Posted Fri Jan 24, 2014 at 10:15 AM PST by Brian Hoss
Former Ubisoft developers in contention over similarities to 'Assassin's Creed.'
'Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor,' is coming later this year to the Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3 and PC, but the first look at the game and it's Nemesis system has at least one developer talking "code theft."
Charles Randall, currently at Capybara Games but formerly the combat designer on the first two 'Assassin's Creed' titles, sounded off on Twitter.
Seriously, can someone tell me how Assassin's Creed 2 code and assets are in this Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor game?
— Charles Randall (@charlesrandall) January 23, 2014
@missharvey this is *my* code in that game! I better at least see myself in the special thanks. WTF?
— Charles Randall (@charlesrandall) January 23, 2014
Charles later seemed to dial back some of his fervor. While his perspective is one of intimate knowledge on 'Assassin's Creed 1&2,' most players will be able to see some familiar elements between 'Assassin's Creed' and 'Shadow of Mordor.' Here is the gameplay walkthrough:
Meanwhile, Eurogamer has published comments from 'Shadow of Mordor' Design Director, Michael de Plater, "We didn't think much about them (similarities to 'Assassin's Creed') at all. We just wanted to do a third-person, open-world action adventure. And then now, just by the time you have stealth and melee combat and you're hunting guys behind enemy lines, the comparisons maybe come out at that point. It definitely wasn't something we were consciously going for."
Michael de Plater is formerly of Ubisoft but is described as not having specifically worked on any 'Assassin's Creed' titles. Ubisoft has been known to shuffle key talent from project to project.
You can find the latest info on 'Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor' linked from our Video Game Release Schedule.
Source: Eurogamer
Author: Brian Hoss
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