Welcome to Tues Your Own Adventure! Join Jules and James as they take a look at more video games better than the movie they're based on! Avoid the movie, play the game!
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00:00One more time, one more time, one more time.
00:02Hello all of you little demons, Jules here for whatculture.com, back again with another
00:06episode of the awesomely named and awfully hosted Choose Your Own Adventure, the weekly
00:11medieval format where I, the crown jewels of whatculture.com, take a list chosen by
00:15you, yes you, the person who has unfortunately got a rather nasty ingrown hair on the side
00:20of my head.
00:21I've said this before, I'm bold.
00:23God, why?
00:24You've made me bold, why do you also give me ingrown hairs?
00:26That's not fair.
00:27It's not fair, and yes, it is as painful as it looks, so apologies, you're just going
00:31to have to put up with staring at my third eye over here.
00:34Right, yes you, get to decide what list I dole out to you each and every week, and this
00:38week we have, ba ba ba ba ba ba, my drum trumpets, as somebody pointed out in the previous episode,
00:44Big Gran.
00:45And their suggestion of video games better than the movie that they're based on.
00:49Now here's the thing, Jess actually did a video very recently that covered this exact
00:53topic, it was very confusing to see this suggestion come up and then be told by my boss we've
00:56actually already had this one in the works, so what I've done is I've done a sequel to
01:00this already, we're doing eight more baby, you can't stop this train rolling, so let's
01:05get on with this lovely list, shall we?
01:07As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are eight more video games better than
01:12the movie they're based on, and you know the drill by now.
01:15Say hi to me here over in the live chat and pop your suggestions for next week's episode
01:18down in the comments section below.
01:20Now with that in mind, let's get on with this list, shall we?
01:24Number eight, Ratchet and Clank for the PS4.
01:26Now I know what you're probably thinking to yourself, James, that you're probably thinking
01:30Jules you absolute pebble-headed idiot, what are you doing, smoking the asbestos again?
01:34Get down from the roof mate, I'm pretty sure that Ratchet and Clank was a game for the
01:38PS2 and not a movie to begin with.
01:41Well you know what mate, I know that's what you were thinking, but why don't you suck
01:44on some of this?
01:45That's right, it's the evil finger temple, it's back baby, because I've got a scheme.
01:51That's right, you've fallen into my trap, for you see my dear friend, the Ratchet and
01:55Clank video game that dropped on the PS4 wasn't actually a remake of the beloved first game
02:00in the series, it was actually a video game based on a movie of the same name, which itself
02:04was based on the original game.
02:06And what an experience it was, offering up beautiful graphics, an astounding dollop of
02:11nostalgia and some cutscenes ripped from the movie tying things together.
02:15It's just a shame really that the movie itself felt rather flat, as despite all of its flash
02:20never felt like it was really firing on all cylinders.
02:22Thankfully the movie's splices were kept to a minimum so the gameplay could speak for
02:26itself, and reminded the world why this pair of platforming pals are as well regarded as
02:31they are.
02:32I always feel like we've got like a kind of Ratchet and Clank vibe going on here James,
02:35you know what I'm saying?
02:36You know, I'm the wisecracking superhero main star of the show, good looking and all, and
02:41you're just this uh, this backpack that I wear, you know?
02:45You.
02:467.
02:47Alien 3
02:48Now, it's no secret that the third Alien film had something of a troubled production,
02:52with massive changes to its directorial team, a desire for the central cast to exit the
02:56franchise permanently, and of course the fact that shooting began without an official script
03:01in place.
03:02Therefore, it is something of a miracle that Alien 3 was as watchable as it was.
03:07Don't get me wrong, it's still a pretty awful movie, but you know what, I don't think
03:11I could do any better without any script in place, although I do know that my version
03:16of Alien 3 would have actually included a lot more Xenomorph Dog, and if you don't
03:20know what that is, check it out, I'm sure that James has put a picture of it up right
03:23here right now, look at that, that is adorably deadly.
03:26Therefore, when it came to the obligatory movie tie-in video game, the bar was set pretty
03:31low, meaning that this project could have just been squirted out with little care and
03:34been considered better by the fanbase.
03:37Yet Alien 3 actually went one step beyond, and delivered two amazing games with completely
03:42different vibes for the Genesis and the Schneers.
03:45For those of you looking for a highly polished action game with an utterly banging soundtrack,
03:49then the Genesis version was for you, yet if you were looking for more suspense and
03:54scares, then the Schneers version capitalised on minimalistic horror.
03:58It's actually impossible to compare these two games, as they really did strike different
04:02chords, but when combined, they made that sweet cacophony of screams that I've been
04:07told in space, nobody can hear.
04:096.
