Synergy f**king up

For the record, 'synergy' is a media term to describe one media text promoting another.
For instance, Resident Evil 4 promoting its film tracks CD, and vica versa.

Anyway, this happens a lot with films and computer games.
Many many examples include Star Wars, James Bond, Spongebob Squarepants, Coraline, Wall*E, Batman, Avatar, Transformers, Watchmen - all of these have had a video game released that follows the narrative of the film to make it more interactive and continuous.
And in my experience, they are all shite.

What gaming editors are essentially saying is: "Why not have a more badly pixelated version of the film, with glued on pieces of narrative and occassional cut scenes from the films themselves."
You may as well just hold a PlayStation or X-Box controller in your hand whilst watching the films and just tap the X/A button when Obi-Wan Kenobi jumps. (Double tap for extra-high double jumps, of course)

Resident Evil was the other way round. These new, inovative zombie films came along, scaring the world with pixels as big as a baby's face and voice acting that could make answering-machines blush. But it worked, and therefore they brought out films.Which also worked.
I have experienced these films and enjoyed them muchly. The latest one, film no. 4 brought BigScaryCrazyAxeMan (a personal nickname for him) to life, which I liked.
So, games bringing out films I think I can live with.
Then:
The Increidbles went backwards entirely. We may all remember the vaguely dramatic ending with "The Underminer" bursting through a tarmacked car park and bellowing out plans for world demolition.
Was there a sequel film? No
Was there a sequel game, instead of a film? Yes. Oh christ.
I hope other producers don't copy this little broken gem. But I learnt about 5 or 10seconds into the advert that I cannot live with games becoming part of the actual storyline.
Copying the storyline, that's OK. James Bond PS1 games actually did a good job.
Becoming the storyline. No. I'd rather try and give a hedgehog a mohican than experience that kinda crap.

Anyway, time to give a verdict:
Films becoming games - Fine, but at least make a good job of it
Games becoming films - Yes please. I'd recommend Batman: Arkham Asylum as a starter.
Games sequeling films - Piss off.