Games regularly borrow elements from each other. Other forms of entertainment do too – but games are always seemingly held under a finer microscope; where the elements they “borrow” from other games are scrutinised to a fine point. Where does homage end, and plagiarism begin?
It’s something we saw with Dante’s Inferno, which was criticised for being little more than a soulless God of War clone. That may well be true. It’s the same sort of criticism levied against Darksiders, which is a mixture of God of War, the Legend of Zelda, with sprinklings of Diablo and a tiny hint of Prince of Persia. While it wore its influences on its sleeve, many felt the game played a little too much like the games that inspired it.
The same now, is being said for Shadow of Mordor. When it was first announced it was branded (hurhhhh) as an Assassin’s Creed clone, and when its combat was shown off, it was criticised of essentially copying Arkham Asylum’s rhythmic pugilism; Batman’s Creed: Mordor. Thing is, in spite of its derivative nature it has its own feel to it, and is a rather good game. As far as I’m concerned – feel free to steal ideas, just use them well.
What do you think? Should developers be allowed to pay homage to games that have inspired then – or do you see it as them uncreatively ripping things off?
Last Updated: October 24, 2014
eXpZA
October 24, 2014 at 10:34
Of course it’s ok. If something is fun, then the more of it the better. Imagine one of your friends had the worlds first braai and tried to say “anyone else who has a braai is copying me” – who cares! More and more and more of good things.
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 10:58
MMMM, now I’m in the mood for a tbone, medium rare, over wood coals
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:00
Medium rare. Sies.
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:00
YOU SHUT YOUR ALIEN FACE!
MR WELL DONE
SIES TO YOU!!!!
Viking Of Divinity
October 24, 2014 at 11:01
WHY ARE MOMMY AND DADDY FIGHTING D:
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:03
Sies, calling Trevor a mommy!
Ok nm that is quite funny!
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:04
Because mommy thinks meat should be medium rare.
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:05
Hah, beat you to it. Silly wimmins
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:14
lulz. That’s what she said?
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:24
That is not a problem. Your lady should beat you to it 😉
#Winning
(did I do that hashtag correct?)
Skoobaz
October 24, 2014 at 11:42
Oh, I thought he like it rare. Like his women. RUNS>>>>
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:59
LOOOOOOOL
RinceThis
October 24, 2014 at 11:00
YOU PEASANT!
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:21
…says Mr… Medium Well… was it? ;P
RinceThis
October 24, 2014 at 11:28
It’s call being a GOOD host, look it up 😛
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:32
I just did, it sounds stupid. I’m supposed to care about what other people think? MADNESS.
RinceThis
October 24, 2014 at 11:37
Thank god you didn’t see me teabagging your well-done then… No, wait… 0-O
Hammersteyn
October 24, 2014 at 11:03
Do the steak loving community a solid and trade your omnivore card in for a vegetarian one please.
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:04
XD
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:15
If you loved steak you’d cook it properly, otherwise any old raw meat will do. :/
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:16
Oh. And here I thought you were leaning more towards rare.
Oops
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:18
Too late, you’re on my side now. It’s us against the people who’ve yet to discover fire.
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:20
LOL
My only very important prerequisite is wood fire.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:31
I got tired of dealing with sodden wood. Now charcoal bricks on a nice bed of wood kindling. Easy peasy.
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:31
You new-age kids and your charcoal ;P
Viking Of Divinity
October 24, 2014 at 11:34
It’s a Joburg thing, They want to Braai “F*kken nou man!” Charcoal is Blasphemy. All wood or GTFO.
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:37
Trevor, I am sad to say, lives with us in Cape Town. 😉
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:37
JHB? I’VE NEVER BEEN SO INSULTED IN MY LIFE! 🙁
Viking Of Divinity
October 24, 2014 at 11:45
Well, it is a Joburg thing to use charcoal….
But I Digress, I’m sorry if you’re offended. We must after all stand together against the Menace of the Vaal!
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:56
Yes, screw those guys!
Hammersteyn
October 24, 2014 at 11:42
No, just no. Please stop. please don’t about steak anymore.
RinceThis
October 24, 2014 at 11:25
XD
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:03
T-bone. Sies.
RinceThis
October 24, 2014 at 11:19
YOU PEASANT!
Sgt. M
October 24, 2014 at 11:14
This sounds like a great supper plan for tonight! Thank for the idea!
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:23
Tonight its pizza, tomorrow we shall braai the glorious meat at the bachelors!
Sgt. M
October 24, 2014 at 11:29
I had pizza last night
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:30
Saturday night is pizza night
Mark Treloar
October 24, 2014 at 12:21
So you are happy that 4 games released in one year are all clones of one game?
eXpZA
October 24, 2014 at 13:14
Are all 4 fun as heck? Then yes.
Spaffy
October 24, 2014 at 10:35
“feel free to steal ideas, just use them well.”
This.