04:10Cars the Video Game
04:11Right, okay, so let's face facts here, Cars as a movie property is a very, uh, well, greasy
04:17one indeed.
04:18In fact, I'm pretty sure that somebody just slapped down a volume of how to market to
04:23dummies for dummies, ya dummy, and then just slapped a picture of Lightning McQueen on
04:27top saying ka-cha-ka-chow, whatever it is he says, ka-pow, ka-bing, ka-zinga-bing, big
04:33bang bazinga beans.
04:34I don't know, it's a piece of sh** film.
04:37Because boy howdy, this film is just the worst.
04:40And it doesn't matter if you thought that the story about a pompous car learning some
04:44humility was a good one, the fact of the matter is that this was the most blatant Disney has
04:48ever been when it came to their desire to unload toys, and lest we not forget, they
04:52made an entire franchise based around toys themselves.
04:55I think it was called, like, a capitalist story or something like that, I forget.
05:00Everything from the ground up was designed around an item or a playset to be portioned
05:04off and sold to the public, and when coupled with a three act tale so thin on material
05:08a ghost looked more substantial, made for one of the weakest Pixar films in years.
05:13And yet, the game released alongside this film was actually really decent.
05:18This was down to the fact that with such a generic film to go off, and such an easy adaptation
05:22to work with, because let me just run the numbers on that one, James, let's go to
05:26the lab for a second shall we, okay so we've got cars, plus game, carry the one, equals
05:32cargo brum brum game.
05:36So yeah, the devs were basically handed a home run.
05:38But the fact that they went above and beyond to make the drifting feel responsive and the
05:42AI challenging enough to demand your attention really was the icing on a rather oily cake.
05:475.
05:48The Mummy Demastered
05:50Okay so let's face facts, the 2017 Tom Cruise starring The Mummy was a bit of a bomb.
05:58In fact actually to call it a bomb would actually imply that it had any sort of impact whatsoever,
06:02as this was kind of like a drab sprinkling of confetti, wet confetti at that, in the
06:07back alley of a Tesco's, and on each part of the confetti it just had a sad emoji face
06:19on it.
06:20It was a piece of trash.
06:22Things started off poorly with a trailer being released online with a missing audio track,
06:27meaning that all we could hear was Cruise's grunts and groans, something that would indeed
06:30be echoed by the audiences upon watching the final product, as this was utterly woeful.
06:36It was clear that, much like DC had found out prior, that rushing towards an ensemble
06:40movie in order to launch a cinematic universe was only ever going to end in disaster.
06:45Yet unlike DC, who had the strength of their characters to pull things back into place,
06:49this horror cinematic universe had, uh, Tom Cruise chewing scenery and running away from
06:55badly animated ghosts?
06:57Yay!
06:58Oh, the two thumb seal's back, yay, oaf oaf!
07:02However, while things were looking pretty dire on the film front, The Mummy Demastered,
07:06which was released alongside the film, was truly excellent.
07:09A metroidvania experience through and through, this game looked as beautiful as it was brutal.
07:15But the best feature by far was that when you died, your body would become possessed,
07:19meaning that you'd need to dispatch this shambling corpse in order to get back your
07:22loot.
07:23This, coupled with some exceptional level design, meant that while the film equivalent
07:27was drowning, The Mummy Demastered was riding a huge wave of critical and commercial acclaim.
07:324.
07:33The Warriors
07:34Oh, I absolutely love the Warriors film, I absolutely love it, my friends.
07:39It is a cult classic that most definitely lives up to the second part of that label,
07:44offering up vibrant and over-the-top gangs, a ruthlessly simple plot of get home without
07:49being battered, something that people who live in Gateshead can feel very seen by, and
07:53yes, I can say that because I live there, and of course, the endlessly quotable lines
07:57of dialogue.
07:58It is ridiculous, and I love it.
08:00Therefore I, alongside so many others, were sent into an absolute spin when it was announced
08:05that Rockstar of all people was going to be making a video game adaptation of The Warriors
08:09decades after the film's release, and you know what?
08:12It was absolutely stunning.
08:14It captured the magic of the film immediately, presenting a rough and gritty aesthetic that
08:19was backed up with hard-hitting and tooth-rattling combat.
08:22Yet its most surprising touch of brilliance was that the game actually gave us a prequel
08:26tale informing players on how the Warriors got started as they split from, and then defeated,
08:32the Destroyers.
08:33It could have been a throwaway prologue, but the devs went above and beyond here, elevating
08:38the entire IP and expanding upon the characters that we knew and loved, and when you add in
08:43all of the hard-hitting combat and a fantastic two-player offering, this game, oh, it absolutely
08:49smacks.
08:50It smacks, mate.
08:513.
08:52Toy Story 2 Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue
08:55Right, okay, I have got something very, very special for you today.
