Gears of War

[Great Rumbler]

Gears of War? Bah, zero innovation! (according to EA...)

I'd say that in some ways that person from EA is right, although the fact that the statement came from within EA makes it absolutely ridiculous.

The gameplay is essentially a copy of GRAW's over-the-shoulder third-person view-point and it relies heavily on using cover. The difference is that it focuses much more on action than avoiding detection.

The story borrows from the Starship Troopers-esque space marine archetype, that was in everything from Halo to Alien, and the Half-Life 2's alien-overun-of-Earth style of story. The presentation of the story is more in line with movies about modern warfare than Halo, which is at time little more than space opera. I'd say the story is a cross between a gritty Half-Life 2 and Starship Troopers without all the philosophy.

So, yeah, it's not innovative as it borrows from pre-existing games/movies/books. However, what EA fails to realise is that there is a big difference between having a lack of innovation and being completely unorginal; and GoW is most certainly not unorginal. And for that matter, not having innovation has almost nothing to do with whether a game is fun. And GoW is most certainly anything but not fun. Did people hate Super Mario Bros. 3 because it was only an evolution of the SMB format perfected by the first game? Of course not!

In other words, GoW is awesome and EA is stupid.

Note: All references to Starship Troopers refer only to the book and not that awful movie by Paul Verhoeven.