I really don’t know how to start writing about the Gameloft, as its games have left me with a bittersweet taste. From the one hand I think “How did they create such a great game?” and from the other hand “Ok, this is definitely not the best you can do”.
As a faithful gamer I have met Gameloft in every gaming console. PSP, Wii, PS3, and xbox360, all those have its games in their e-shops. However, in these e-shops you can find only low-budget games, with questionable quality or retro games of the past decade. Is Gameloft a company of this range? For the reason mentioned above and for everything we saw up until today, I guess it is.
Nonetheless, in the mobile platforms such as Android and iOS, things are different. In these cases there currently is no room for exceptional graphics and gameplay, as the devices cannot manage this yet, as well as the lack of buttons does not allow a more complete gaming experience. In mobile platforms, the games have to be simple in operation and relatively good-looking in the presentation, but in order to make the difference a good script or an extraordinary idea is needed.
Gameloft has proved that it can handle the presentation part, but it doesn’t offer new ideas. its games are either worn-out or bad copies from other successful console games that just don’t have anything interesting. Even the game titles are given in a way of reminding us the specific copied game. What really makes me upset is that they try to make money out of these low-quality games for low-end devices.
For instance, in order to compare the graphics that an Android device (Tegra2) can handle is the Shadowgun. It leaves you open-mouthed! Watch it:
Another example of a game with a great concept is the Spirit. It is a game that make you stick on it.
Now, let’s find out what kind of games Gameloft creates so as to compare them with the above examples. Of course, these are just some of the games, which can be found in the Android Market. We will divide them in three categories:
- The good ones. Games which have a nice titles and it is worth having them in your device.
- The copied ones. Games which may be nice but they don’t offer anything further from the original ones. In addition, most of them have really bad scripts.
- The ones for laughs. My favorite category! Here, there are the games which are worse than the ones we play in the MAME. The key for the Gameloft is that they have titles from movies or from successful games but they cannot reproduce neither the minimum of the script, the beauty nor their gameplay.
The Good ones
Even though this game is a nice copy of the NFS Underground, it still remains as one of the best driving games. After all, you don’t need much: just gas, brake, and wheel. Really nice.
This game of the recent movie, with very nice graphics, it transfers its atmosphere into our device. Beautiful!
By combining a bit of the Grand Theft Auto and a bit of the Max Payne, the 9mm is a game that you are going to like. Gangs, gunshots, and lots of run are some of the characteristics that keep you interested in a game which is a real… jewel.
Altair of Assassins Creed and the prince of Prince of Persia were probably friends, and this one is the thrird of the company. BackStab is a mix of those two games and seems to have a good script. I guess this is the best work of Gameloft and costing only €0,10 (in 12/12/2011) in the Android Market. Enjoy:
The copied-ones
Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus
This title reminds me of.. Do it Modern Warfare to get over with it. If you have already played the Call of Duty, you don’t need to spend your money for this one. It will not offer you anything more.
Or else Medal of Honor. 2nd World War… blah blah blah… kill the Germans… blah blah blah… THE END! That’s the game.
This GT reminds me of something. Maybe the Gran Turismo? This is a nice game, but if you start playing it by thinking that it is gonna be something similar, you ‘d better not buying iy at all.
Just by looking at the cover, you will understand which game it has copied:
Yes! It is a World of Warcraft clone. If you haven’t played the WoW, you can start from this one, but for the more experienced players this is just a bad copy.
From a quick look the title doesn’t refer to something, but the 4-lettered and one-word title can only refer to Halo. Another FPS game with nothing different from the style of Halo. There are better games than this one.
The ones for laughs
Allow me not to comment on the games below, otherwise I will say words that are quite …harsh.
To sum up
I believe that Gameloft doesn’t trade on its potential. I undestand that they are trying to create a variety of games that will include tiles both for low-end and high-end devices, but neither one of its games doesn’t come close to the Shadowgun example, which is after all just graphics and no good script.
It could follow the example of the Spirit or the Angry Birds, which offer something different from the ordinary games, not with special graphics but with a clever idea.
Finally, I cannot imagine someone buying one of the games from the last category, not even just for fun. You ‘d better install a MAME emulator and play the so superior Cadillacs & Dinosaurs.
