The Greatest Licensed Games – Adapting Films, Novels, Comics, and More Into Interactive Experiences

The Simpsons: Hit and Run

• Release Date — September 16, 2003
• Developer — Radical Entertainment
• Publisher — Vivendi Universal Games
• License — The Simpsons
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Open-World
• Review Aggregate Score — 78% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — GameCube, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox

To qualify as one of the truly “great” licensed games, a title has to do more than utilize its respective IP. It also needs to implement a style of gameplay that fits within the context of the media it’s adapting. By that metric, it’s hard to think of a better use of the Simpsons license than a fully 3D Grand Theft Auto clone that sets players loose within a painstakingly recreated open-world sandbox version of one of television’s most iconic locales — Springfield. Especially considering how many iconic scenes there are in The Simpsons that involve Homer’s haphazard driving, Simpsons: Hit and Run is a perfect fit for the license, whose status as a cult classic only continues to grow with each passing year that we’re denied a remaster or port to modern hardware.

RoboCop: Rogue City

• Release Date — November 2, 2023
• Developer — Teyon
• Publisher — Nacon
• License — RoboCop
• Genre — First-Person Shooter, RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

One of the more pleasant surprises of 2023 is Teyon’s excellent RoboCop: Rogue City, which faithfully adapts the iconic 1980s action hero for his first video game in 20 years and almost makes up for the travesty that is the RoboCop 3 motion picture. What makes Rogue City so great is its ability to fully lean into the RoboCop power fantasy while also retaining the biting satire and social commentary that helped to define the 1987 film that kickstarted the character and franchise, and it genuinely feels like playing the RoboCop 3 that should have been. Surprisingly, the game is also more than just a standard first-person shooter, incorporating some interesting mechanics like dialogue trees and quests that wouldn’t feel out of place in an Elder Scrolls game.

Alien: Isolation

• Release Date — October 7, 2014
• Developer — Creative Assembly
• Publisher — Sega
• License — Alien
• Genre — First-Person Shooter, Survival Horror
• Review Aggregate Score — 79% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

So much has been said about the ridiculous review scores for Alien: Isolation that it’s practically understood that they should just be outright ignored, as Alien: Isolation is perhaps both the best game to utilize the Alien license (of which there are many) and one of the best first-person survival horror games, regardless of its attachment to an iconic sci-fi/horror film franchise. As Lt. Ellen Ripley’s daughter, you set off in search of your missing mother on a derelict Weiland Yutani station, and what transpires is one of the most harrowing games of cat-and-mouse in video game history as you struggle to outrun and outwit the galaxy’s deadliest predator: the Xenomorph. The Xenomorph’s AI in Alien: Isolation is almost without peer, learning from the player’s movements and frighteningly capable of anticipating your actions, making Alien: Isolation the most true-to-film game to utilize the Alien license.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay

• Release Date — June 1, 2004
• Developer — Starbreeze Studios, Tigon Studios
• Publisher — Vivendi Universal Games
• License — Riddick/Pitch Black
• Genre — First-Person Shooter, Stealth, Immersive Sim
• Review Aggregate Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, Xbox

Long before Starbreeze Studios became a bit of a household name thanks to its well-deserved success from the Payday franchise, the studio was on the cutting edge of first-person shooter/immersive sim hybrids with games like the oft-forgotten Syndicate and the incredible licensed game Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. Released roughly two weeks ahead of the second film to feature actor Vin Diesel as Riddick (the first being the cult sci-fi classic Pitch Black), Chronicles of Riddick was one of the early surprisingly great licensed games, doing the thing that only the greatest licensed games can do by encouraging non-fans to get interested in a new IP. What makes Butcher Bay so special is its blending of stealth and immersive sim elements into its very competent first-person shooting, and it remains probably the greatest piece of media to be attached to the Riddick/Pitch Black license.

Disney’s Aladdin

• Release Date — October 19, 1993
• Developer — Virgin Games
• Publisher — Sega
• License — Disney
• Genre — Action Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — Sega Genesis

The Genesis was host to some excellent Disney licensed games, including hits like The Jungle Book and The Lion King, but none of them compares to the greatness of 1993’s Aladdin. A completely different game from the SNES version, the Genesis Aladdin was developed by Virgin Games under the direction of David Parry, who would later go on to direct Earthworm Jim and found Shiny Entertainment — and it shows in the game’s impeccable visuals and animations. And, like just about every other licensed Disney game from the 3rd and 4th console generations, Disney’s Aladdin is tough but fair, acclimating players to action platforming in a way that prepared them for some of the tougher challenges the genre had to offer, all while delighting them with visuals and music pulled straight from one of Disney’s all-time greatest animated features.

