Like a chocolate and fried egg kebab, movie/video game cross-overs are an unappealing prospect. Anomalies such as Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 and Resident Evil are rare exceptions to the rule. Although a fantastic title such as Grand Theft Auto takes a cue from its low-budget namesake it's pretty obvious that the game wasn't produced in order to promote the original film. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the gaming versions of blockbusters such as Home Alone and Jurrassic Park.

One of the most cynical appropriations of the videogame format is Mary Shelley’'s Frankenstein. Whoever programmed this wretched affront to decency clearly hadn’t even watched the source material and was blissfully unaware that a platformer in which a cloaked freak jabs at a never ending parade of identical angry villagers with a pointy stick isn't exactly an enjoyable experience.

Lethal Weapon: "like trying to pull a rusty nail out of your leg whilst pissed up on absinthe..."

The game that first whetted my appetite for movie tie-ins was the appalling Robocop on the Commodore 64. 1988 is a long time ago, but even then I was aware of the clunky controls, generic bad guys and non-adherence to the plot of Verhoeven's bizarre but enjoyable futuristic shoot-em-up flick. In a sense, it is this distancing from the narrative and tone of what made the original film good that set somewhat of a template for the plethora of games that would follow.

The pinnacle of direness has to be Ocean Software's Lethal Weapon. To describe it as an abomination is a gross understatement. Yet in a perverse sense it’s also strangely addictive, much like dating a crack-addled, street-walking whore. The gameplay is as frustrating, painful and degrading as trying to pull a rusty nail out of your leg whilst pissed up on absinthe and wearing a gimp mask. The ungodly bastards who cooked up this pile of garbage were obviously seeking to engage with some kind of communal satanic mind-fuck. The only thing missing from this ordeal of a game is an anti-Semitic outburst from Mel Gibson, although he managed to rectify that a few years later.

What's that, Mel? Jews are responsible for all the wars in history? Well you're responsible for the worst game in history, so we're even.

Oddly enough, as the games industry continues to grow and inevitably eclipse the film industry we are seeing games becoming more like movies, and in the case of many animated films the reverse is true. Also, with great actors like Chris Penn and Juliette Lewis having voiced characters in engaging and playable games, the stigma attached to appearing in pixelated form seems to be dispersing.  Unfortunately, the sour taste left by exploitative cash-in fare from days past will not be so easy to get rid of.

What is Resolution?
Resolution is a monthly videogames e-zine run primarily by a group of egocentric misfits in Leeds, UK.

It's all delivered in the lovely, straightforward format of HTML, so you've no silly PDF files to download. We aim to talk about videogames in the most diverse and relevant way possible, meaning we've the standard 'news and reviews' gubbins, but also plenty of other worthwhile articles for you to cast your watchful eyes over.

We do this because we bloody love videogames, we bloody love writing about them, and we're bloody proud of both of these facts. We hope that you - yes, sir/madam, you! - can share in this gleeful excitement about this most wonderful of creative media, and that you enjoy reading the words what we have written.

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