So it would appear that 2009 is breaking the trend giving us good movie tie-in games and lots to look forward to this summer.  So let’s highlight some of this summer’s hottest games and see if the movie-tie ins can soar instead of crash and burn like so many movie games have before<ahem, this means you Terminator : Salvation><ahem>.

This shouldn’t come as news to any of you, some of us have been enjoying the fruits of these games already.  Let me kick off with five honorable mentions to this category, two of which are already out and receiving rave reviews-Ghostbusters and Prototype.  Drawing comparisons to Hulk : Ultimate Destruction in GTA IV’s environment, Prototype puts players in control of an Anti-Hero with amazing powers in a run down New York City environment.  Ghostbusters, despite a lack of multiplayer on the PC port, also has been drawing high praise, and can be loosely considered a movie tie-in game. The one honorable mention we must still wait for is Batman : Arkham Asylum.  A cross between a Splinter-Cell game and a super-hero game Arkham looks to do right all of the things that Batman Begins had promised us back in the Xbox/PS2 days of capitalizing on stealth, suprise and fear to achieve Batman’s goals.  Sure Batman : AA isn’t a movie-tie in either, but it’s nice to see some AAA titles drop during the hot summer months to give us something to do while we are nursing our sunburns.  Lastly, arriving late this year for PC players is Red Faction : Guerrilla due 8/25 retailing at $39.99 and Bionic Commando due 7/28 and also retailing for $39.99.  Red Faction seems to be the more acclaimed of the two, but I’m not willing to count out Super Joe’s savior just yet. Look for those late releases this summer to revitalize your PC playlist.

The first two movie tie-ins, already out and receiving praise from our hosts at EDG are the Wolverine : Origins game and the Pixar movie game Up.  Read Patrick’s review for Up in the reviews section here, it’s great to see Pixar continue the trend set with Cars by having good, family oriented movie-tie in games.  On the other end of the spectrum, Wolverine : Origins drops it’s movie PG-13 rating like a bad habit and let’s players enjoy the full brutality of an uncaged Wolverine out for revenge.  Logan’s bloodlust matches that of Playstation poster-boy Kratos from the God of War series, and in a surprising and satisfying twist we PC gamers get to enjoy the full Uncaged Edition of Wolverine that appears on the 360 and PS3 as opposed to getting the shoddy PS2/Wii ports we are used to seeing ported over to the PC.  Please keep this trend going!  Somewhere in the middle of these two games was Monsters VS Aliens which released March 23rd of this year, barely squeezing into the Spring release mark, but kicking off this season of decent movie tie-ins.  Monsters VS Aliens
didn’t reinvent the wheel, but it gave young fans of the movie a good, family oriented game to play to stretch the movie experience, and at a palatable 20 bucks on the PC.

Fast forward to the onset of July and we have three more summer games to keep us indoors and pasty white as we while away the hours in front of our monitors.  By now Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen has made it’s splash, and seems to be drawing the same mixed reviews as it’s movie counterpart has—some even better than the movie.  While the content in the Transformers 2 big screen release has pushed more moral boundaries than it’s previous outing, the game looks to open up more playable characters, expand the combat from the first iteration and emerge onto the online scene allowing players to take their favorite Autobots or Decepticons online in the fight for Earth’s fate.  Look for my review of this game at a later date, as of yet I’m still working my way through it.  Harry Potter has seen rising success with the iterations of his movies in game format, and Ice Age will get it’s third shot at a good movie tie-in.  Both games are out as of this writing and both games are budget priced for the PC–$20.00 for Ice Age and $30.00 for Mr Potter.  Harry Potter’s riding the coattails(or would that be broomsticks?) of his last game’s success and hopes to continue that trend, while Ice Age : Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a first emergence for the series on next-gen consoles–and next gen PC visuals.  Six characters become available to play out the story of the new Ice Age movie, and hopefully this will be another family friendly title to curl up with during the sweaty months this summer.

Bring up the caboose of our summer games list is one more title that is heavy on my radar- G-Force.  G-Force captures the characters from the upcoming Disney movie of the same name involving a team of crack spies–guinea pig spies that is.  Am I wrong in assuming that only good can come from merging the cartoon humor and atmosphere that Disney can create with the spy gadgets and gameplay we see in game slike Metal Gear and Splinter Cell?  This has all the trappings of another great game to pick up and play with the kids.  Add to that the fact that this is another $19.99 PC title, and it’s a win-win situation in my eyes.  Surprisingly MIA this summer on PC’s, and really upsetting, is the iteration of GI Joe Rise Of Cobra.  I know expectations for the movie are low, but it seems like a simple enough game for EA to make—give us enough characters to play, carry over the voice-acting from the movie characters, vary the missions enough, and provide melee combat just deep enough for us to play as Storm Shadow and Snake without getting the “mash ‘A’ until it dies” feel.  Sadly, we’ll never know, as GI Joe will only release for consoles and handhelds.  Still, it’s shaping up to be a great summer, oh and I’m sure it’ll be warm out, and there will be swimming, and…..yeah, whatever, let’s get back to the games!

So by now you may have noticed my repetitiveness in the use of the phrase “Family Friendly”, or maybe you haven’t.  The fact that I have five boys may have something to do with that, also the fact that I enjoy sharing my gaming hobby with them.  I’d like to wrap this article up by making you think about the summer blockbusters and games heading our way this summer, because a funny thing happened to me that made me stop and think.  I went to the GI Joe website for the video game and noticed that I had to provide my birth date in order to view the video game’s website.  Having been weened on a steady diet of Transformers and GI Joe during my childhood, I thought this was odd and it made me reflect on what our children will be watching this summer.  I regret taking my older three boys to see Wolverine, and wonder if that was a wise decision.  Further, I refuse to indulge them with the gratuitous language and “crude” references that seem to be abundant in Transformers 2, or the brutality that abounds in the Wolverine game. The older comic book fan of these franchises in me is teeming with excitement to see satisfactory titles hit store shelves like the Origins game.  Then there’s the kids beside me who don’t understand why they can’t see the movie or play the game. It seems sad to me that two of the biggest franchises from my childhood need to be polluted and inappropriate for my children to share in.  Do we really need to allow so much vulgarity and innuendos in movies that are aimed at kids for the summer season?  Yes, I know what a PG-13 rating means, but that’s exactly my point, these movies, in my opinion, should not have anything in them that deem such a rating necessary.  It seems to me that we are trading fan service for appropriate material, and at the cost of our children because now as parents we must either give in and allow them to be exposed to things we may not want to, or shelter them from it and leave them out of what could have been a fun experience.  It’s a decision that saddens me and reminds me of the innocence lost between the animated Transformers movie and the live action one that felt the need to explain “alone time” for Sam Witwicki (explain that to you 11, 8 and 6 year olds in the theater).  Personally, I’d like to see the focus brought back to movies and games we can share with our children rather than keep them away from.

But enough moral chatter, let’s get ready for summer gaming!  Grab that compressed air and blow out your tower, defrag your hard drive, change the filter in your AC and download those up to date drivers, there’s a heavy hitting summer of gaming upon us!