So I'm angry. Not over-the-top, throw shit at walls, punch people until they bleed kind of angry, but I am darn close. My anger stems from a small independent studio called Gameloft. They are based in France and make mobile games. Now this to me is absolutely acceptable; a small studio surviving among the heavyweights of today. A difficult thing to accomplish indeed.
At first glance this guys don't seem sinister. But wow, oh wow, they are bloody sinister. There was a trailer that surfaced this week showcasing one of their games. The game in question, StarFront: Collision. To me this sounds like your everyday space action game promising lots and disappointing many. But no, oh no no no, how wrong was I? I was even more wrong than I was about WoW!
You see, the trailer shows humanity armoured to the teeth in these giant mech suits, battling a hoarding insect-like species WHILE being shot at by an advanced alien race. All of this for control of a unique raw material. Ha, ha! Sound familiar? (I thought so). The non-gamers out there (why are you reading a gaming blog?) will be shaking their heads. But the hardcore, and even some casuals, will know I just described Starcraft.
This studio is notorious for making terrible ripoffs of established franchises. Other examples include: Zombie Infection (Resident Evil 5), Hero of Sparta (God of War), Modern Combat 2 (Modern Warfare 2), NOVA (Halo) and Gangster Miami Vindication (GTA: Vice City). The existence of this studio goes against the very nature of what gaming is: to innovate. Not making a quick buck copying another studio's intellectual property. Gameloft is shamelessly doing this with no consequence and I can't stand for it.
I can relent in my anger, perhaps for just a split/second (thankfully Gameloft has ripped that off yet), and I can because I understand some space video game cliches are unavoidable. There will be conflict, people will die, and that is what makes a game interesting. But when you do it in such a way where no motivation to shown to give the game its own identity, I would consider that copyright. That's treason in video game country.
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