Games that are like other games but not... what?

Ever find yourself playing a game, and suddenly get this feeling of deja vu? I have. I'm sure you might have as well. There are just so many different games out there now, many of them begin to blend together. A professor of mine once told me "Good imitation is better than bad innovation." I'm going to have to agree. I'd rather play a game that is done well but done before, than play a crappy game that's "innovative." I'm not saying innovation is bad. Hell, most of the legendary games of our time all started as great innovations. It is their successors and mimics that reflect the strength of that innovation. Granted, some do the imitation better than others. I thought it would be nice to reflect on some of those games that were like this other game but not really.

"I'm the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!" - Kirk Lazarus(Tropic Thunder)


Uncharted:Drake's Fortune(PS3) :: It's Tomb Raider... With a dude...



Yeah... That's pretty much what this game is. Blah blah shaddap. It's Tomb Raider, but you don't have a hawt busty woman to gawk at. You still raid tombs, solve puzzles, shoot guns, discover ancient civilization secrets that might DESTROY THE WORLD. Maybe they should have made the title "Tomb Raider for women." (sexist rant removed)


Mystic Heroes(Gamecube/PS2):: It's Dyanasty Warriors... For kids...


Ok, this one is pretty goddamn obvious. The both games are made by Koei, WTF do you expect? Seems like that's the only game they're capable of creating. You fight off massive amounts of enemies, do special kill thingamajiggers that aren't musou powers. You run, you hack, you slash, you kill, you repeat. And this leads us too...


Ninety Nine Nights(360):: It's like Dynasty Warriors... Minus the China...

Oh come on Microsoft. I know this was one of your launch titles. But naw, you totally ripped off the Dynasty Warriors franchise. Did you really have to release this game? I mean, they did make Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires and Dynasty Warriors 6 for your system. Why you gotta be lika dat?


Splinter Cell series(Cross Platform):: It's like Metal Gear... Minus the Japanese.


Ohh Tom Clancy. You sneaky sneaky man. Look at these games. Before any of you start saying "Goddamnit holy, they are totally different." I ask you. What is in common with these two games? What is the primary reason you play these two games? You sneak. And do stuff. Then you sneak some more. And then you do stuff. You silently kill people. Then do stuff. Wait wait, there's a convoluted storyline that has more twists and turns than my lower intestine. Yeah... They're the same.


Snood(PC/DS):: It's like Bust-A-Move... For retards.


What is this? WHAT IS THIS?! I thought, you can't rip off a puzzle game. Because it's blatantly fucking obvious that you're playing the same goddamn thing! But this game... Yeah, they did it.


Heavenly Sword(PS3):: It's like God of War... But with a chick.


You know. Some games actually do it right. You have to admit, Heavenly Sword was a nice looking God of War ripoff game. Played pretty well. Excellent graphics. And, as long as you turn off the dumbass sixaxis control, it's playable. Well met.(insert golf clap here)


Ghost Rider(PS2):: It's like God of War... But with more Nicholas Cage.


Now, as far as movie games go, this one isn't THAT bad. I mean, if you're going to rip off a game's play style to help sell a movie game, you might as well rip off a good one. Though the game almost totally deviated from the movie minus the whole Nicholas Cage. Actually... If the movie had the story of the game, I think it would've been better. But not really.


Puzzle Quest(Cross Platform):: It's like Bejeweled... Smashed together with Dungeons & Dragons.


Now this is how you rip off a puzzle game. These guys at Infinite Interactive, so clever. They
took two games, from different polarities, and smashed them together. What's even better, they did it well. It's BRILLIANT! They simultaneously hit two different genre demographics at the SAME TIME. Man, whoever was smoking pot while thinking this one up, needs more weed.


Scarface(PS2/Xbox):: It's like Grand Theft Auto:Vice City... But with more Tony Montana meng.


Hokay meng, you wanna play some game? We play some game. But nawwwww, this game is just like GTA:Vice City. Except you play as Tony Montana. Who didn't die from being shot a billion times. It wasn't bad. Just... Wasn't much different.


Mercenaries(PS2/Xbox):: It's like Grand Theft Auto... North Korea.


Lets go through the check list. Open environment. Check. Mission based system. Check. Run people over with vehicles you stole from them. Check. Lack of morals. Check. Same game. Half check. This game clearly builds upon a lot of what the GTA series is known for, but it adds it's own little... Something. Rather than be punished for destroying public property, it rewards you with monies! Which you use to destroy more property. And so on. Probably one of my favorite game clones.


That is about all I can think of right now. There's probably more games out there. But I can't remember them right now. So You might see me post more of these.