Stretching it a Little

Ok, So I know I'm totally going to come off as a fanboy at some parts of this. But if I don't say it, it's going to eat at me. To get straight to the point, there's a Marketing Director, who's name I'm probably sure no one knows or will remember, that is flirting with the thought that Super Mario Galaxy "borrowed" ideas from the Ratchet and Clank series. Namely he's talking about the Spherical Worlds mechanic from the second and third games. (ie like the levels where you're Mega Clank fighting bad guys trying to take out those towers). So he's really flattered that the great "Miyamoto-san" would take that aspect and incorporate into the Mario franchise.

Now I'm not the first or only one to speak out about this, but I do feel the guy at Insomniac is a little high on life. First of all, the claim is a little over the top. While it is a very unique perspective on platforming the spherical worlds idea I'm pretty sure was not began with the Ratchet and Clank series. On top of that other games have used similar mechanics since R&C, I don't see Insomniac talking about how Super Stardust HD is using the same movement mechanic. Why? Because there's not much to hold on to. I'm sorry to say this but Super Stardust is not the figure Mario is. There's nothing to sink their hooks into and there's basically no reward for making that claim with Stardust. So it's not worth doing.

Secondly, R&C has not exactly been the most evolving game series. Outside of some neat weapon designs, the single player has been a cardboard cut out of the previous ones. And even the weapons have been getting lackluster. There is template that they follow to create each weapon idea. For example, one of the weapons templates is a morph type. But it doesn't matter if the bad guys are turned into chickens or sheep, it's the same idea and no longer an original weapon. The series has done this multiple times with their games, tweaking a few weapons and adding a few new cool ones. And while I understand this may sound like I'm attacking Insomniac outside of the spherical worlds topic, but if you're going to start making claims to ideas and innovation, prepare to defend yourself. Oh, and I especially like Wii Fanboys' JC Fletchers quote from his Insomniac invented the spherical world post, "You know who else did spherical worlds? The universe. You may remember some awesome levels like Earth and Neptune"

HAHA, Zing~!!

Finally, I think what we all have to remember this guy is a MARKETING DIRECTOR. There's a new ratchet and clank coming out at the end of the month. Coincidence? Controversy causes more interest which in turn leads to more sales. And all of us arguing about this and pointing fingers is just free advertising. Which by the way, Tools of Destruction needs, because the demo I played, quite frankly sucked. I haven't played a R&C game in a few years since Up Your Arsenal and I'm still tired of the same game play. (NO MORE RAIL GRINDING) There's plenty of reasons why my money will be going towards buying Mario Galaxy and not Tools of Destruction. The only one of which I will go into is the fact that Miyamoto and his teams are amazing. There's a reason why he is the developer he is. Why he has the reputation he does. From game to game there are always important game play improvements and fresh ideas. And Galaxy looks to be another extension of this.


David