safe versions of Mike and Marcus and their cringe-inducing dialogue and voice acting, to the downright ugly graphics, broken and incompetent enemy AI, a cover system that doesn’t even work and somehow even worse controls, the game is just a mess. Nothing about what made the Bad Boys film franchise fun and endearing is present in the game and it’s really saying something to prefer Michael Bay’s overly enthusiastic direction to whatever is happening here. This is clearly a game that thought it could simply coast on the name recognition alone but underestimated its audience’s devotion to the real Bad Boys.

What was the worst licensed game you played on the PS2? Share your traumas in the comments.