The first in their line of rip-offs was Hero of Sparta, which was a a respectably fun riff on God of War. But it got slightly more blatant with Modern Combat: Sandstorm, which was clearly "inspired" by Modern Warfare. But that was forgivable, because the war is a pretty ambiguous setting. Things got a little more intense when Gameloft released N.O.V.A. But there are lots of sci-fi games, right?
Well, let me tell you what there aren't a lot of: zombie shooters set in Africa. When Gameloft released the trailer for the cleverly titled Zombie Infection, the reaction was so strong that Gameloft changed the location of the game from Africa to South America.
Now, Gameloft are working on exploiting the success of both Uncharted and Final Fantasy. Now, I'm not gonna lie, both of these games look really cool. But if you're going to steal from other people, at least steal from things that are a little less obvious.
Clearly, nothing is sacred. No one is safe from the wrath of Gameloft. I won't deny that their games are good fun, but with every game they're getting a little more ridiculous with their leeching. Gameloft has the potential to make some amazing iPhone classics that could perhaps change peoples' perception of mobile gaming. But as long they continue with what they're doing, they're only going to reinforce their reputation as shameless leeches - albeit very good ones.