08:59I am bringing back the Wumper List, alright?
09:03I'm letting you know in advance, okay?
09:07All I'm saying is, Toy Story, Andy's Mum's Bedside Drawer, these two are on a collision
09:14course, but they are being intercepted by the true Wumper List, which is me giving an
09:19entire entry to James Dowse.
09:21Oh yeah, baby!
09:23Hit it.
09:24What?
09:253.
09:26Toy Story 2 Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue
09:27Right, so this game is absolutely fantastic.
09:29I played so much of it as a kid, and when you've got the film, which is a 10 out of
09:3310 film in itself, from beginning to end, you cry, you laugh, you cry again because
09:37Jesse gets, you know, abandoned in that box, that's not the point.
09:41The game is just even that little tiny bit better because you play as Buzz and you go
09:46around all of the locations that were in the film, you fight the old prospector, you race
09:51against Arcee, you do everything that you always wanted to do in a Toy Story game, and
09:57then some.
09:58It's just absolutely outstanding, and that's all I've got to say.
10:02Brilliant game.
10:04Well done.
10:05Well done, James.
10:06Well done.
10:07Fantastic performance.
10:082.
10:09Dragon Ball Evolution So, IGN once called Dragon Ball Evolution
10:14for the PSP a piece of trash, a disaster burned to UMD, and that is some pretty serious
10:21accolades, let me tell you.
10:24And yet, and yet, it is still a better, better project than the goddamn silver screen version.
10:33Because I say this with ultimate peace and love, despite this game not being fit to blow
10:37my arse on, it is still better than the abomination that was the DBZ-E film.
10:42And seriously, if you have never seen it, do yourself a favour and continue to live
10:46with the serenity such a choice has befitted you with.
10:49It is genuinely stunning that a project with this amount of content to draw on, and with
10:53this amount of goodwill, failed so spectacularly, butchering beloved characters, botching what
10:58should have been climactic fights, and setting up for a sequel that thankfully never came.
11:03And so, when your fighting game barely works, looks like it was made using assets from the
11:07PS2 game A Dog's Life, and is about as deep as a shallow grave, it is still better
11:15than Dragon Ball Evolution that came out in cinemas.
11:211.
11:22World War Z
11:23To say that some were hyped for the release of the World War Z movie was a bit of an understatement,
11:28what with the fanbase themselves forming a towering mass of bodies that were clambering
11:32over one another to see how Max Brooks' phenomenally granular survival guide would
11:36be adapted for the big screen.
11:38However, those groans and cries dulled significantly when it turned out that Brad Pitt would helm
11:43the project as its lead, thus confirming that it would be yet another by-the-numbers zombie
11:47flick for the popcorn-munching masses.
11:50And lo and behold, upon hitting cinemas, it was clear as day that all the edges had been
11:53smoothed off this film, and an upbeat Deus Ex Machina moment was included so as not to
11:58ever challenge the audience in the slightest.
12:00Therefore, it was a bit strange to see this lukewarm pool of piss be used to baptise a
12:05game of the same name in 2019, six years after the film's release.
12:09And even more shocking was the fact that this game was bloody excellent.
12:13To be fair, the game did struggle a bit out of the gate, being compared a lot to Left
12:164 Dead 2.5, but that is not exactly what I'd call a criticism, and thanks to the continued
12:22support from the devs and the modding community at large, they basically kept the game alive
12:26and then elevated it again and again and again, to the point now where if you go back and
12:30play it today, there's still players online and they're having a great time, it's so
12:34varied, there's so much to do, there's so many relentless enemies to kill and survive,
12:38it's just, it's a very fun game, and seeing as Back 4 Blood kind of pulled its own kegs
12:44down a little bit, still waiting for that to be rebalanced to be good enough to play
12:48and recommend at least, I'm actually finding myself tempted to go back.
12:52So yeah, it's a good game, based on a pretty, hoo hoo hoo, not so good movie.
12:56And there we go my friends, those were eight more video games better than the movie they
13:00were based on.
13:01I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
13:03the comments section below, as well as your suggestions for next week's episode.
13:07As always, if you want to chat to me further, you can do so over on Twitter, at RetroJWithAZero,
13:11or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice, where I do all of my streaming outside of work,
13:15and it'd be great to see you over there.
13:17At the moment I'm going through WWE 2K22, and we've built a character who is a Jacobean
13:22ghost called Spooky Ghost, and he is haunting his way to the top in style.
13:27Oh yes.
13:28Yes, but before I go, I do just want to say one more thing, hope you're treating yourself
13:32with love and respect my friend, because you deserve all of the best things in life,
13:36and do not let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise, alright?
13:39You're a massive ledge, now go up there and utterly smash it.
13:42Big love to ya.
13:44See you next time.
13:45Bye.