Playing the Movies: The Best and Worst Movie Tie-Ins for the Commodore 64

The 1980s to the early 2000s are generally considered the golden age of the movie tie-in video game. If there was an angle to a hit (or potential hit) movie that could be adapted to the arcade or home systems, developers were there to exploit it. Some turned out good, a few excellent, but the vast majority were soulless cash grabs. For every Goldeneye 64, there was a landfill’s worth of E.T., Back to the Future, and Cliffhanger. Like other 8-bit micros of the time, the Commodore 64 was no stranger to the movie tie-in. Here are five that show the good, the bad, and the ugly of these games on the C64.

The Good: Alien 3

Alien 3 was director David Fincher’s entry in the Alien franchise, and the direct follow-up to James Cameron’s highly acclaimed action showpiece, Aliens. Instead of picking up on the threads that Cameron left at the end of the second movie, the writers decided to go in a different direction. This, along with extensive studio interference during production, created a highly divisive final product that Fincher disowned after the fact. Fortunately, Probe Software and Acclaim were able to turn a game into something that exceeded the source material.

You play as the newly sans-hair Ripley, exploring the correctional facility on Fiorina 161, blasting xenomorphs and facehuggers as you complete various missions. The game plays as an action platformer. While there is plenty of running and jumping, fortunately, no real pixel-perfect leaping is required. Complete the mission and escape the level before the timer reaches zero, and you’ll progress to the next.

The graphics for Alien 3 are very well done, with detailed character sprites and smooth animation. The levels, while all very similar in appearance and feel, are well-designed and atmospheric. The sound canvas adds to the game’s creepy atmosphere, with weapon sounds, alien screeches, and music by Andrew Rodger, known for several late C64 releases. The controls can be a bit fiddly, but for the most part, they handle remarkably well. Up to jump was becoming more of an annoyance as the popularity of multi-button controllers on the likes of the NES and Sega Master System grew. Fortunately, gameplay shortcuts like being able to leap onto ladders instead of lining up and climbing made this much less cumbersome than similar games.

The only real complaint that I had about the game is the relentless time limit for each level. While easier difficulties do give enough time to complete the level, there is little to no time for exploring. It becomes a bit of trial and error and memorizing the level layouts to complete each one before the timer hits zero. Timer issues aside, Alien 3 is one of the top movie tie-in games for the C64. If you are a fan of the franchise or action platformers, definitely check it out.

The Bad: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

It’s not uncommon for the sequel to a popular movie to be of lesser (sometimes MUCH lesser) quality than the original. Certain franchises bucked that trend, and Indiana Jones was one of them. After the runaway success of Raiders of the Lost Ark, many questioned whether a sequel could live up to the original. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom quickly silenced the critics. While it didn’t fare quite as well as the original, it was still the highest-grossing movie of 1984 and paved the way for additional adventures. So, of course, a video game adaptation wasn’t far around the corner.

The C64 version of Temple of Doom is actually a port of the arcade game. The Atari original wasn’t a complex game; it was basically a loop of three or four different levels. But the graphics were extensive and detailed, the music was a great representation of John Williams’ original Indy themes, and it included sampled speech, something that Atari was known for in its arcade titles. It controlled well, the minecart level had a nice sense of speed, and there was enough variety to keep players dropping tokens in. Released by US Gold in Europe and Mindscape in the US, the 64 version takes everything great about the arcade original and throws it out the window.

First off, the game looks like mud. The highly detailed character models are barely recognizable here, even by C64 sprite standards. The backgrounds are bland and unoriginal. The music, while still using Williams’ theme, takes a very short rendition and repeats it ad nauseam. You will be sick of it by the time you’re finished tormenting yourself with this game. On the gameplay front, Indy moves like he’s stuck in molasses, both when he’s on his feet and when he’s in the mine car, which should definitely run faster than it does here. Even as a young kid looking for anything to extend my enjoyment of the movie, I knew that this was absolute rubbish. You’ll have a better time watching Kingdom of the Crystal Skull than ever booting this steaming turd up on your beautiful Commodore.

The Good: Batman: The Movie

In our modern world of the DC and Marvel cinematic universes, comic book movies are both big money and seemingly a dime a dozen. It’s hard to remember a time when movie adaptations of comic properties were far from a sure thing, and if your movie didn’t star Superman, you either had a B-movie or a flop. Even the Man of Steel didn’t last beyond a couple of quality films. So when Warner Bros. announced that the director of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice had been tapped to direct a big-screen version of Batman, the news was met with skepticism. When comedic actor Michael Keaton was cast as the Caped Crusader, people were ready to write the film off as another big-budget flop. But Burton’s dark, gritty take on source material, inspired by series like Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, got people in seats. Keaton’s convincing portrayal of millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and his dark alter ego, along with Jack Nicholson’s Joker, firmly established the film’s place in comic book movie history.

