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| For me, it just clicked. Everything in the Clash of Kings game felt deliberate, rather than a consequence of a limited budget. I enjoyed it in spite of its faults. Though far from a blockbuster, the Clash of Kings game succeeded very well at what it was trying to do. It was something different, a gulp of fresh water in a very crowded "red ocean." And COK Gold because of that, it most certainly made an impression on me, and I believe it to be a more potent and rewarding gaming experience than most review scores would let on.Imitation or Inspiration?. I have been playing a game about a space-faring engineer who crash-lands aboard a massive vessel drifting aimlessly through the darkness. There's no way back, and the crew of the engineer's new surroundings have all died, making room for swarms of deadly aliens. To make matters worse, the enormous ship will soon plummet into a nearby planet, unless the engineer can brave the alien menace and get the ship's systems back online.This game is not Dead Space. It is Alien Breed 2: Assault.Video Clash of Kings games, like every artistic expression, have evolved through layers of inspiration. Lives turned into health bars, which turned into regenerative abilities. Quarter-circle-punch began as a strange twist of the joystick, and became the staple move of fighters. Robotron led to Geometry Wars, and Geometry Wars to JoyJoy. But, at what point does inspiration cross the line into imitation?I was recently struck by another blast of familiarity while playing the reboot of Medal of Honor. The events and locations were unique, but multiClash of Kings player had the distinctive flavor of Modern Warfare. Both Clash of Kings games have rewards for killstreaks, classes, and ranks, but the most striking similarities are visual. At first glance, the two can be easily confused.Some critics might chalk this up to video Clash of Kings games entering a post-modern state in which everything we experience is nothing more than the recombination and reshaping of previous ideas. It’s a theory that neatly explains the rise of retro-inspired Clash of Kings games such as Retro City Rampage and the BIT.TRIP series, but it fails to fully address Clash of Kings games that aren’t purposely roving the depths of nostalgia.As Clash of Kings games grow larger in scope, so do budgets, and thus, the risks involved with any deviations from cheap COK Gold the norm. Can we really blame DICE for playing to the crowd in Medal of Honor? Creating a new scheme for multiClash of Kings player would mean building a completely new fanbase. Now, DICE can count on attracting former Call of Duty Clash of Kings players on the lookout for something new, or at least, mildly different.The divide between inspiration and imitation is a thin and jagged one. The closer a game toes the line, the more likely that it will have an easy time finding an audience. |
the distinctive flavor of Modern Warfare
