Eidos: Deus Ex Not Copying Assassin's Creed 2 or BioShock

[Logan Westbrook]

Eidos: Deus Ex Not Copying Assassin's Creed 2 or BioShock

BioShock gets too much credit, say Eidos Montreal's art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête.

Jacques-Belletête has struck out at claims that the studio has been copying ideas from Ubisoft and Irrational Games for Deus Ex: Human Revolution [http://www.amazon.com/Deus-Ex-Human-Revolution-Pc/dp/B002I0HKRQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1287055737&sr=1-1 ], saying that any similarities between it and Assassin's Creed 2 or BioShock were coincidental.

Jacques-Belletête thought that BioShock was given more credit for innovation than it strictly deserved. He said that while BioShock might have been some people's first experience with a narrative based shooter, it hadn't created the genre and that Irrational had built on the groundwork laid by other, older games. "BioShock's a funny game," he said. "Without taking anything away from it, it got a lot of credit for things a lot of games were doing waaay earlier. Even System Shock!"

The Assassin's Creed 2 comparisons are based on Human Revolution's renaissance-inspired look, but Jacques-Belletête is adamant that the former didn't inspire that latter. He said that work had started on Human Revolution long before Ubisoft got going on Assassin's Creed 2 and that when Eidos Montreal decided on Human Revolution's aesthetic, the rumors about AC2 were that it would be set in the Mayan era.

"When I saw the first teaser later on I was like, 'argh,'" he said. "You can only take my word for it but we had no idea! I remember when word first came out I called some people and was like, 'wasn't it supposed to be f*cking Aztecs?'"

It's not hard to see why Jacques-Belletête is so frustrated. The comparisons between Human Revolution and BioShock must be annoying, but they at least make a certain amount of sense, if the people making them are unfamiliar with the original Deus Ex games. But to say Human Revolution is copying Assassin's Creed 2 because the games have a vaguely similar look in places is one heck of a stretch, and must be maddening for the artists involved.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution comes out for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in February next year.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=269665?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-News-RSS]




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[mParadox]

wow....well i will try my ever best to not make comparisons.

Can't make any promises though.

 

[GooBeyond]

i agree with his statement that BioShock gets praised for stuff that had happened earlier.
and i don't give a damn about the similarities between DE and ACII.

but let me get this straight, it DE fails to deliver, i will shed blood.

[sub][sub]my own, probably.[/sub][/sub]

 

[Plinglebob]

So they are being accused of ripping off a game that ripped off the game they are a sequal of? I'm not sure whether I want to laugh at the ignorance/stupidity of people who make the comparisons, or cry for the same reason.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Can I still compare it to System Shock?

 

[Squilookle]

He shouldn't even have paid attention to those claims. Whether this game copies another or not, games copy features from each other all the time, and as long as they're good games there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[kingcom]

People actually made those claims? REALLY?

 

[thethingthatlurks]

1) dude, chill. I've never heard anybody making the comparison.
2) If anything, AC and Bioshock have taken a bit of a lesson from the original Deus Ex games when it comes to story and gameplay. Of course, games looking alike these days is hardly unexpected, even if each one has its own distinct flair.

 

[ratix2]

There are probably many similarities between bioshock and deus ex 3. But when you look at the games past you'll see why. Warren spector was one of the leads on a fantastic little game called system shock while at looking glass. The concepts (most of them anyway) in system shock 2 were taken from the first, and as many are quick to point out bioshock IS a spiritual successor to SS2. While SS2 was in development spector left looking glass to head up ion storm Austin (a separate studio from the one that john romero headed up and that released daikatana). It was here that he made one of the greatest games ever, deus ex. Years later irrational would go on to make bioshock primarily because they didnt have the rights to the ss ip (they tried but failed to acquire it prior to starting bioshock), essentially a clone of ss2, albeit with less depth in the gameplay department but a better story. And now eidos is working on deus ex 3, there should be similarities seeing as the man responsible for deus ex is also responsible for system shock.

 

[fletch_talon]

I know its not the focus of the article, but the big thing I've learnt reading this is just how much I would love to see an Assassins Creed game set in a Mayan/Aztec era.

 

[The Giggling Pin]

I really couldn't care less if someone copied someone or they stole the idea entirely from a man who was made homeless and forced to eat rat pooh out of a sock because of his IP being stolen. If its good and feels like deus ex i will be soooo bloody happy!!!

 

[The Rockerfly]

Bioshock is good and on a console, the fuck does it matter if the idea is not 100% original. Neither is most stories, we still read them

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

There are probably many similarities between bioshock and deus ex 3. But when you look at the games past you'll see why. Warren spector was one of the leads on a fantastic little game called system shock while at looking glass. The concepts (most of them anyway) in system shock 2 were taken from the first, and as many are quick to point out bioshock IS a spiritual successor to SS2. While SS2 was in development spector left looking glass to head up ion storm Austin (a separate studio from the one that john romero headed up and that released daikatana). It was here that he made one of the greatest games ever, deus ex. Years later irrational would go on to make bioshock primarily because they didnt have the rights to the ss ip (they tried but failed to acquire it prior to starting bioshock), essentially a clone of ss2, albeit with less depth in the gameplay department but a better story. And now eidos is working on deus ex 3, there should be similarities seeing as the man responsible for deus ex is also responsible for system shock.

If I read that right, I should be really excited for Epic Mickey, because Warren Spector is making that.

 

[Flauros]

lol sounds a little bit like GOW or HALO syndrome (oh, so you see what you shoot in first person? Such a Halo ripoff!) lol

 

[Galad]

Pointless trivia: "Belletête" means "pretty head" in French

 

[More Fun To Compute]

This guy speaks a lot like Ken Levine. Is he copying him?

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Wow what idiots and maybe some fanboy's made these claims. I can understand Bio Shock but saying it's ripping off AC2 because it's vaguely similar in the art style? Someone is clearly inhaling too much Sharpie fumes.

 

[Cozzzy]

I wouldn't even mind if it did. Both Bioshock and AC are brilliant games, and it would be quite fitting considering Bioshock had a lot of influence from DX/SS.

The DX3 renaissance clothing crap, however, needs to stop. Preordered it already, but I've got a horrible feeling it's going to be unplayable to me with details like that.