It has been know for awhile now that Gameloft games have looked a hell of a lot like other games currently out for other platforms (PC/Console). Lately though the games industry has been coming down on Gameloft over their iPhone and Android games looking almost too similar to other games currently out.
This all really started when Gameloft decided to start teasing the masses with their upcoming RPG, still untitled, which looks like a big Zelda-type of game knock-off. If you haven’t see the video yet, you can check it out below. This will launch on the iOS platform first and eventually make its way to Android as well.
Hardly anything has been mentioned about the game in the above video but pretty much everyone is under the impression it is Gameloft’s version of Zelda… granted in a lot better looking 3D. This is where the trouble begins though. Even if the title was “Franks Fantastic Adventure” it would still be called Gameloft’s version of Zelda, and why not?
Let’s look at Gameloft’s other games:
- N.O.V.A. is basically Halo
- Hero of Sparta is basically God of War
- Modern Combat is basically Modern Warfare or Call of Duty
- Shadow Guardian is pretty much Uncharted 2 (Currently iOS only)
- StarFront is basically Starcraft (Currently iOS only)
- Eternal Legacy is pretty much Final Fantasy XIII (Currently iOS only)
- Dungeon Hunter -> Diablo or Diablo2 (depending on which one you like more)
- Shrek Kart -> Mario Kart
- Real Soccer 2011 -> Fifa 2011
- Gangstar -> Grand Theft Auto
- Asphalt 5/6 -> Need For Speed or Gran Turismo
Obviously this isn’t the full list but that should give you a good enough of an idea of what is going on if you haven’t noticed everything being rather similar. There lies the other problem… is it ripping off as a lot of sites/people are suggesting or is it taking a theme which is used in a multitude of games and putting their own spin on it? Prime example would be looking at how many FPS games for the PC/Console are based in war times, specifically WWII.
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IGN brings up a good point regarding this which is that there really is no problem in paying homage to another game or even emulating some of the functions that the game it is ‘copying’ that make it unique. However, as IGN points out, going to the point of copying the color schemes of the Final Fantasy XIII outfits on the Eternal Legacy costumes is a bit much.
In the end, Michel Guillemot’s standpoint is that Gameloft recreates games that mobile gamers would otherwise never see land on their devices and if someone were to port them, better it be them and have the games looking good. While this can be a good thing, there is a fine line between cloning/emulating/paying homage to a game and ripping it off. Gameloft walks that fine line with confidence though.
So the question is this, what do you consider Gameloft games to be? A blessing to mobile gamers because we can have some top quality 3D games similar in theme to their PC/Console counterparts we would otherwise probably never get to play on our devices? Or is what Gameloft doing just taking a successful idea and making money off of it by emulating/cloning so close to the actual original game that calling it a rip off of said game is what needs to happen?
Yeah we know, this sort of became an editorial.
Website Referenced: IGN Interview
