The Obligatory Movie Game Podcast

For this year’s Valentine’s Day Obligatory Movie Game Podcast Episode, the love affair with Arnold Schwarzennegar movies continues as Devon and Judd sit down to discuss Total Recall for the NES. As big sci-fi fans, they chat about some of the themes that frequently pop up in Philip K. Dick’s stories, and they compare the future in Total Recall to our present, thirty-three years after the film came out. Even though the game is ridiculously hard, they find some elements of the setting and storytelling to praise. Like with any 8-bit tie-in, lots of the film has been left out, and plenty of weird things have been shoehorned in, but it all adds to the game’s charm, at least for a couple of old-school Arnie fans

0:00:00 Intro
0:04:23 IMDB Dive
0:14:38 Film Chat/Where We’re Coming From
0:43:48 Time Machine Time
0:50:05 Plot
1:15:50 Characters
1:29:30 Setting
1:41:37 Rate, Recap, Recommend

On this episode of the Obligatory Movie Game Podcast, Devon and Hudson take advantage of the hype around the recent Avatar sequel, and tackle the Avatar game for PS3 and Xbox 360 that released along with the first movie. Since the game is technically a prequel, they compare the plot of the movie to that of the game and find they’re remarkably similar. Devon and Hudson also need to compare their playthroughs to each other because the game allows the player to make a choice early on between siding with the Na’vi or the humans. Even though Devon and Hudson chose different paths, they discovered that the tasks were pretty similar. Ubisoft did a pretty good job of making the world feel like Pandora, but the plot, characters, and their relationships (or lack thereof) made the game feel a little empty. There were still a lot of things to laugh at though..

0:00:00 Intro
0:03:40 IMDB Dive
0:10:27 Where We’re Coming From
0:18:12 Plot
0:31:40 Time Machine Time
0:36:30 Plot Cont’d
1:01:15 Characters
1:22:15 Setting
1:32:10 Rate, Recap, Recommend

In this episode of the Obligatory Movie Game Podcast Devon and Jon discuss two video game adaptations of a movie instead of one. Two different studios developed Aladdin games in 1993 (plus there were about a million ports), and since Jon grew up playing the Super Nintendo version he focuses on that adaptation, while Devon focuses on the SEGA Genesis version. Both games were adored by critics and gamers upon their release, and there’s a playful debate over which game is better. They’re both cartoony platformers with a lot of heart, and they both managed to conjure some of the film’s Disney magic. However, as with any movie games there are some goofy additions (and omissions) such as an ancient pyramid level, attacking skeletons, and some psychedelic inner lamp levels. These are truly some legendary 16-bit diamonds in the rough.

0:00:00 Intro
0:06:55 IMDB Dive
0:16:00 Where We’re Coming From
0:25:45 Plot
0:41:14 Time Machine Time
0:50:38 Plot Cont’d
1:07:00 Characters
1:31:03 Setting
1:40:52 Music
1:43:50 Rate, Recap, Recommend

For this episode of the Obligatory Movie Game Podcast, Devon and Shawn finally cover a James Bond game. There have been many James Bond video games across various consoles, but From Russia With Love has a special charm to it. The game was made in between Pierce Brosnan’s tenure as Bond and that of his successor Daniel Craig, and the developers decided to use the limbo period to show some love to the classic Connery era. For this game, Sean Connery reprised the role for the final time, voicing his iconic Agent 007. The game is a bit of a love better to Connery’s Bond, as it works in vehicles and gadgets from some of his other films as well. The game takes Bond through the events of From Russia With Love, but adds in some of its own scraps, and even new characters. Devon and Shawn embrace their love for Bond as they compare the second official film in the franchise to the 2005 tie-in for PS2/Xbox/Gamecube

0:00:00 Intro
0:06:07 Warm-up
0:16:57 Where We’re Coming From
0:27:30 Plot
0:41:26 Time Machine Time
0:48:56 Plot Cont’d
1:29:45 Characters
1:48:50 Setting/Tone/Music

Happy holidays everyone! In this episode of the Obligatory Movie Game Podcast, Devon and Judd take a look at the Die Hard Trilogy for the original Playstation and SEGA Saturn. The package came with three totally different games based on the first three Die Hard films. The three games were on a single disc and each one had its own style of gameplay (third person shooter, first person on-rails shooter, and vehicular action game). For this chat, Devon and Judd focused on the game based on the first movie. They talk about some of the ridiculous aspects of the game such as the accentless-Germans, the lack of plot, cutscenes and supporting cast, and the layered screams of the burning hostages. Of course, they also discuss some of the things that fit nicely with the movie like the game’s environments and John McClane’s muscle shirt.