The Walking Dead

• Release Date — April 24, 2012
• Developer — Telltale Games
• Publisher — Telltale Games
• License — The Walking Dead
• Genre — Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — iOS, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead is perhaps one of the most important and profitable licenses of the 2000s, helping to revive a slumping comics industry while simultaneously spawning a slew of games and one of the most successful and popular one-hour television dramas of all time. But what almost every other Walking Dead game seems to miss, that Telltale’s The Walking Dead so beautifully captures, is that The Walking Dead is not about the zombies. It’s about the humanity that struggles to remain in the face of the end of the world and the smaller, character-driven moments that help to define those struggles. Accordingly, The Walking Dead game is a veritable heart-breaker as players can’t help but get attached to its characters and battle with the choices they must make to protect the found family they’re attempting to survive the apocalypse with.

Marvel’s Spider-Man

• Release Date — September 7, 2018
• Developer — Insomniac Games
• Publisher — Sony Interactive Entertainment
• License — Marvel Comics, Spider-Man
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Open-World
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PlayStation 4

While Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham titles are arguably the gold standard of open-world superhero video games (as evidenced by two of them being on this list), a very close second is Insomniac’s Spider-Man. As someone who is a lifelong comic reader and more inclined to read Marvel out of The Big Two, Spider-Man felt like the realization of the “ideal” game to adapt The Amazing Spider-Man and a major step forward for superhero games as a whole.

At its core, Spider-Man is fairly similar to Batman: ArkhamCity in that it mixes hero-appropriate city-wide traversal with freeform flowing combat, crime-stopping side quests, and a compelling main story pulled straight from the pages of the best comics to feature these characters. But it does so in a way that captures the Big Apple like never before, and it’s just as much a great piece of digital tourism of NYC as it is a great superhero game.

Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

• Release Date — March 28, 2002
• Developer — Raven Software
• Publisher — LucasArts
• License — Star Wars
• Genre — First-Person Shooter
• Review Aggregate Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — GameCube, PC, Xbox

As much as I love the Star Wars Jedi games from Respawn Entertainment, there’s one Jedi-focused action game that arguably did it better more than 20 years ago, and that’s Raven Software’s Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Part first-person shooter and part hack-and-slash Jedi power fantasy, Jedi Knight II puts players into the shoes of Dark Forces‘ Kyle Katarn once again as he works against the Empire on behalf of the Rebel Alliance, and the campaign contained withinJedi Knight II ranks as one of the greatest Star Wars stories in any medium. Other games before and since Jedi Knight II have tapped into the fluidity of movement and gravity-defying powers of the Jedi, but none have captured it so fully while also allowing players to experience it from either first or third-person perspectives.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time

• Release Date — August 25, 1992
• Developer — Konami
• Publisher — Konami
• License — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Genre — Beat ’em Up
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — SNES

I recently wrote about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time as being one of the best beat ’em ups ever made. Which, it absolutely is. But it also happens to be one of the greatest (if not the greatest) licensed games to utilize the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license, and its SNES release is hands-down the king of the pile against the arcade original or the Genesis’ Hyperstone Heist. Compared to those other two versions of the same classic beat ’em up, the SNES version has smoother visuals, more stages, Mode 7 effects (including the iconic visuals of throwing Foot Soldiers against the screen and the legendary battle against the Technodrome), and seamless co-op from a time when the ability to play with a sibling or friend was what made the greatest games on home consoles.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

• Release Date — March 4, 2014
• Developer — Obsidian Entertainment
• Publisher — Ubisoft
• License — South Park
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 85% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

There were plenty of South Park games before South Park: Stick of Truth, but Obsidian Entertainment’s RPG based on the popular animated series from the minds of Matt Stone and Trey Parker is perhaps the first game utilizing the license to truly tap into the feeling of watching an episode. Aside from its visuals and animations retaining the iconic look and feel of the show, South Park: The Stick of Truth is chock full of fan service and Easter Eggs that are an obvious tip of the hat to both longtime South Park fans and longtime RPG players, making it the rare instance of a media tie-in that perfectly encapsulates both its source material’s and its adaptation’s target audiences. They would follow up Stick of Truth with two other South Park games that each have their merits, but neither compares to the greatness of Obsidian’s attempt with the license.

Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II

• Release Date — November 18, 2001
• Developer — Factor 5, LucasArts
• Publisher — LucasArts
• License — Star Wars
• Genre — Flight Sim, Shooter
• Review Aggregate Score — 91% (Universal Acclaim)
• Platforms — GameCube

So much time and attention is paid to the character-driven story elements of the Star Wars franchise that not nearly enough is given to one of the IP’s most definitive elements: its imaginary technology and space-centric dogfighting. As someone who grew up during the era when games like X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and Rebel Assault II were among the best titles in the Star Wars interactive universe, Star Wars Rogue Squadron on the Nintendo 64 quickly became one of my go-to indulgences on the console.