How many games would there be if every single one was a new idea? There’d be one game per genre
Guild
October 24, 2014 at 11:35
Exactly, as long as the borrowed ideas are improved, enhanced to make a better game and you enjoy it who cares if it was a borrowed idea. If it works there is a reason you would use it.
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:38
Agreed
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 10:38
Actual game mechanics can only vary so much, and something new will invariably be compared to what’s preceded it. It’s all the other stuff, like story or a unique hook on the mechanics, that set them apart from each other. No game “owns” a game play mechanic, it’s the implementation that matters. Just look at Diablo & Torchlight. Torchlight pretty much copied the basic game mechanic of Diablo, but it was far more fun to play for me.
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 10:43
Agreed. Put a new spin on it or just mix things up. But straight copying takes a lot away from it.
Entering the Wraith World mode in Shadow of Mordor sounds like a cool idea, but in reality it is Batman’s detective mode in medieval guise.
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:07
Agreed. Then again, people who never played any of the Batman games will think “GAAAH AMAZEBALLS”
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:09
Oh yes. Definitely. But we’re so many Batman games in, you would think they’d at least try to hide SOME of the similarities.
Mossel
October 24, 2014 at 11:48
So my reaction will be “GAAAH AMAZEBALLS”! Yes!
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:49
I wish I was in your position actually. SoM would have blow my mind.
Then again. How can you not have played any of the Batman games yet??
Mossel
October 24, 2014 at 12:01
I’ve been over superheroed. So I’m pretty much over anything with a cape. Guardians of the Galaxy was refreshing because they are misfits. But I usually don’t like superheroes or comics. I’m a snob like that. lol
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 12:03
snob 😉
Cadis Etrama Di Umar
October 24, 2014 at 10:38
The most recent case of this comes from Lords of the Fallen which looks EXACTLY like Dark Souls, but thats not a bad thing. I feel Dark Souls is the game you should ‘rip-off’ but as long you add your own flavor and implement it well, I see no problem. At the end of the day, every game, in some form or another, is a derivative of another game. I always look at Castlevania Lords of Shadow that people called a GoW rip-off and think, do they even know know that Jaffe himself said he drew inspiration from Lament of Innocence which was, in the first place, a Castlevania game. So then I ask the question, if you’re saying Lords of Shadow is a GoW rip-off, and GoW rips off Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, then that means that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is only ripping off another Castlevania game. Derivatives man…..derivatives
Dutch Matrix
October 24, 2014 at 10:39
Call of Duty? That is one helluva long homage right there! 😛
But homage, is it not meant to be a subtle reference to something, saying thanks for being an awesome part of my life? I mean, I read a book once, and after finishing it, went to the authors’ blog and read about all she had put into the story that was a homage to her favourite music and so on. It was quite astonishing to be honest.
But games these days are of a play one, played ’em all kind of vibe…
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 10:58
COD was a MOH clone back in the day. Both games were fun though.
Viking Of Divinity
October 24, 2014 at 11:02
Well yes, It helps that Infinity Ward were formed from devs that worked on MOH.
Hammersteyn
October 24, 2014 at 11:04
Then MOH Warfighter tried to clone COD and that was all she wrote for MOH
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:05
LOL I have MOH WF still in a sealed box at home
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:05
…talk about unwanted gift!
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:16
I played the SP campaign. It’s… not very good.
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:23
How “not very good” is it?
Should I even bother opening the box and installing it?
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:28
You’ll forget it 5 minutes after playing the 4? hours it takes to play it. There’s nothing interesting about it.
Willjam
October 24, 2014 at 11:40
Interesting point about the book… As an example Stephen King references a lot of other novels, poems, etc. (even his own earlier works) that is less than subtle in the Dark Tower series, but it doesn’t feel cheap. It blends well with the story. That’s how I feel about Shadow of Mordor (since Geoff mentioned it). Yes, a lot has been taken from the Batman and AC games, but the combat feels refined and more responsive. Having played the Batman series, this only led me to settle in more quickly into SoM. What is the alternative? I think that was the best combat system they could have implemented to make a kick-ass ranger. Blends well and doesn’t feel cheap to me.
Spaffy
October 24, 2014 at 11:53
Agreed
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:55
I do agree with you fully on that. The similarities certainly made it easy for me to jump into.
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 10:40
I don’t think it’s uncreative. I think it’s a more affordable option to them (in no negative way) to use the same elements.
What it ends up costing the games sometimes though, is the problem.
I really want to love Shadow of Mordor more than I do, but it just feels way too much like Batman to me, which means it doesn’t feel entirely fresh to me, so get tired of it after 40mins of playtime.
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
October 24, 2014 at 10:44
It’s a tough catch 22 here.
By forcing games not to use established and working ideas you force developers to be more creative and to put a little more effort in to a game which can be good.
On the other hand it could inadvertently slow down the rate at which games come out, therefore forcing up the price of games to make up for the slower rate of sales etc and could seriously hurt the industry.
So I think borrow some but always innovate the way in which it is implemented to ensure a forward momentum
Viking Of Divinity
October 24, 2014 at 10:51
In Defence of Shadow of Mordor. It Started out development AS a Barman Arkham Game. before Montreal was give Origins to Make. Monolith just decided to keep the basic combat mechanics.