0:00:00 Intro
0:06:27 IMDB Dive
0:17:09 Where We’re Coming From
0:28:00 Weird Stuff
0:33:35 Nailed It
0:48:29 Time Machine Time
0:57:53 Nailed It Cont’d
1:13:20 Failed It
1:30:00 Rate, Recap and Recommend

In this episode, Devon sits down with Rob White (musician with Roughsleeper and Workprint, writer/director for Hot Tag Films and Art on Fire) and his brother Nathan White (visual artist, graphic designer, and member of Art on Fire) to talk about Christmas stuff. They talk about “normie” Christmas movies as well as Christmas horror flicks. Rob and Nathan dig into some notable punk Christmas EPs, albums, and singles, before sharing some Christmas memories. They show some love to various James Bond movies and video games, listing off some faves as well as some (mostly) lovable duds. All three guys explain how yearly book challenges can help one to expand their literary tastes, and they list off some highlights from past challenges.

0:00:00 Intro
0:10:09 Christmas
0:54:56 Wambaminstagram
1:03:10 Read
1:20:03 Play
1:31:28 Create
1:57:57 Watch
2:12:50 Plugs

In this episode of the Obligatory Movie Game Podcast, Devon sits down with his brother Mark to discuss the PS3 version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In an unusual twist, the “Uncaged Edition” for Playstation 3/Xbox 360/PC cranks up the gore and brutality from the film, which earned the game a Mature rating. The game follows the events of the film, but works in its own subplot that features a couple extra characters from the comics. Hailed by critics and fans alike as the definitive Wolverine video game experience upon its release, X-Men Origins Wolverine manages to channel the gruff but gallant nature of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine from the films while delivering a bloody, pre-PS4 God of War-style experience.

0:00:00 Intro
0:05:30 IMDB Dive
0:12:23 Where We’re Coming From
0:19:56 Plot
0:36:57 Time Machine Time
0:43:12 Plot Cont’d
1:09:50 Characters
1:26:44 Setting
1:32:25 Tone
1:40:48 Rate, Recap, Recommend

For this episode of the Obligatory Movie Game Podcast, Devon and Chris finally cover a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Starting off with arguably the greatest movie game for the NES, they sat down to experience the many shades of Batman (his suit in the cutscenes sometimes resembles the black suit from Tim Burton’s 1989 film, but the Batman that the player controls seems to be dressed more like Adam West’s version of the caped crusader). The colours of Batman’s suit aren’t the only things that differ from the movie that this game is ostensibly based on, as the developers played fast and loose with their source material, adding in metroidesque machines, and various bizarre brutes and bosses. Ultimately, the Joker is up to no good, and Batman needs to take him down, and that’s really all you need for an 8 bit beat-em-up with the Bat. Oh, and a killer soundtrack.

0:00:00 Intro
0:04:53 IMDB Dive
0:14:32 Where We’re Coming From
0:21:40 Plot
0:44:28 Time Machine Time
0:50:52 Plot Cont’d
1:15:40 Characters
1:47:07 Setting
1:53:40 Tone/Music
2:01:12 Rate, Recap, Recommend

For this special Halloween edition of Pitch Party, Devon, Alexis and Bart discuss their ideas for a video game based on the comedy horror cult hit WolfCop. The Pitch Party episodes are an offshoot of The Obligatory Movie Game Podcast in which three people come up with, and defend, their own concepts for video games based on films that they love. Bart is in the director’s chair this time around, and Devon and Alexis have prepared two wildly disparate pitches for him. Will they conjure up a werewolf beat-em-up à la Altered Beast, or perhaps a light gun urine-based shooter made for the arcades? No need to wait until the next full moon to find out. The Pitch Party spooky spectacular Halloween episode is here!

00:00 Intro
05:11 Warm-up Discussion (Hot Takes, Alternate Casting, Ideal Doubleheader etc.)
12:54 Pitch 1 (Alexis)
16:10 Pitch 2 (Devon)
28:02 Questions
40:35 The Verdict

For this episode of the Obligatory Movie Game Podcast, Devon and Hudson sit down to chat about Aliens Versus Predator for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. They begin the episode by ranking the thirteen films that make up the Alien, Predator and AVP franchises, including the newest film in the Predator universe, Prey. This game differs from most games featured on the OMGP since it borrows and pays homage to quite a few tenuously linked films, while still crafting its own story. Aliens Versus Predator features three distinct campaigns that allow the player to control a xenomorph, a predator, or a marine. The three campaigns all intertwine to tell an original, yet familiar story packed with action, terror and gruesome kills.

0:00:00 Intro
0:07:04 Ranking All 13 Films
0:17:30 Where We’re Coming From
0:21:53 Plot
0:25:41 Plot (Alien campaign)
0:40:56 Time Machine Time
0:47:05 Plot (Marine Campaign)
1:05:38 Plot (Predator Campaign)
1:13:48 Characters
1:28:27 Setting
1:32:02 Tone, Music, Sound
1:33:53 Rate, Recap, Recommend