This is absolutely one of the best movie-tie-in games of all time - fighting for the 1st place with Riddick. I've said this before elsewhere, but I so wish Universal would hand everything they have left of their 'Dark Universe' to Wayforward and give them rights to go nuts. It would work so much better as a game series than a cynical movie franchise.
The Chronicles of Riddick Escape From Butcher's Bay and Dark Athena is awesome. I'd also recommend checking out The Punisher 2005 game that was released on Xbox, PS2, and PC. It did tie in to the 2004 Punisher film and even got the actor to voice the game's Punisher too.
@@Gruntvc I keep hearing good things about the Punisher, I need to check it out - thanks for reminding me. I actually missed the fact that it tied to the film, I had assumed it was based on the comics. Dark Athena's one and only failure was how they replaced all the score for both episodes. The original EFBB had an amazing score for the action scenes, a rip of which I regularly listen to this day - Athena's is closer to the movie scores and works well for sneaking, but lacks punch in the action scenes.
@Penguin DT, If you can get the pc version to work, you can use a fan mod to remove the censorship both it and the console versions had. Fun fact about the game, it's a mixture of film sequel and comic adaption. Mainly the Garth Ennis comics from the 2000s. Oh really? It's been a long time since I played the original Xbox release for Escape From Butcher's Bay. Real shame neither are available on current consoles and pc since the Xbox 360/PS3 ports. The Darkness games were good licensed games too.
@@Gruntvc Thanks, I'll see if I can grab a copy. The Darkness is awesome, yeah. Mike Patton as the Darkness is hands down the most amazing vocal performance I've ever heard in a video game. At first I was certain it was edited together from multiple takes but no - seeing behind the scenes stuff for The Darkness II made me realise it is all just Patton being Patton. Soul for a game featuring a double team of Mike Patton and Diamanda Galás as demon villains.
just finished the game today, and wow! everything from the music to the sprite work to the overall fun factor really blew me away! Funny enough, I accidentally bought it at full price ($20), forgetting to remove it from my cart after its sale ended (it was down to around $5). But honestly, I don’t regret it one bit.
As far as a military task force equipped with dealing with the supernatural goes, Clive Barker's Jericho will always be my favorite. Granted, character backgrounds and other such lore is only granted through Extras, and for the game to actually be fun then SMOD is mandatory, but all things considered it's overall an interesting albeit short experience.
This game is so amazing, I just can’t understand why they didn’t immediately get started on the next 2 sequels?! And yes, pixel art when done well will always look amazing because there’s basically a “cap” to how far you can take it (outside of special effects) but 3D and polygons seem to have no limit until they hit lifelike photorealism I guess, so the best PC or PS5 games will eventually look extremely dated
As someone who has played the entire Castlevania franchise I can confidently say there is a *lot* of influence from the 'vania franchise in this. A lot of the brass tacks platforming, enemy types and aesthetic are heavily 'vania-esque through and through.
Maybe it was overshadowed by the mediocre movie it's based on, but this game is probably the most underrated game I've ever played. And the music is one of my favorite parts about it; I still listen to it to this day.
Having frame rate control the game's speed and even difficulty reminds me of the Turbo mode included on older Devil May Cry games, which sped up the game to give more difficulty, or on my jank and terrible PC at the time, a reasonable game speed with 20 frames per second. And it's amusing that the sped up gameplay can be artificially created here for the added difficulty.
Also I love the og Universal Monsters and how influential they are, I totally agree if they wanted to do a successful Monster Universe it needs to be set in the 1800's or so. The Victorian Era is just the perfect backdrop for the classic Monsters like Dracula and The Wolfman. Plus it works great with characters like The Invisible Man and Frankenstein and his Monster, since science was still new and literally made anything seem possible to the average person.
The music you described sounds a bit like the genre darkwave. Which would be perfect for any game w/ a macabre atmosphere. Its basically new wave, be it art punk or more electronica(not necessarily mutually exclusive) based w mid century horror themes. Think: Bauhaus, interpol, the faint etc ..(if any of those artists are familiar)
Unsure how much you like strategy games, but in the category of games featuring anti-supernatural task forces, the Open Xcom mod "The X-Com Files" is pretty good. You start fighting actual aliens later, but at the beginning you're up against werewolves, chupacabra and cults. I recommend it.
