With an impressive collection of App Store releases, and a new hit seemingly every week, Gameloft is one of the biggest and most successful game developers for the iOS platform. But where does it get its inspiration for so many excellent releases? Well, from the consoles, of course.
You see, many developers who have released popular titles for the PlayStation, Xbox and PC haven’t quite gotten around to porting these titles over to iOS. Gameloft has recognized that we all want our favorite console games in the palm of our hand, so it has stepped in and (not so) subtly created its own versions of popular console games for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
Over the years I’ve read many complaints about Gameloft’s approach, but personally I’m a big fan of it. While it may sometimes step a little too close to an obvious replica release, Gameloft has done a great job of offering us a range of substitutes to some of our most-loved console games.
For example, without Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus, those of us with an addiction to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 wouldn’t be able to get our fix of FPS fun while we’re on the move. Without N.O.V.A. we wouldn’t have a handheld Halo alternative, without Order & Chaos Online we wouldn’t have World of Warcraft… and the list goes on.
To highlight Gameloft’s inspiration and its excellent ability to recreate handheld versions of our console greats, here’s a nice gallery of Gameloft iOS releases right next to their PlayStation, Xbox and PC counterparts:
N.O.V.A. 2 vs. Halo
Gangstar: West Coast Hustle vs. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Modern Combat: Black Pegasus vs. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
