Top 20 Worst Video Games Based On Movies

#20: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1” (2010)

Harry Potter’s video game adventures seemed to dip in quality as they went on, culminating in the absolute trashpile that is “Deathly Hallows - Part 1.” Gone was any semblance of magic or creativity that could come from being a wizard. Instead, Harry’s quest to hunt down Voldemort’s horcruxes was dumbed down to a bare-bones third-person shooter with monotonous gameplay and mechanics. Everything about it was far too simplified, making for an overall dull experience. It didn’t benefit from being a “Part 1,” either, which led to a relatively short playtime. Not that you’d want to spend too much time with it anyway.

#19: “Aliens: Colonial Marines” (2013)

While it’s technically a sequel to one of the “Alien” movies, “Colonial Marines” is too notorious to not have it on the list. It’s still one of the most famously disappointing launches of a tie-in game, and even one of the worst games of the 2010s. Hype was pretty high, but was quickly shattered when everyone got their hands on it. One of the biggest criticisms was the graphical downgrade between the pre-release footage and the actual game. Even if it had looked perfect, that wouldn’t have helped with the short playtime of its campaign, horrible enemy AI, dull gameplay, and multitude of bugs.

#18: “Bad Boys: Miami Takedown” (2004)

Based on the second movie in the “Bad Boys” franchise, “Miami Takedown” makes it clear that the series should have just stuck to the big screen if it was going to turn out like this. The gameplay is serviceable, if not completely generic. But you can’t even mildly enjoy that, because the controls are so stiff and cumbersome. Everything else makes it a pain to play, too. It looked terrible even for the time, and the audio design is laughably bad, making it both an earsore and an eyesore. That’s not to mention the horrendous dialogue delivered through some pretty poor voice acting. It’s all just a mess.

#17: “R.I.P.D. The Game” (2013)

It isn’t as if the “R.I.P.D” movie did well, commercially or critically, so we doubt many people played its tie-in game. For anyone who did, though, we offer our condolences. This was clearly a low-budget cash grab. But even by those low standards, it’s pretty sub-par. Outside of a short comic-style cutscene at the beginning and end, there’s also no story. It’s basically just a handful of boring levels, strung together by boring third-person shooter mechanics aimed at boring enemy designs. It’s rare to be lulled to sleep in the first few minutes of a game, but “R.I.P.D.” accomplishes it. Sure, it was sold at a discounted price, but even that was too much.

#16: “Ghostbusters” (2016)

The Ghostbusters have had their ups and downs when it comes to video games. But the bottom of the barrel has to be a tie-in to the 2016 reboot. Another sequel, the game doesn’t even have you play as the cast of characters. They’re busy, off saving the White House from ghosts of famous assassins. And that sounds way more interesting than what we get to play through. It follows four new team members, hunting ghosts in New York. From the repetitive, top-down shooter gameplay, to the bland levels, to the sad, cringey attempts at humor, there’s nothing interesting about this game.

#15: “The Expendables 2 Videogame” (2012)

You would think that an action franchise as explosive as “The Expendables” could churn out an at least halfway decent game. Sadly, you’d be wrong. The franchise’s second installment did receive a video game, and it’s nothing short of terrible. The top-down shooter did have plenty of explosiveness in its sound design, though not in a good way. With gameplay this generic and repetitive, the constant gunfire from your four characters drills into your brain, driving you to madness. It is both irritating and exceptionally dull, which we admit is an impressive balance to strike. The drab, muddy-brown color scheme of every single level does nothing to help matters, either.

#14: “The Fifth Element” (1998)

Still regarded as a sci-fi classic, “The Fifth Element” received a video game that failed to capture any of the zaniness or imagination of the film. We can at least give the developers credit for having us switch between playing as Korben and Leeloo, who have different playstyles. But that’s as far as our praise goes. Your time is divided between tedious third-person action mechanics either way, along with forgettable puzzles and set in lazily designed levels that are all varying shades of grey. Released on the PlayStation in 1998, which was an incredible year for the system, we feel sorry for anyone who picked this up instead of something else.