The second I gave this game a chance I never stopped playing it. The music is indeed magnificent. Huntdown is also a gem for me. Did you try that one too?
One of the more surprising movie tie ins, just because of its style. Pixelart? Metroidvania? Wat. But welcomed nonetheless, especially if it's of that quality! Love it.
Just found your channel and man I love your commentary and vibe! Never knew this game existed, but wow it's awesome and yeah those backgrounds are works of art!
Okay, so: WayForward, from what I can tell, seems to have a rep of making decent to great license movie tie-in games. Well, I can't say for sure since the only ones that I'm familiar with are Shantae and this. Either way, I'm of the impression that it's a good thing that WF can't get the a-ok to put Tom Cruise's likeness in this game since it gives them extra leeway to do things that are unrelated to the movie. And that point about pixel art detractors pushing people to do 3D is something that I find hilariously familiar. Remember when the big thing back in the 5th gen console's 3D leap was people singing praises for games that use the then-revolutionary tech, and calling sprite-based games "a thing of the past"? We're back to square one, it seems. Oh, right. And a Happy Halloween to you, Andy! Hope you're having a good time doing... whatever it is you guys do during Halloween--don't have 'em where I live. Sounds fun though.
Hang on. Cowboys VS Aliens was actually good. I went into that movie expecting it to be bad, and it was surprisingly enjoyable. Not amazing, but no where near the level of some of those other movies you showed. Lumping it in with the rest of those is unfair.
I was really surprised it was a licensed game, when I saw the screen I thought "that resembles that crappy Mummy movie" and it might even be thought that they designed the villain to bank on the movie's popularity, but then it turns out it was the real deal
I am someone who played quite a bit of Metroid and castlevania symphony of the night and I will say the game looks more like Metroid than castlevania, in castlevania sure you have multiple weapons but you had to select them, health does not drop from enemies, and there is like an RPG stat system. that is it.
Hey, remember this cartoon where bunch of dudes, girl and werewolf guy hunted dracula (if i remember corectly) while being equiped with wierd cybernetic gas-masks? And while dracula always sliping away, they have to deal with frankenstein, mummy and other creeps. That's what this game reminds me. And that's what monster-cinematic-universe should've been. "I'm here to solve necronomicon riddles and beat zombies with my ironmanish suit's fists."
Thanks for reminding me this exists, I played it while drunk at a friends place and couldn't for the life of me remember what it was. I mean can you really blame me, I wouldn't believe it even if you straight up told me... Wolverine Origins is also a pretty good candidate for "better than the movie it's based on".
Hey there, love the content and I appreciate your Halo takes. A game I would recommend is "Roller Drome" and it is Tony Hawk meets arena shooter....... intense fun with a weird premise. You do tricks to get ammo back and it has perfect dodging with powerful shots after a perfect dodge. I just felt like you might enjoy the game.
I really liked this game too, I think it has a lot of potential for a sequel, my biggest issue with it is that the guns dont contribute to anything other than combat. Wouldve been cool if they added to the exploration.
There is a game called Assault Suits Valken ( PS2 ) is basic halo 2D game that has have Good story with you fight using The giant mecha and fights in a war engulfing the entire Galaxy.
I liked The Mummy Demastered. Picked it up on PSN during a sale and 100% it. Wish it got a sequel and Wayforward ported Aliens Infestation to current consoles and pc too. I prefer these games to Shante. Another game that has a special forces unit set up to battle paranormal threats would be Clive Barkers Jericho for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Pretty cool concept, but it was not executed well gameplay wise. FEAR 1 is still the best game to use this concept so far.
Just got around to playing this. This game was highly recommended, so I was ultimately a little let down. I was annoyed that save points didn’t refill health, so I had to waste time shooting boxes and small enemies to refill health way too often. The knockbacks were also very annoying. That’s the Castlevania comparison (along with Clock Tower w/gears). Overall, it’s worth playing.
Your take about the game being more metroid than castlevania was so weird. The whole genre is called metroidvania for a reason, as both games have a lot of things in common. And this game looks A LOT like a castlevania.... and obviously feels like metroid too.
