I shall now give everyone a moment to laugh at the very well thought out joke of using a image from the recently released Megamind VS The Doom Syndicate due to it's bizarre ties to the video game.

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Alright, we're done? Good! 

Unfortunately, that's about the only interesting thing about this game. With the unfortunate sequel to one of Dreamworks' best movies - Megamind VS The Doom Syndicate having been announced a few months ago, and bizarrely reusing the villain group from the tie-in video games back when the movie released, it made me want to track down a copy of the game to play through it, for good reason.

Y'see, years ago, I loved the first Megamind movie as soon as I saw it in cinemas. It was my favourite superhero movie since The Incredibles. When I heard there was a tie-in game in the same vain as Over the Hedge, where it's a semi-sequel to the events of the movie, I just had to get it. This was on top of me having played a ton of Dreamworks tie-in games and really enjoying them. Shrek 2, Shrek Superslam, Over the Hedge, Madagascar (the first tie-in game developed by Toys for Bob), so on so forth.

Unfortunately, I was pretty bored with the game when I was younger when I got it for Christmas, only getting about five levels in and not even it being a sequel to the movie, and being based on a movie I really loved at the time did much to fix that. So I ended up trading it and another game in when Xtra-Vision had a offer where two trade-ins let you get Saints Row IV (literally brand new at the time) for £5. But hey, given I really loved Saints Row IV, I'd say it was a worthwhile trade-off.

But as a trophy hunter, this game was a secret shame, because for over a decade, it hung on my trophy list, incomplete - which was made worse by the staggering 70% completion rate for the platinum. I had let such a piss-easy platinum trophy slip through my fingers, and with the new (awful) sequel incoming, now seemed like the perfect time to finally, well...

I know it may seem like I'm rambling, and let's be honest, I probably am, but it's a damn slight more interesting than the 5 hour romp I had through Megamind Ultimate Showdown. Because when you hear inoffensive, boring tie-in game, Megamind Ultimate Showdown fits the bill pretty nicely. As evidenced by the fact I've had to correct myself several times when accidentally referring to this as Megamind Ultimate Destruction, but that's in actuality a much better Hulk tie-in. 

So, uh, before we get into it, how about some trivia? 

First things first, did you know there's about three different versions of this game on competing hardware, all differently named? 

The Blue Defender is your essential watered down version of the flagship game we're looking at, but bizarrely - despite all three following the same story, Mega Team Unite is a bad Mario Party clone for some reason, compared to the other two versions being platforming beat 'em ups. 

Secondly - despite Megamind VS The Doom Syndicate bringing back the Doom Syndicate from this game - the lineup is actually entirely different, with somehow the game's lineup being even more uninspired. We have a destruction site guy, we have a disco guy, we have a fire girl, and we have Tighten/Titan except this time he's blue. 

Considering how forgettable and pathetic the Doom Syndicate is in the new movie, that's really saying something.

Anything else?

uh...

*checks notes*

somehow they got Keith David in here for the disco guy despite him being in the game for a few seconds. But since there's nothing funny here, I'll just post a Rick and Morty clip with him instead.

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Aaaanything else?

alright yeah I got nothing. Let's stop stalling and just get into it.

So the story of the game is pretty simple. It takes place following the aftermath of the movie, with Megamind now the new defender of Metro City, although they don't mention if Button of Doom is canon or not. Either way, the Doom Syndicate suddenly attacks his lair, and steals a energy source he calls B.I.N.K.E.Y, and various bits of Megamind's gear, as well as stealing some DNA from both Metro Man and Megamind to repower Tighten for revenge. It's now up to Megamind to scour the city, find parts of a DNA tracking machine, and use it to locate Tighten (spoiler, he's literally right where the game begins). 

That's pretty much it. None of the Doom Syndicate have much, if any personality to them beyond their general architypes, despite one of them having Keith David as their VA, and even the one cool idea here, Tighten having both the power of Metro Man and the intellect of Megamind is very quickly made pointless when his boss fight is literally only shooting pillars he tries to hit you with, with not one ounce of intellect shown, all while he shouts at you about how he's unstoppable because he's as smart as Megamind now.

Honestly, considering the extent of previous Dreamworks games that did a story after the movie, this is pretty fucking pathetic. Over the Hedge in particular sticks out in my mind because 90% of the game acts as a sequel to the movie, and actually has some interesting ideas and fun dynamics that build on the movie like Vincent the Bear teaming up with the gang in the woods to take down a mutual enemy and becoming a NPC. Here, there's literally two cutscenes in the entire thing - badly voice acted at that.

The gameplay is just as generic. You're Megamind going through four different zones - the museum from the movie, a construction site, a sewer system, and a city block. The museum is about the only interesting level in the entire thing, pretty much only for the fanservice at play with exploring the different battles Megamind and Metro Man had over the years, and Megamind talking about it. Otherwise, it's a generic beat 'em up shooter where Megamind has three different weapons - his dehydration gun, a air blower, and a standard ray gun, as he goes through and faces faceless hoards. 

The boss fights are also not particularly much to write home about, with this being the only time we ever hear anything of the Doom Syndicate, and the only time they even imply any kind of previous tie to Megamind, despite supposedly being always apart of this universe. You just run around, knock out some enemies, and interact with part of the environment to deal damage to a boss. Special exception being to Tighten for how much of a wasted fight it is - with Megamind simply running around in his mech, shooting pillars out of his hand until Tighten stupidly knocks parts of City Hall down on top of his head. A pretty laughable fight considering Tighten literally ripped this mech apart in the movie, and he's supposed to be both that strong, and smarter.

It's not even a bad game. It's a nothing game. It's a bland, forgettable nothing game that squanders all potential that Megamind practically hands to it as a series. This could've been one of the greats, especially considering how many banger Dreamworks tie-ins came before it, but it just fails. It's just the picture perfect image of a bland, forgettable tie-in game. 

But hey, it's better being a bland forgettable tie-in game compared to being a awful, piece of shit movie that disgraces the legacy of a legitimately great film, and tries to cheaply cash-in on one of the most fan adored animated movies of all time that people have been chomping at the bit for a sequel for over ten years.

Oh hello Megamind VS The Doom Syndicate, was wondering when we'd mention you again.

Anyways, anything else?

Uh...

USE THE DEHYDRATION GU-