The summer blockbuster season is upon us and these days the big movies also get big video games. Often, the most successful video games based on movies are those that don’t try to rehash the film, but use the celluloid story and setting as an inspiration. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (Atari; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature) is a perfect example. It includes a high-definition, remastered version of the Xbox game Escape From Butcher’s Bay, which told the story of Vin Diesel’s character before we met him in the film Pitch Black. Dark Athena again puts players in the guise of Riddick, the anti-hero, as he escapes the prison facility only to find himself in the clutches of a vicious mercenary.

Many recent movie adaptations have likewise used the films as jumping-off points. Wanted: Weapons of Fate (Warner Bros. Interactive; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature) expands on the story of Wesley Gibson, a member of a fraternal order of assassins. A shooter that has you moving from cover to cover and distracting enemies in order to flank them, the game has players take out opponents with all manner of firearms and by bending the path of their bullets. The game may be adapted from the film, which was itself adapted from a comic series, but even though it is not much more than a series of carefully designed set pieces, Wanted succeeds because the interactive experience does more than simply rehash the events of the film.

The game adaptation of the latest Terminator film, Terminator Salvation (Equity, Evolved; PC, PS3, PSP, DS, Wii, Xbox 360; rated teen), is similar in that it uses the characters and settings from the movie, but tells a different story. Set two years before the events of the film, it's a shooter that has players fighting against Skynet's terminators, and allows players to become John Connor while he is a soldier in the resistance. This is a part of John Connor's story we haven't seen before. Now we get to play it.

Raven Software developers took a different approach with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Activision; PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, DS, Wii, Xbox 360; rated TBA). While the game closely follows the film's storyline, it also expands on what the movie could deliver, a benefit that a 10-hour game has over a two-hour movie. Even so, this rampaging game is all about giving players the chance to become Wolverine, the indestructible mutant with retractable claws. He's another anti-hero, too. Call it a trend.

Just released but not yet in my mailbox is the long-awaited game based on the comedy Ghostbusters (Atari; PC, PS2, PS3, DS, Wii, Xbox 360; rated teen). Activision dropped the game last year and it was picked up by Atari. Early in May, Sony announced it had snagged European rights from Atari, threatening PC, Xbox 360 and Wii editions of the game overseas. Those who do get to play it, though, will join the four original cast members in ridding New York of a ghostly scourge. The game is being referred to as the third Ghostbusters film because of the involvement of so much talent from the movies.

Also pending are the adaptations of blockbuster action films Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. No publisher has yet snapped up the interactive rights to Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film, Bruno, though. Now that would make for an interesting game.