#13: “Fight Club” (2004)

The “Fight Club” game was released five years after the movie, likely trying to cash in on the cult status it earned after disappointing at the box office. Ignoring the irony of doing so for a film with so much anti-consumerism messaging, the game is as lazy as they come. We know we’ve called a lot of these games repetitive, but that's a common thread tying them all together in the landscape of horrid tie-ins. This is the most basic fighter you could come up with, with mechanics so easy, there’s essentially no skill ceiling. Or rather, it’s so low that anyone can reach it. It’s awful to look at, too, with poor character models and animations.

#12: “The Wizard of Oz” (1993)

The land of Oz is full of magic, wonder, and plenty of other elements that would make for a great video game. This, obviously, is not that. While reviews at the time were positive, reception turned on it in the modern era, and it’s easy to see why. The pleasant visuals might lure you into thinking you’re getting a quality Super Nintendo game. But playing it is a huge chore. Controls are clunky, and every character does miniscule damage. The exception is the Tin Man, but he can’t even jump…in a PLATFORM game! There’s also some really bad collision and hit detection. All of this combines for a game that is needlessly hard, and absolutely no fun at all to play.

#11: “Robocop” (2003)

A first person shooter following RoboCop should’ve been an easy homerun. And yet, this 2003 tie-in on Xbox is the exact opposite. We get that the on-screen hero isn’t exactly agile or quick. But trudging along these uninspired cityscapes is an absolute slog. The targeting system is also inspired by the movies. But it happens so frequently, on enemies and items, and is so bright that you’ll see it whenever you close your eyes. It’s meant to be helpful, but winds up being detrimental almost immediately. Add on some really bland mechanics and a shoddy control scheme, and “RoboCop” is a huge disappointment to its namesake. Though, coming from the studio behind “Superman 64,” we shouldn’t be surprised.

#10: “Street Fighter: The Movie” (1995)

Based on the movie that was based on Capcom’s fighter series, this is an entry best forgotten. It isn’t as if the movie was good to begin with, but the campiness at least offers more enjoyment than trying to play this garbage. Released in arcades as well as on the Sega Saturn and PlayStation, the console versions are widely considered weaker. The gameplay was essentially the same as “Super Street Fighter II Turbo.” Except it was made much worse by horrid framerates and poor animation that came with the digitized graphics, and a significant amount of lag and glitches. It’s one thing to make a bad movie tie-in. But to also ruin the perfection of your previous game? That’s almost impressive.

#9: “The Crow: City of Angels” (1997)

A video game tie-in to a sequel that most fans would choose to ignore, “The Crow: City of Angels” received scathing reviews to match its source material. And it isn’t as if time has been kind to it. It’s basically a checklist of the most frustrating things a video game can have. Input lag in its controls, an annoying camera, abysmal collision detection, and a lack of direction on what to do made everything entirely frustrating. Maybe we could forgive its poor visuals and voice acting, which it has in spades, if not for the rest making it so unfun to play. It’s no wonder the IP hasn’t received another game since.

#8: “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1993)

“Terminator 2” received a wide variety of games across multiple platforms, some of which were pretty good. But we’re not here to talk about those. The 16-bit version, whether played on the Sega Genesis or the Super Nintendo, is a truly miserable playthrough. Despite the timeless visuals many games on either system had, “Terminator 2” looks terrible, with tiny character sprites and substandard animations. Gameplay is simple, but controls are incredibly weak, and that’s especially true during the confusing driving sections that caused many players to rage quit. It’s aggravating to play throughout. But what will really drive you up the wall is the music, which never EVER changes.

#7: “Waterworld” (1995)

When a game is released on different platforms, it can sometimes lead to wildly different experiences. But no matter where you played “Waterworld,” inspired by the Kevin Costner-led film, you had a bad time. Even still, the most widely accepted worst version was released on Nintendo’s Virtual Boy. That system was already a financial disaster, due to its cumbersome design, limited color scheme, and technology that actually caused players physical harm. But this game was panned for its lackluster enemy designs, poor visuals, sluggish controls, and, as we’ve seen with several others on this list, poor collision detection. Some even consider it the worst game on the Virtual Boy, which only ever got 22 releases before it was discontinued.

