40 feet Erections for an original IP! Its high time Cliffy B joined the porn industry, they are A BIGGER industry than gaming anyway. I am sure they can accommodate Cliffy with relative ease, he can design the sets and script his own movie and show off the might and power of 40 feet “unreal and epic” claims of Original Intellectual IP.
On a much serious note, this statement by renowned designer comes as a bit of a shock to me since he has told the worldwide press that there were primarily three games that “Inspired/were closely looked into” while creating Gears of War.
Capcom’s Bionic Commando-A NES / Gameboy game where players cannot jump they use a claw on the arm of a protagonist to cling onto platforms. This mechanic has been implemented in Gears of War as moving from one cover point to another on a horizontal plain, this is according to the designer himself.
The second game again comes from the stables of Capcom studios, the survival horror game “Resident Evil 4” the gun from the shoulders view has been lifted off from the game itself… not only that I also think that the bland color palette and the general level design has also been taken from the game…and well the “Chainsaw” idea on the rifle is original all right but I do have a feeling that both Doom and resident Evil 4 had a say in the implementation of the Idea.
“Mirror Mirror on the wall” Look at the animations.
“Deja Vu”…the tiling on the ground and the pillars… “Original” are they not
“Mommy Leon taught me to hold a gun and shoot”.
The last and the best inspiration comes from a game called “Kill.switch” from Namco which infused the cover behind objects and kill people mechanic…its astounding to see the similarity between the two games. The guys at Epic and Cliffy B worked so hard to painstakingly rip off the animations and the idea of cover from the game.
“Lets Play Hide and Seek” – Gears of war Vs Kill. Switch
Sneaking around is “Fishers” (Sorry) Fishy business…notice the pattern of the layout the tables and chairs and the designs on the wall /parapet.
“Sneaking and shooting is my specialty”, “Mine too”
In case he thinks the storyline is original and intriguing, Cliffy boy has officially left earth and settled on the planet Sera with humans and other life forms. Hey I do not shy away from the fact that the game is “Brilliant” (for that is the only superlative to describe the game) in its own form and its success speaks for itself but it is not a highly original game as Cliffy B claims it to be, a lot of developers look at numerous other games in creating their own game. Here’s another classic example Devil May Cry was inspired from the hit game Castlevania which in turn was made into a game like Devil May Cry on the previous generation consoles. Even Kojima San realized the essence of a movable camera and online play from Snake’s arch rival Sam Fisher and implemented it in Subsistence.
So basically, all this bragging and boasting about original IP needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, a glass of water and loads of digestives. Cliffy B needs to get off his vanity trip because most gamers are males who care the least about his size and he should get back to what he does best is design and make games.
– By Neelesh Mukherjee