Licensed Games that Live Up to their Franchises (list is a WIP)
Licensed games have been a huge anomaly in the market. Most of the time, games about licensed cartoons, movies, and other media are shoddily programmed and burned onto several thousand discs in a shallow attempt to make more cash off of the brand name. With movie tie-in games, it's often no surprise, as most of the time, development is rushed so that the game releases around the same time as the movie does, resulting in less quality assurance. However, the trend also seeps out into tie-in games based on television series and toy brands and whatnot, so clearly time isn't always the issue; in those cases, it's more about whether or not the developers give enough of a damn to produce something that's actually worthwhile.
Fortunately, some licensed titles have managed to escape the fate of eternal mediocrity and surprised us with engaging story lines, smooth controls and streamlined gameplay elements. The best titles are those that could be considered classics even among standalone franchises such as the Mario and Halo games. This is a compilation of Licensed Games that Live Up to their Franchises.
You know what they say, a little effort goes a long way...