#6: “Charlie’s Angels” (2003)

Based on the film reboot from 2000, we can certainly see the appeal of a “Charlie’s Angels” video game. If only it were nothing like this. Essentially a 3D beat ‘em up, the game features incredibly simplistic mechanics and mission designs that will leave you bored out of your mind. Even with three playable characters, there’s not a single difference between their fighting styles. And when you aren’t bored, you’re suffering from the incredible frustration that comes from controls that were dated even in 2003 and horrendous camera angles. Even for big fans of the movie, there are no redeeming qualities to be found here. And for fans of beat ‘em ups, it’s an insult to the genre.

#5: “Back to the Future” (1989)

Any player familiar with LJN knows how many awful licensed games the publisher produced. “Back to the Future” on NES is one of its most infamous releases, and a shining example of what not to do when transitioning a movie into a video game. The gameplay decisions made here are completely baffling. Why does Marty collect clocks like some type of “Paperboy” ripoff? Why is his hit box twice as big as his sprite? Why is the street so small? Why does he throw bowling balls to attack? And why is there only a single, looping tune!? The difficulty level is unfair, in both this and its mini-games, and it’s just such a hassle to play.

#4: “Fast & Furious: Showdown” (2013)

Outside of arcade releases, the “Fast & Furious” franchise has never had a good track record when it comes to video games. Let’s not forget 2020’s “Crossroads,” which was panned and delisted less than two years after release. Only slightly worse than that was 2013’s “Showdown.” It’s set between the fifth and sixth movies. But beyond that, it barely features any semblance of plot, with main character Dominic Toretto not even appearing. It’s a shame; a blend of vehicular combat, racing, and the franchise’s signature set pieces seems like a recipe for a fun time. But “Showdown” is profoundly horrible. Missions are short and buggy, poor physics make the core driving system a chore, and visuals are bland at best.

#3: “Friday the 13th” (1989)

Another stunning piece of trash from the LJN brand, “Friday the 13th” is just as infamous as “Back to the Future.” Following the counselors of Camp Crystal Lake, players must attempt to flee from Jason Voorhees, until they accomplish the proper tasks in order to defeat him. Figuring out what to do takes the patience of a saint. And on top of that, you have to deal with exceptionally aggravating mechanics and an unfairly high difficulty level. NES games are known to be hard, but this was beyond belief. Nothing about it was scary either, just a tedious, infuriating trainwreck of a game. You have a better chance at surviving a run-in with Jason than actually completing this game.

#2: “Rambo: The Video Game” (2014)

Encompassing sequences from the first three “Rambo” movies, this gigantic waste of time from 2014 failed on every single front. It’s hard to tell if it was a bigger bomb critically or commercially. Graphics were laughably bad in comparison to everything else at the time. And while it was expectedly a shooter, it was an on-rails one, which no one seemed to want. Gameplay was repetitive and generic, hampered even more by an overuse of quick-time events. And even though it was three movies crammed into a single game, the short playtime made everything feel rushed. In fact, it felt like development was rushed, too, since there were a lot of technical issues.

#1: “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982)

It’s impossible to top a game so terrible, it’s considered partially responsible for a literal market crash. Released for the Atari 2600, it was developed in only a matter of weeks so that it could be rushed out the door to make the Christmas deadline. And while copies sold well initially, a swarm of returns followed soon after from annoyed customers. Infuriating controls, unclear gameplay, pits that caused your character to get stuck, graphics that were poor even by the simpler standards of the time; it was a dreadfully perfect storm. As a result, Atari suffered major losses that it never really recovered from, and the home console market entered a recession from 1983 to 1985, when the NES brought it back.

Narrowing this list to 20 wasn’t an easy task, and we had to leave off a lot of bad games. So, if there’s one you think we missed, be sure to head to the comments and let us know!