You're right on modern Trek. It's some of the worst stuff I've ever seen. Don't think that you mention Trek too much, if anything I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on it.
Both Star Trek and Star Wars are pretty bad now. I just watch older sci fi movies and shows now. Wayforward could make a Metroidvania game based on Stargate/SG1. That'd be fun.
*Why not start with all upgrades? Without the weapon upgrades, of course, which you have to search for and earn in battle, but everything else would make the game flow and much more fun in my opinion.*
Fighting your old character for your equipment is this game’s true identity.
This is absolutely one of the best movie-tie-in games of all time - fighting for the 1st place with Riddick. I've said this before elsewhere, but I so wish Universal would hand everything they have left of their 'Dark Universe' to Wayforward and give them rights to go nuts. It would work so much better as a game series than a cynical movie franchise.
The Chronicles of Riddick Escape From Butcher's Bay and Dark Athena is awesome. I'd also recommend checking out The Punisher 2005 game that was released on Xbox, PS2, and PC. It did tie in to the 2004 Punisher film and even got the actor to voice the game's Punisher too.
@@Gruntvc I keep hearing good things about the Punisher, I need to check it out - thanks for reminding me. I actually missed the fact that it tied to the film, I had assumed it was based on the comics.
Dark Athena's one and only failure was how they replaced all the score for both episodes. The original EFBB had an amazing score for the action scenes, a rip of which I regularly listen to this day - Athena's is closer to the movie scores and works well for sneaking, but lacks punch in the action scenes.
@Penguin DT, If you can get the pc version to work, you can use a fan mod to remove the censorship both it and the console versions had. Fun fact about the game, it's a mixture of film sequel and comic adaption. Mainly the Garth Ennis comics from the 2000s.
Oh really? It's been a long time since I played the original Xbox release for Escape From Butcher's Bay. Real shame neither are available on current consoles and pc since the Xbox 360/PS3 ports.
The Darkness games were good licensed games too.
@@Gruntvc Thanks, I'll see if I can grab a copy.
The Darkness is awesome, yeah. Mike Patton as the Darkness is hands down the most amazing vocal performance I've ever heard in a video game. At first I was certain it was edited together from multiple takes but no - seeing behind the scenes stuff for The Darkness II made me realise it is all just Patton being Patton.
Soul for a game featuring a double team of Mike Patton and Diamanda Galás as demon villains.
Agree! This was fantastic
just finished the game today, and wow! everything from the music to the sprite work to the overall fun factor really blew me away! Funny enough, I accidentally bought it at full price ($20), forgetting to remove it from my cart after its sale ended (it was down to around $5). But honestly, I don’t regret it one bit.
As far as a military task force equipped with dealing with the supernatural goes, Clive Barker's Jericho will always be my favorite. Granted, character backgrounds and other such lore is only granted through Extras, and for the game to actually be fun then SMOD is mandatory, but all things considered it's overall an interesting albeit short experience.
Its a fascinating game, im a big fan myself
I'd be of the same opinion if F.E.A.R. didn't exist
castlevania zombies, bats, and medusa heads respawn in the same room
let's go! happy Halloween
This game is so amazing, I just can’t understand why they didn’t immediately get started on the next 2 sequels?!
And yes, pixel art when done well will always look amazing because there’s basically a “cap” to how far you can take it (outside of special effects) but 3D and polygons seem to have no limit until they hit lifelike photorealism I guess, so the best PC or PS5 games will eventually look extremely dated
Even earlier than expected? Nice. Happy Halloween boss.
As someone who has played the entire Castlevania franchise I can confidently say there is a *lot* of influence from the 'vania franchise in this. A lot of the brass tacks platforming, enemy types and aesthetic are heavily 'vania-esque through and through.
Maybe it was overshadowed by the mediocre movie it's based on, but this game is probably the most underrated game I've ever played. And the music is one of my favorite parts about it; I still listen to it to this day.
Having frame rate control the game's speed and even difficulty reminds me of the Turbo mode included on older Devil May Cry games, which sped up the game to give more difficulty, or on my jank and terrible PC at the time, a reasonable game speed with 20 frames per second. And it's amusing that the sped up gameplay can be artificially created here for the added difficulty.
