7 Best Games Based On Steven Spielberg Movies, Ranked

Steven Spielberg‘s latest movie, Disclosure Day, releases on June 12, marking the director’s long-awaited return to sci-fi. So far, the early press has been incredibly positive, suggesting this could be one of 2026’s best movies. Although obviously a secondary enterprise for him, Spielberg still managed to etch his name in gaming history through the creation of Medal of Honor, with the first few entries ranking among the best World War 2 games of all time. Also, he technically played a part in the 1983 crash due to Atari seriously overestimating the thirst for an E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial video game.

Speaking of video games based on Spielberg movies, we have received quite a few over the decades, yet none of them seemed to leave a long-lasting impression. Considering the director’s wide appeal and variety in filmography, surely there must be a couple of genuinely good games out there? Surely.

7

Jaws Unleashed

“Good” Is Relative

Let’s start with one of the exceptions. While technically an adaptation of a book by Peter Benchley, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws not only completely overshadows the source material, but it also changes up the characters and story quite a bit. Jaws: Unleashed is directly inspired by the 1975 movie and not the book, taking place three decades after the former’s Amity Island became a bloodbath. Although Maneater is the greatest shark game, Jaws: Unleashed is the best attempt to adapt the franchise into video game form. That said, this is still not very good and very much exists as a guilty pleasure.

From technical bugs to a terrible camera and just plain weird puzzles, Jaws: Unleashed doesn’t get a lot right… except for arguably the most important thing. For all its flaws, the game makes the legendary great white feel as powerful and dangerous as in the movies. As long as the controls don’t completely ruin the experience, Jaws: Unleashed lets you tear humans and boats apart with reckless abandon. I can only really recommend this game to real die-hard shark fans who want to embody the ultimate sea-based power fantasy.

6

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Passable But Nothing More

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Released

October 20, 2011

• 

Probably one of the most forgotten Spielberg games, The Adventures of Tintin is mostly an average early 2010s movie tie-in game. That means a short campaign, periodically rough visuals, interesting but not fully fleshed out ideas, and a rushed production. Mostly a 2.5D platformer, The Adventures of Tintin doesn’t shine in any single area, but it also doesn’t fail in any notable area.

The platforming is tight and responsive, but also way too easy to be actually memorable. Tintin’s simple combat benefits from only sporadic usage, which helps break things up a bit; unfortunately, Haddock’s swordfighting sections are surprisingly bad, even compared to Tintin’s combat sequences. The vehicle sections look good, but that’s pretty much it. There is no real reason to play this game, but if you pick it up because you like the movie, you will likely have a decent time.

5

Hook (SNES, Genesis, Sega CD)

Now, We Get To The Actual Good Games Based On Spielberg Movies

Hook

Systems

Released

March 27, 1992

ESRB

N/A

Developer(s)

Ukiyotei

Finally, we can move past the “well, it could be worse” section and actually talk about a few solid games. During the SNES and Genesis era, every moderately successful movie seemed to get half a dozen adaptations, and approximately 5% of them are worth a damn nowadays. Although probably not the first release that springs to mind, Hook does an impressive job of translating the charm and magic of the movie.

While the SEGA CD version straight-up includes John Williams’ score, the SNES and Genesis versions incorporate it incredibly well, considering their limitations. Gameplay-wise, the core platforming is fairly typical for the era, but it’s elevated by a flight system that you trigger on occasion, zooming through the vertical levels. Nowadays, this mechanic might not seem that incredible, but it was cool in 1992.

4

The Dig

The Lost Spielberg Story

Time for the second exception. Rather than adapt a movie, The Dig brings to life an unused idea Steven Spielberg had for Amazing Stories, an anthology series that ran for two years in the 80s. Developed by LucasArts, the point-and-click game genuinely comes across like a long-lost Spielberg sci-fi masterpiece, and a pretty darn good one at that.

Rather than the comedic tone of LucasArts’ classics like Monkey Island, The Dig leans into hard sci-fi and mystery while maintaining a serious tone, which might not be to everyone’s liking. Personally, I prefer LucasArts’ sillier stuff, but The Dig is nevertheless great. Even more so than the two upcoming titles, this is the one that I would recommend tracking down, and it’s readily available on Steam. While the other tie-ins exist as footnotes in their source material’s legacy, The Dig found its definitive form in gaming.

3

Jurassic Park (Sega Genesis)

A Cinematic Marvel That Lets You Play As A Raptor

Jurassic Park games are not hard to come by and have never really gone away, but most of the modern-ish ones don’t directly adapt Spielberg’s movies. However, plenty of tie-in games were created when the original movie and The Lost World sequel were released, many of which have the same name, making finding them extremely annoying.

Anyway, the Sega Genesis version of Jurassic Park is just a great cinematic platformer, akin to something like Flashback, Another World, or Prince of Persia. Even if I don’t believe it reaches the heights of those games, that takes nothing away from its quality. Jurassic Park looks pretty good for its era, with the more realistic art style fitting the source material well. The sound design rocks too, arguably among the best on the Genesis. However, you want to know the best part? You get to play as a raptor. Yeah, the game has two campaigns, one for Grant and another for the dinosaur.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)Start

RestartBack

Results

0

High Score: 0
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2

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure

Living Up To Impossible Standards

Adapting the original trilogy, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures came out right after the Star Wars games, and it proved that this formula could work across franchises. Nowadays, Indy’s romps tend to be considered lesser entries in the LEGO resume, but that’s more due to the underwhelming and unnecessary sequel than the first release.

Unsurprisingly, an action-adventure that adapts three of the best action-adventure movies of all time is packed with top-notch set pieces, and you get to play through all the famous scenes from the source material. The co-op is great too, as tends to be the case with Lego games.

1

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Arcade Game)

The Best Game Based On A Spielberg Movie

• Release Year: 1997
• Developer/Publisher: Sega

I miss rail shooters. Sure, they still exist in arcades, but we rarely get any new ones. Even worse, most of the classics were never ported to consoles, dooming them to obscurity or even death. The Lost World: Jurassic Park serves as a prime example, as this arcade masterpiece has more or less been wiped from existence, frustratingly so, since a Dreamcast port was initially put into development.

By far, this shooter is the best game based on a Steven Spielberg movie. As with all ’90s rail shooters, the graphics were jaw-dropping for the era, and they still impress all these decades later. The gunplay mostly sticks to the standard formula, instead opting to rely on massive set pieces that more than do justice to the blockbuster movie. If you find a way to play this, play it.