Oh Gaming how you Flatter Me

Imitations and Reboots in Gaming

Ever since Cristopher Nolan undertook the daunting task of re-imagining the Batman film franchise (and succeeded with flying Joel Schumacherish colors by the way) Hollywood has since embraced the "reboot" as a pseudo-genre. It was only a matter of time, but now it seems the gaming universe is hopping on the reboot bandwagon. A couple of new titles are making their way into our living rooms this fall, which includes the new "Medal of Honor" game, and a re-imagining of the 8-bit NES Castlevania franchise "Lords of Shadow." Both games are being aptly called re-births, as publishers hope to spawn a cash-cow series out of both titles. While many movie-goers roll their eyes when Hollywood announces a reboot of a TV show or movie, gaming reboots need to be embraced in today's market.

I CAN'T BREATHE IN THIS THING!!!

Before Call of Duty was the monster that it is today, the Medal of Honor series was at one point the standard for all Military first person shooters. The series has been on hiatus for about 3 years now, and is looking to be the game that gives Modern Warfare a run for it's money. The developers behind Medal of Honor, EA, say they're moving out of the World War II era into modern times, but this is territory that was crossed by Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward three years ago. So is imitation bad in gaming? Absolutely not. If there is a chance for a developer to create a new game that contains elements of a previous title, and can actually build on it and make it more fun, then I'm all for it. The new Medal of Honor game may look like a Call of Duty copycat, but I'm not about to write it off just yet. Who knows, maybe Medal of Honor has a longer, more satisfying single-player campaign than Modern Warfare, and a richer multiplayer experience. (By the way the multiplayer is being developed separate from the solo campaign by developer DICE, the same people behind "Battlefield." Just something to take note of) And as you'll notice, this kind of "inspiration" in gaming happens all the time.

Behold my flaming nunchucks of awesomeness

Looking at the upcoming Castlevania game "Lords of Shadow," many critics are comparing the game's combat and camera-work to God of War. I could see why someone would be concerned about a game playing similar to another, but again, if a developer takes the time to fine-tune their game, and hey, maybe even make it better than the game before, then sign me up. And besides, doesn't any kind of creative thought take inspiration from something that already exists? If you turn the clock back 5 years when the first God of War game was released, critics were drawing heavy comparisons to "Devil May Cry," but it just so happens God of War became the more balanced and gratifying game to play. Another thing to take into account is that not everyone has the same tastes. Some gamers may want to play in a certain fictitious world rather than another because they enjoy that kind of lore or realm. Personally, I've always been a sucker for zombie and vampire movies (for the record I've watched Twilight but it's so gay) so I can see myself really enjoying Castlevania more than God of War. Not to mention I was a dork for the original NES Castlevanias when I was a kid. 

But I was just delivering a box of cookies Officer!

While we're on the topic of imitation, lets not forget the countless spawns that have emerged in the open world sandbox style of Grand Theft Auto. Games like "Crackdown," "Red Dead Redemption," and even "Mafia II" draw heavily from the formula that GTA defined. Personally I'm kind of annoyed by sandbox games, but they're still considerably successful and fun to play. And it's not just GTA-style games that are imitated. Look at games like bejeweled, tetris, or even alleyway. There are so many games in both the console and handheld market that are guilty of imitation that it's very hard for me to put off a game that draws inspiration from a previous iteration. Now don't get me wrong, imitation is great and all, but some game developers have really dropped the ball. Case in point: "Dante's Inferno." I was excited to play this game because of the whole hell theme surrounding it, and the gameplay looked solid enough. But low and behold, the game played like a duplicate God of War game that didn't really make its own identity. Sure the environments were fantastic, but the gameplay, enemies, and level structures just weren't connecting with me.

Devil, Meet Scythe. Scythe, meet Devil's intestines.

Like it or not, there is no completely original game, and that's ok. I just hope we can all recognize that it'll take one hell of a developer to design a 100% completely original game. Who knows, maybe someone will finally create a tolerable Superman game. God do we need one.