Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Game of Thrones seasons two starting to get excellent, MLB’s classy celebration of Jackie Robinson, or Tim Tebow getting booed at Yankee Stadium, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Over the weekend, I played two iOS games starring legendary musicians: Frederic: Resurrection of Music HD and Jazz: Trump’s Journey. They feature Frederic Chopin and Louis Armstrong, respectively. Both were pleasant surprises that reminded of other great videogames featuring musicians. Some of you will recall that I’m a total mark for Britney’s Dance Beat and Journey (the awesome arcade game, not the crap Atari 2600 game).
Those pleasant memories gave way to nightmares about musician games that weren’t so good. 50 Cent: Bulletproof (ironic name considering the man’s numerous bullet holes), Power Factory Featuring C + C Music Factory, Revolution X, and Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style are just some of the crap games I’ve played that star musicians. It seems like there are three flops like Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker for every chart-topper (figuratively speaking) like Britney’s Dance Beat.
Naturally, I started dreaming up my own musician videogames. A platformer starring the original members of Kiss would be cool. A bloody beat-’em-up (Super Smash Bros. style) featuring pop divas like Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, The Spice Girls, etc. sounds awesome. The ultimate would be an HD remake of Journey. That game was so ahead of its time! Music, platforming, shooting, and more in a 1983 arcade cabinet?!? Unheard of!
I’d love to hear more about your experiences with videogames starring musicians. What were some of your favorites? What were the ones you hated? What’s the videogame/musician combo of your dreams?
Eternal Sonata was neat. That Kiss game was garbage though.
Best ever: Brütal Legend
I dug Brütal Legend too and at the moment I can't recall any games that haven't been mentioned already. I would love to play a Borderlands/L4D type game based on the complete works of Slipknot.
I dug it until it turned into an RTS. What a great world, characters, and script ruined by mechanics I don't like normally, much less relegated to a console controller.
Screw that. I want to see a Spinal Tap JRPG. It will be glorious!
Someone make that happen.
-M
Would it go to 11?
Beavis and Butthead featuring Gwar. The 16-bit version of Jack the World is still a classic.
I would like to see a game where aliens abducted the Million Dollar Quartet (for those not in the know, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins) and now they have to fight their way back to earth… co-op style.
I'd also like to see a game loosely based on David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust.
A fighting game consisting of metal mascots could be cool (Maiden's Eddie, Megadeth's Vic, that dude on the Quiet Riot album, etc)
Last but not least… a Risk/Tropico/Civilizations type game where the world is taken over by Bad Religion, Anti-Flag, the Dead Kennedy, the Sex Pistols, Black Flag, Fugazi, and Men at Work warring over control of nations.
Love the Ziggy Stardust idea. The visuals are totally videogame.
Damn…I was gonna mention the GWAR appearance.
Little-known-fact: In about 2000, some GWAR fans were working with the band on a PC FPS. It never turned into anything. Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus, lead singer) has since badgered me to "make a game," since he knows I designed/wrote a few WWE titles. I sent him a spec a while back; waiting to hear back. Maybe after their tour's over.
For the record… the WWE games you and Ray were a part of were far superior (as if the reviews alone couldn't tell you that).
A Gwar FPS could be pretty cool, but I'd prefer an MMORPG set in the lure of Gwar. Basically like other Scumdogs (the players) come to Earth and also try to conquest it. You could have a variety of drugs as power-ups, etc.
That's just my 2 cents, I'd be happy to see ANY Gwar game though.