From the early arcade boom in the ’80s to the modern-day titles offering sophisticated graphics on ridiculously powerful consoles, music and gaming have always gone hand in hand. Music not only elevates the all-around gaming experience, but we’ve seen some truly bizarre video games which are based on certain bands come to the fore over the years too. Whether or not some of these games could be credited with changing lives or not is up for debate, but they certainly enabled fans of some of the world’s most iconic names in music to see their heroes in a completely different light.
The gaming and music world is still being combined today too, even if it’s not specifically in video game format. Katy Perry, for example, has recently delighted fans of Pokemon and her music with a song that was apparently inspired by a Pokemon Cafe she visited when in Japan. It’s the games that take things up a notch, though. Some titles are obviously designed to make money and perhaps don’t offer a memorable gaming experience – for the right reasons anyway – to fans. It can be done well, though, much like with casino.com’s Guns N’ Roses slot game where you can win real money using the Axel Rose icon and a range of other GNR inspired features. Still, not every band-related game is worth sampling. In reality, most of the games in this space tend to be shockingly bad or incredibly weird.
One such game which immediately springs to mind when assessing poor or completely bizarre games featuring bands is Omikron – The Nomad Soul. With David Bowie playing two small but ultimately pivotal roles in the 1999 title, it was a truly odd experience, especially as the game is set in a dystopian future. I don’t think many people ever thought they’d see Bowie playing a cyber-mystic-revolutionary being, despite his rather wacky dress sense. He was even the frontman of a band called The Dreamers in the game, too.
A driving game with Paul McCartney
Another truly strange link-up between the gaming and music world’s has to be the 1984 release of Paul McCartney’s Give My Regards to Broad Street. Also based on a film that failed to really hit the mark too, the game came out on the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and was impossible to forget. Like GTA without the criminality, players would drive through London in an attempt to meet a variety of bandmates so the song, No More Lonely Nights, could be put together. That was quite literally it, bizarrely.
Michael Jackson featured in several video games
It’s no secret that Michael Jackson was an avid video gamer and featured in several games during his time, but it’s the 1990 release of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, which was arguably the weirdest game of the lot. Available on the Sega Mega Drive, players were tasked with saving children, cracking maze puzzles and fighting in battles, all while MJ executed some of his famous dance moves. The game even had a cameo appearance from Bubbles the chimp, too.
50 Cent forayed into gaming too
Even world-famous rapper 50 Cent had a foray into the gaming space also with two titles, 2005’s Bulletproof and its third-person shooter sequel called 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. It’s the latter we’re focussing on here as 50 and his friends from G-Unit aimed to take down unscrupulous gig promoters and evil terrorists using lethal weapons. The game featured some of 50 Cent’s biggest tracks as you took out his enemies. This particular title was one for the American rapper’s ego, basically.