Also I love the og Universal Monsters and how influential they are, I totally agree if they wanted to do a successful Monster Universe it needs to be set in the 1800's or so. The Victorian Era is just the perfect backdrop for the classic Monsters like Dracula and The Wolfman. Plus it works great with characters like The Invisible Man and Frankenstein and his Monster, since science was still new and literally made anything seem possible to the average person.
The music you described sounds a bit like the genre darkwave. Which would be perfect for any game w/ a macabre atmosphere. Its basically new wave, be it art punk or more electronica(not necessarily mutually exclusive) based w mid century horror themes. Think: Bauhaus, interpol, the faint etc ..(if any of those artists are familiar)
Since I have Blasphemous too I was wanting to do the sword lamp jump to get across. Or be instantly killed on the clock tower by the spears.
The game is one and only good thing The Mummy (2017 reboot) gave to us
right on the money about that pixel art, boss
Months ago I was on sort of universal monster phase and I had my eyes on this. Thanks for reminding me this exists.
Unsure how much you like strategy games, but in the category of games featuring anti-supernatural task forces, the Open Xcom mod "The X-Com Files" is pretty good. You start fighting actual aliens later, but at the beginning you're up against werewolves, chupacabra and cults. I recommend it.
Nah, Egyptians building a temple in Iraq is extremely weird, which is why that was a plot point in the 2017 movie
The second I gave this game a chance I never stopped playing it. The music is indeed magnificent. Huntdown is also a gem for me. Did you try that one too?
This channel reminds me of how I miss when Ross would upload consistently 🥺 Lovn this channel, I see I'm starting to binge watch
super cool, glad you review these lesser known interesting things.
I barely remember it, but I think that Cowboys and Aliens wasn't so bad. Kurtzman is a blight notwithstanding, of course.
I remember thinking it was a fun movie when I was a kid
One of the more surprising movie tie ins, just because of its style. Pixelart? Metroidvania? Wat. But welcomed nonetheless, especially if it's of that quality! Love it.
Just found your channel and man I love your commentary and vibe! Never knew this game existed, but wow it's awesome and yeah those backgrounds are works of art!
Okay, so:
WayForward, from what I can tell, seems to have a rep of making decent to great license movie tie-in games. Well, I can't say for sure since the only ones that I'm familiar with are Shantae and this. Either way, I'm of the impression that it's a good thing that WF can't get the a-ok to put Tom Cruise's likeness in this game since it gives them extra leeway to do things that are unrelated to the movie.
And that point about pixel art detractors pushing people to do 3D is something that I find hilariously familiar. Remember when the big thing back in the 5th gen console's 3D leap was people singing praises for games that use the then-revolutionary tech, and calling sprite-based games "a thing of the past"? We're back to square one, it seems.
Oh, right. And a Happy Halloween to you, Andy! Hope you're having a good time doing... whatever it is you guys do during Halloween--don't have 'em where I live. Sounds fun though.
Hang on. Cowboys VS Aliens was actually good. I went into that movie expecting it to be bad, and it was surprisingly enjoyable. Not amazing, but no where near the level of some of those other movies you showed. Lumping it in with the rest of those is unfair.
Metroid meets X-Com meets Metal Slug (the animations seem very close to that last series, ngl!); this game seems like a banger.
I was really surprised it was a licensed game, when I saw the screen I thought "that resembles that crappy Mummy movie" and it might even be thought that they designed the villain to bank on the movie's popularity, but then it turns out it was the real deal
Wayforward is a consistently good small studio.
I am someone who played quite a bit of Metroid and castlevania symphony of the night and I will say the game looks more like Metroid than castlevania, in castlevania sure you have multiple weapons but you had to select them, health does not drop from enemies, and there is like an RPG stat system. that is it.
Hey, remember this cartoon where bunch of dudes, girl and werewolf guy hunted dracula (if i remember corectly) while being equiped with wierd cybernetic gas-masks? And while dracula always sliping away, they have to deal with frankenstein, mummy and other creeps. That's what this game reminds me. And that's what monster-cinematic-universe should've been. "I'm here to solve necronomicon riddles and beat zombies with my ironmanish suit's fists."