Of course, once Rogue Squadron II was announced as a launch title for the GameCube, it was all but secured as the one game I picked up along with the console, and it’s amazing how well it holds up in terms of both its gameplay and its visuals, even in a modern context. That we have yet to receive a 4th game in the Rogue Squadron series or a reboot is practically criminal.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

• Release Date — May 19, 2015
• Developer — CD Projekt RED
• Publisher — CD Projekt
• License — The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

It’s almost a universal constant to love The Witcher 3 and recognize it as one of the greatest RPGs ever made, but it’s surprisingly lesser-known that the game is based on the best-selling Polish fantasy novel series of the same name. While CD Projekt RED‘s Witcher games take some liberties with the source material (though, to be fair, not nearly as many as the Netflix live-action adaptation), they’re still very adept at capturing the Eastern European folklore and mythology that lies at the heart of the novels they’re based on, including featuring some of the more heart-wrenching and shocking quest lines and dialogue of any RPG. While Witcher 3 is not for everyone, it is definitely one of the better modern RPGs, and that it has helped pull plenty of newcomers in to read Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels is a testament to its impact.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

• Release Date — August 25, 2009
• Developer — Rocksteady Studios
• Publisher — Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• License — DC, Batman
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Before there was Batman: Arkham City, there was Batman: Arkham Asylum, and it did much of the heavy lifting necessary to help elevate City to being what’s arguably the greatest superhero game ever made. The genius of Arkham Asylum, though, is its ability to tap into the iconic Grant Morrison work on which it’s based (Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth), complete with a total unflinching willingness to embrace the psychological horror elements of the Batman comics that don’t get discussed enough. On top of its excellent story and atmosphere, Batman: Arkham Asylum is the game responsible for giving us the freeform “flow” combat that has come to define the superhero video game subgenre, and it does a perfect job of capturing the speed, precision, and brutality that the World’s Greatest Detective must sometimes apply.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

• Release Date — July 16, 2003
• Developer — BioWare
• Publisher — LucasArts
• License — Star Wars
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 94% (Universal Acclaim)
• Platforms — Xbox

More than 20 years from its original release, there’s still a very strong case for BioWare’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic being both the best Star Wars game and the company’s greatest RPG, even in the wake of the Mass Effect trilogy. Knights of the Old Republic smartly sidesteps any baggage inherent in adapting the Star Wars films and their beloved characters by turning the clock way back to an era before the Republic existed, during a time when the ongoing war between the Jedi and the Sith saw the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance. You play a crucial role in that conflict, ultimately deciding how the rest of the galaxy views the Jedi through your actions and choices, which have a real lasting impact on both the other characters and the game world.

Batman: Arkham City

• Release Date — October 18, 2011
• Developer — Rocksteady Studios
• Publisher — Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• License — DC, Batman
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Open-World
• Review Aggregate Score — 94% (Universal Acclaim)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

We’ve already touched a bit on how important a game Batman: Arkham City is, but it’s difficult to fully articulate how groundbreaking this open-world superhero adventure is for those who didn’t feverishly anticipate its release after Arkham Asylum. While the idea of an open-world superhero game is seemingly old hat now, it was practically a revolution at the time of Arkham City‘s release, and that its formula has gone on to inspire and help define just about every subsequent superhero game since speaks volumes about its impact. Ultimately, though, Batman: Arkham City is just a refined, iterated-upon version of everything that made Arkham Asylum great, and it also happens to feature one of the better original stories to feature DC’s most popular and enduring hero.

GoldenEye 007

• Release Date — August 25, 1997
• Developer — Rare
• Publisher — Nintendo
• License — Ian Fleming’s James Bond
• Genre — First-Person Shooter
• Review Aggregate Score — 96% (Universal Acclaim)
• Platforms — Nintendo 64

It’s almost impossible to talk about the greatest licensed games and not have GoldenEye 007 brought up, as it’s one of the prime examples of both a film and a more meta-fictional character adaptation that perfectly taps into what makes the IP so special. First-person shooters were all the rage at the time of GoldenEye 007‘s development. But rather than rest on their laurels and deliver a spy-themed boilerplate FPS, Rare challenged itself to deliver a single-player story mode that tapped into the feeling of being the world’s greatest super spy, complete with some early immersive sim elements years before groundbreaking titles like Thief: The Dark Age, System Shock 2, or Deus Ex. And lest we forget, GoldenEye 007‘s multiplayer mode makes it a licensed game that’s even better with friends than it is alone.

Baldur’s Gate 3

• Release Date — August 3, 2023
• Developer — Larian Studios
• Publisher — Larian Studios
• License — Dungeons & Dragons
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 96% (Universal Acclaim)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Like Witcher 3, seeing Baldur’s Gate 3 on a list of the best licensed games is bound to make some do a double-take, until you stop and realize that the Dungeons & Dragons license is deeply ingrained within the history of interactive media. Truthfully, there have been Dungeons & Dragons video games about as long as the medium has existed, and somehow, Baldur’s Gate 3 manages to be the best of them all thanks to how adept it is at tapping into the feeling of playing an honest-to-goodness pen-and-paper campaign with your friends. Larian Studios truly outdid itself with Baldur’s Gate 3 in terms of the depth of its mechanics, the flexibility of its combat sandbox, and the freedom it affords players to tailor the experience to their liking. As a result, it has rightfully earned its place among the pantheon of all-time greatest RPGs.