Coming on the heels of the well-received Batman: The Caped Crusader from the previous year, Ocean’s Batman: The Movie had high expectations. Fortunately, the game turned out to be good, even though it was a different affair from the action-adventure style of the previous Batman game. The game takes place across five levels, each with one of three distinct gameplay styles. Levels 1 and 5 are action-platform styled. You use your grappling hook to move up levels, and your baterangs to take out the baddies after you. The second and fourth levels of the game are driving/flying levels presented in a similar horizontally scrolling style. Level 2 has you driving the Batmobile through the streets of Gotham back to the Batcave, dodging cars along the way. Level 4 sees you flying the Batwing, trying to cut the strings of the Joker’s poison-filled balloons. Finally, the third level is puzzle-style, as you use the Batcomputer to examine objects from the first level.

There is an argument to be made that the game, with only five levels, is short, but when those five levels are as well-executed as these, it becomes easier to overlook. Even the driving and flying levels, generally seen as the weaker parts of the game, are still fun to play. Overall, the character designs and animations are well-executed, maintaining the distinctive look of the originals. There is no question that this is Keaton’s Batman. Movement is responsive, and the animation, though limited, is still smooth enough not to come off as awkward.

Overall, the title does an excellent job of representing the film’s various set pieces, and it’s definitely worth checking out, even if you’re not a fan of the Burton original.

The Bad: Ghostbusters II

The original Ghostbusters was a genuine phenomenon, one of the most iconic movies of the ’80s. When Columbia Pictures decided to go back to the well for a second go, they brought back all the people who made the first one such a success. Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote the script, and Ivan Reitman was on board to direct once again, with the main cast from the first film also returning. Unfortunately, as often happens, the studio rushed production. Many parts of the original script were cut out after they performed poorly with test audiences. New sections were written and filmed within months of the film’s release. While Ghostbusters II was a financial success, it was panned by critics. The poor critical performance ended the franchise for nearly two decades.

Since the film was expected to be another blockbuster, video game adaptations were a sure bet. The Commodore 64 version is particularly disappointing because it actually looks the part. You start the game with digitized screengrabs from the film, which briefly recap the movie’s plot to that point. The first level starts, and it still looks pretty good. You are descending into the subway under New York to grab a sample of the slime river currently flowing through it. Unfortunately, this is where things start to go wrong. The control is all over the place, as you swing back and forth, trying to avoid grabby ghoulies and collect items from shelves on the way down. If you do stay with it long enough to complete this first level, you are then forced to play through a weird shoot’em up section, with the kaiju Statue of Liberty. It is uninspired and goes on far too long, as you repeatedly shoot the same enemy patterns. If you somehow mentally survive the second level, you are treated to a confusing isometric puzzle-squad shooter hybrid level to complete the game. Between levels, you are treated to more digitized shots from the movie. And, if you manage to make it past the third level, that’s it. You’re treated to scenes from the end of the film, and you’re done.

The most frustrating part of this game is that someone really tried to make it look good. If they could have just spent a bit more time on the gameplay front, it could have been an impressive version of a less-than-stellar movie. I imagine, like the movie on which it’s based, it was rushed through production to meet someone’s timeline, which is too bad. I can say that, even though the game isn’t good, this one is actually worth checking out. But, if you make it past the first level, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The Good: Platoon

1986’s Platoon, by award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, was a gritty, realistic exploration of the horrors of war, based on Stone’s own experiences as a soldier in Vietnam. It was a critical and commercial success, and is often regarded as one of the best war movies ever put to celluloid. Its stark depictions of American actions during the war, and its larger philosophical questions about the morality of war, wouldn’t seem to be fertile ground for a video game adaptation. Yet Ocean Software was tasked with creating a video game tie-in for the movie.

Ocean could have submitted a rushed licensed cash-grab, a run-and-gun war game that had little to do with the film outside of the name. But the developers took the assignment seriously and crafted a game that, like the original movie, is often considered one of the best in the genre.

You start out as a soldier in the jungle, making your way through the maze of undergrowth and trees, watching out for booby traps and enemy soldiers. You have objectives to complete, such as blowing a bridge up, as you search for a Vietnamese village in the dense forest. Here, you must locate items to assist you as you continue through the underground tunnel system dug by the Vietnamese army. This next section switches to a pseudo-first-person shooter style, and you follow the map through the labyrinth of tunnels. Eliminate enemies along the way, and collect supplies from the enemy supply caches found throughout the tunnel system. If you manage to find your way to the tunnel exit, the next game level has you sitting in a machine gun bunker, peering into the dark of the night to try and eliminate the enemy threats before they can shoot you. Should you survive the long night in the nest, your final challenge will be to take out an enemy bunker deep in the jungle. This final level switches up the gameplay style again, opting for an overhead 3rd-person view similar to Capcom’s Commando, but without the scrolling screen. If you can eliminate the final bunker, you will be granted an honorable discharge and sent home.

Every level of this game is well-crafted and plays smoothly. The graphics are detailed and colorful. Overall, the game’s atmosphere creates a sense of tension and is probably the closest to a realistic combat simulation ever released on the 64—aspects like squad management and morale help elevate it beyond a simple run-and-gun shooter. It’s not easy, but war never is. Though it doesn’t explicitly delve into the same moral discussions as the source material (you are still admonished for shooting civilians), Platoon does the movie well. It is an easy recommendation for those looking for good movie tie-ins.

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