I don't know what this is describing but it sounds awesome
@@jorts_master69 Found it after. It was called Monster Force, came out in 1994
The final boss reminds me of Enchantress and her brother from the Suicide Squad movie.
I've got this last week.
Awesome job with this one Andy. Keep it up. 🔥🔥🔥
New intro looks great!
Thanks for reminding me this exists, I played it while drunk at a friends place and couldn't for the life of me remember what it was. I mean can you really blame me, I wouldn't believe it even if you straight up told me... Wolverine Origins is also a pretty good candidate for "better than the movie it's based on".
Game is $10 on Xbox so I had to check a video out. I’m definitely getting it
Hey there, love the content and I appreciate your Halo takes. A game I would recommend is "Roller Drome" and it is Tony Hawk meets arena shooter....... intense fun with a weird premise. You do tricks to get ammo back and it has perfect dodging with powerful shots after a perfect dodge. I just felt like you might enjoy the game.
Love your reviews, some games deserve some more recognition
I really liked this game too, I think it has a lot of potential for a sequel, my biggest issue with it is that the guns dont contribute to anything other than combat. Wouldve been cool if they added to the exploration.
This definitely got that early GameBoy Advance vibe to it, definitely gonna play someday 🔥
Fire Halloween video. Best I've seen this year
There is a game called Assault Suits Valken ( PS2 ) is basic halo 2D game that has have Good story with you fight using The giant mecha and fights in a war engulfing the entire Galaxy.
i see a lawsuit coming in, that map screen looks very familiar, too SIMILAR to Metroid
I liked The Mummy Demastered. Picked it up on PSN during a sale and 100% it. Wish it got a sequel and Wayforward ported Aliens Infestation to current consoles and pc too. I prefer these games to Shante.
Another game that has a special forces unit set up to battle paranormal threats would be Clive Barkers Jericho for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Pretty cool concept, but it was not executed well gameplay wise. FEAR 1 is still the best game to use this concept so far.
Just got around to playing this. This game was highly recommended, so I was ultimately a little let down. I was annoyed that save points didn’t refill health, so I had to waste time shooting boxes and small enemies to refill health way too often. The knockbacks were also very annoying. That’s the Castlevania comparison (along with Clock Tower w/gears). Overall, it’s worth playing.
Have you played Axiom Verge Andy? You might like it a lot
Your take about the game being more metroid than castlevania was so weird. The whole genre is called metroidvania for a reason, as both games have a lot of things in common. And this game looks A LOT like a castlevania.... and obviously feels like metroid too.
This is so fucking awesome! And great vid man! Subbed
looks more like a combo of metroid and metal slug tbh
Its accurate for the movie. Its in Iraq because uh idk when they mummified Ahmanet in the movie they just brought her there I guess
You're right on modern Trek. It's some of the worst stuff I've ever seen. Don't think that you mention Trek too much, if anything I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on it.
Both Star Trek and Star Wars are pretty bad now. I just watch older sci fi movies and shows now.
Wayforward could make a Metroidvania game based on Stargate/SG1. That'd be fun.
You’ve watched as much Ross Scott as me haven’t you haha
Have you played the Wolverine game based on the Origins movie?
How do you lock the game at 60fps when you have a high fps screen
You should play nocturne if you like that premise
I also recommend checking Iconoclasts since it's kinda like Shantae, at least the artwork.
WHAT i played through the whole game at 2.4x speed???
Modern Star Trek is utter garbage. Nobody will remember this era of shows.
What game are you playing at beginning
They are already making like 2 SCP games and one knockoff, so the military task force trope is starting to get overdone
Love this lil game but after playing Metroid dread? Not so much. Still a good game though.
What is that game at 10:22?
Looks kinda like a slugvania.
*Why not start with all upgrades? Without the weapon upgrades, of course, which you have to search for and earn in battle, but everything else would make the game flow and much more fun in my opinion.*
Clickbait! The game is just OK
Or it's his opinion
Mannnnn Fuck this game, love most of it but can’t stand the death mechanics.
Metroidvania is coined because both share game mechanics and neither were considered above the other