On Another note: Are we living in the Twilight Zone? Because arguably 2 of the best games of the year, Alien Isolation and Shadow of Mordor are based on Film Licenses…. Film license games are meant to be Terrible! like Colonial Marines, and those Dreadful Iron Man games.
Matthew Holliday
October 24, 2014 at 10:53
both are published by warner brother games aswell.
probably has a little to do with it.
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 10:55
That Iron Man.
Man that was awful.
I understand the big links between SoM and Batman, but my issue (it’s a small issue) with it is that they didn’t make any changes to give it an original spin or feel. They just copied all the mechanics over and named it something else.
Cadis Etrama Di Umar
October 24, 2014 at 10:55
You see a pattern though? When a game is based of a license, but doesn’t follow the media it has produced, we get awesome games. Like Riddick, which is based off the Riddick license but doesn’t follow the movies
J_Joestar
October 27, 2014 at 17:13
Or look at Transformers, with Movie tie-in games coming out and the “Cybertron” series of games.
veggiesaurus ZA
October 24, 2014 at 11:10
If only the two best movies of the year were based on games. TLoU movie is going to be awful, I just know it.
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:11
At least we all know the FarCry movie was great.
*snigger*
Hammersteyn
October 24, 2014 at 10:53
Use the ideas, if it aint broke don’t fix it. Resistance 3 and Wolfenstein for instance went back to you classic shooter where health packs instead of regenerating health was needed to survive. That brought back the tension and excitement instead of cowering behind a chest high wall while your health regenerates. Also you could carry as many guns as you could find. The only difference is these games are bigger, better looking and more than five hours worth of value.
Matthew Holliday
October 24, 2014 at 10:54
theres not much room for originality anymore.
at this point, everythings been done, so everything new will be seen to draw from something else.
it is going to take some serious innovation to be seen as original. the best we can hope for from the current gen is “fresh”
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 10:57
I don’t think we’re entirely out of new ideas, but I do believe if they just mix different ones up a bit we’ve got a whole boatload of fresh things.
Matthew Holliday
October 24, 2014 at 11:09
theres always new ideas to be had, but the more new ideas there are, the harder it becomes to find more new ones.
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:11
For sure. Agreed.
I guess my beef is just with the fact that they’re often just blatantly copying mechanics and ideas without adding, removing or at least altering one aspect a bit.
That, is uncreative.
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 10:56
Use certain aspects perhaps, BUT NOT ALL THE THINGS!
*cough* COD *cough*
RinceThis
October 24, 2014 at 11:00
Well it’s pretty bloody hard to create something that hasn’t, at least in part, already been done. So no, no issues of using something another game has.
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:01
Indeed, but only certain parts, not a blatant full blown “clone”
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:12
Like clone troopers. *run*
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 11:22
LOL.
Also, SHADDAP CLONE TREWPERS ARRR THA BESTEST
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:23
More reliable than Red Shirts.
Admiral Chief 0
October 24, 2014 at 12:02
Indeed, unlike their silly Storm Troopers “successors”
Weanerdog
October 24, 2014 at 11:02
They (who they are and why they said it I do not know) say that every new thing created is essentially a taking of own experiences and rehashing them, that means that authors, script writer and game designers are just rehashing their favourite works, granted they may be able to add something personal or a huge amount of passion and maybe the telling of an old story in a new way that is often what makes one piece a stellar “new” IP over one that is just a generic item.
Corrie
October 24, 2014 at 11:07
If another studio uses an existing mechanic and refines it then honestly I feel it’s justified, but if everybody is gonna copy the same mechanic because it seems to be the “in thing” then yeah major rip off
But yeah comes a good one, is it considered a rip off if different dev’s under the same publisher use the same code and mechanics
I.e Ubisoft with Watch_dog’s Tower – Far Cry 3 Towers – Assassin’s Creed tower’s
Etc
veggiesaurus ZA
October 24, 2014 at 11:08
SoM has a great combat system. It’s a “rip off” of Arkham, just like every FPS is effectively a rip off of every other FPS that came before it.
Viking Of Divinity
October 24, 2014 at 11:09
Well, Essentially every FPS is a Doom Clone 😉
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 24, 2014 at 11:12
*Wolfenstein.. or whatever came before that hehe
Captain JJ in the shadow
October 24, 2014 at 11:14
I’m not saying SoM isn’t good. It’s great fun. But it’s not R500 good.
OVG
October 24, 2014 at 11:24
TLOU is RE4. But you all know which one got over 200 GOTY awards.
If its done properly I don’t care. It all comes down to the reflex action of the button command feeling responsive , fluid and fun.
Hendrik
October 24, 2014 at 12:40
Darksiders II was AMAZING! God of War was a nice piece of bread, Legend of Zelda the good patty, Diablo and Prince of Persia, good sauce and cheese. Put them together, and you have DARKSIDERS Hamburger!