Aug
9
“The Dark Knight” Doesn’t Play Games
Filed Under Blockbusters, Movies, Video Games | Leave a Comment
Earlier today, I was wondering why there isn’t a video game based on “The Dark Knight,” then coincidentally, I stumbled upon an article in Newsweek that’s just as puzzled as I am. Setting aside the fact that friggin’ Newsweek(?!) is addressing this issue, what gives? Surely a crappy video game tie-in must’ve been considered at some point. You can’t sneeze at the mall without some of your sputum hitting scores of bat-paraphernalia. The glaring omission of a video game based on the biggest movie of the summer — and doubtless the year — is curious indeed.
“The Dark Knight” is clearly a more grown-up superhero movie, but I think it still could rather easily translate to consoles. Hell, the climax of the movie couldn’t be more like a video game, as Batman fights his way through dozens of clowns, cops and canines on one level of a building after the another before reaching the top and having a final showdown with the Joker — a total rip-off of Donkey Kong.
How rad would it be to play a Batman game that follows the more open-ended approach to gaming that’s all the rage these days, one in which you could play as Bats, Commissioner Gordon, a Copycat Batman, Two-Face or even the Joker? Each character would have his own strengths and weaknesses. Batman, of course, would have all the moves and gadgets, but no gun; Gordon would come armed and able to summon help in the form of the GCPD, but not be able to soar across the rooftops; a Copycat Batman would have an arsenal, but limited fighting abilities and only hockey pads to protect him; the possibilities are limitless.
Side missions could include Batman’s trip to Hong Kong, or the Joker putting a smile on a mob underboss’ face. It’d be a video game adaptation that — unlike the ones for the Spider-Man films — wouldn’t have to bring in all sorts of 3rd rate villains to pad out the storyline. There’s so much going on in “The Dark Knight,” you don’t really need any embellishments. And holy cats, the Bat-Pod level would be the sickest thing ever.
I’m not even a ginormous gamer, and I want this game to appear from the ether in time for Christmas. According to the article, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. I guess I’ll have to boogie over to Amazon.com and pick up the underselling “Batman Begins” video game instead. Sigh.
-Brad Lohan
Jul
11
Playing With Legos…on Your Nintendo
Filed Under Blockbusters, Movies, Video Games | 1 Comment
I’m old enough to remember playing Atari. The graphics were blocky, like everything was built from Lego bricks. But there weren’t any Lego-themed games on Atari. No, when I was a kid, I played with Legos the old-fashioned way: I had my parents build a pirate ship or whatever, then I dismantled it and cried. Point is, Legos were something real. They were little, interlocking rectangular bricks you could hold in your hand, unlike the squarish characters in an Atari game that were just a jumble of pixels mashed together on your TV screen.
Technology has greatly improved since I was a kid. Video games now are uber-sophisticated. Ask any one of the 400-pound unwashed apes that are hardcore gamers and work as testers for one of the myriad software companies in my office park. Nintendo, Playstation and XBox have come a long way since Donkey Kong first lobbed barrels at some dwarfish plumber with a mustache.
In fact, video games have come so far, they’ve engulfed other activities for youngish shut-ins, such as playing with Legos. Why spend all that time waiting for you folks to finish putting together that Medieval castle when you can just buy a Lego-themed video game and have it already built and part of the backdrop of your sprawling Lego-verse? Actually, it goes deeper than that.
Toy licensing has also improved significantly since I was a kid. I came onto the scene right before regulations were relaxed on cartoons in the early-’80s, and suddenly, you could own action figures based on characters in your favorite animated series. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Whenever older folks lament that they didn’t have this or that as a child, it’s not because they think they were better off without it. No, they’re just jealous as all get out. I liked having legions of He-Man and Transformer and Ninja Turtle action figures. Toys certainly challenged my imagination more than swinging a baseball bat or tossing a football.
At any rate, Legos were extremely late to the party when it came to licensing characters from other media, be it cartoons or children’s films. I believe their first big licensing deal was with the “Star Wars” franchise — big surprise there — but that wasn’t even until the late-’90s. They’ve since branched out to the Harry Potter, Batman and Indiana Jones franchises. Even more recently, they’ve licensed themselves out to all the video game platforms. So not only can you play a Lego video game, but you can play a Lego video game about Batman or Indiana Jones or Star Wars.
This is very weird to me. I’ll admit that I’ve been tempted to pick up the”Lego: Indiana Jones” game — everything’s just so gosh-darn cute about it — but isn’t the experience of playing a game about Legos sort of less rewarding than actually playing with Legos? No, you can’t play professional sports or steal cars or shoot zombies in real life. I understand why there are games for that. But you can play with Legos. Of course, the worlds are more elaborate in a Lego video game than in reality, but that’s sort of where your imagination kicks in. Hell, I’m old school enough to remember the rather spare environments that served as backdrops in Atari games; yes, kids, there was a time when you had to use your imagination to play a video game.
If this trend continues — and why wouldn’t it? — I hope they start putting out more mature Lego-themed titles. I want “Lego: Resident Evil” or “Lego: God of War.” I want to see what blood and gore look like in Legoland. “Lego: Mortal Kombat” would be something else.
Video games started out looking like a stack of Lego bricks. Now the technology has come full-circle. Today’s Lego-themed games are just hyper-detailed squares and rectangles. But for all the graphical advancements, the magic of playing with Legos — literally, not on some machine — has been lost.
-Brad Lohan