H.A.V.E. Online vs. TF 2

http://kotaku.com/5306691/korean-pc-game-rips+off-team-fortress-2
http://memolog.blog.naver.com/mouse2343/85

My friend just linked me to the kotaku article and I decided to look into it to see what the korean article said.

Here's my conclusion.


Yes. There are similarities. Certain ones are faaaar too similar and could actually be subject to copyright. Let me point them out.

First would be the grenade. I'm not saying grenades are copy righted but I'm pretty sure the "bean" like shape is quite unique to TF2. Considering H.A.V.E. Online's similarity to that, I would've preferred they redesign that.

Weapons. In the way the bat is held in-game and the way it's presented in the trailer is very similar to TF2. While it seems that the bat in H.A.V.E Online does a bit more damage (more like the style of S4) it's presentation in the trailer following a running person and double jumping does bear an uncanny similarity to the Scout.

Taunts. While not shown in the trailer, a brief scroll through Korean spam comments say that some comments are almost identical to some in TF2 (one of which seems to be ripped from the Heavy.)

Music is far too similar. I'm not saying that they have a horn section, it's a ripoff. But the way it's composed is very similar to TF2.

Sounds. No change. The minigun sounds exactly the same, and so does the sniper rifle. Problem.

There was a brief healing sequence that looked like an effect of the Medic's medigun. Nice try in hiding that.....

Exploding to pieces + Blue "blood." I've been thinking for a while about that and finally realized that it's going to cause problems.



Now for other things that bear resemblance but also have no ground.

Camera shots. Group shots ARE NOT stuck to one person. Certain camera angles and direction DO bear a resemblance at the same time are completely coincidental. There's this one side by side in the naver post with the demoman and a female toy with a shotgun both looking up with their guns. That doesn't work. If you've seen Meet the Demoman, I believe he's yelling "LEEEET'S DOO IIIIIT!" The toy in the trailer looks up to try and find the sniper. Camera wise, it looks the same, circumstantially, completely different, and yes. It does matter circumstantially. Context is a very big key here.

The "Look" of some guns. Anyone who complains that H.A.V.E Online rips off the looks of some guns needs to pay attention to games a bit more. For example. Sniper rifles are in many games. The fact that a sniper rifle has a scope can't be copyrighted. Barrel styled Grenade Launchers fall into the same hole. The minigun however does warrant some issues. It looks too much like a re-skin rather than a change.

Double jump. Unreal Tournament had it as well. The main issue with the double jump is it's combination with a bat.

Art style. This is a big one. The unique aspect of TF2 is its art style. It's "cartoony" aspect of the game makes it unique to other games. As much as one would like to call H.A.V.E online ripping off TF2's artstyle because it's "cartoony" is moot. Although I would agree that it seems to look like a re-skin, I'd also like to remind readers about Pixar and Dreamworks. Please comment if you think otherwise.

"Red Vs. Blue." No.




Now for the differences:
There's no "classes" in HAVE online. You have a character that's fully customizable in gender, clothing, and weapons (setting up a general micro-transaction base). In terms of gameplay this would probably be the "breaking point" between TF2 and HAVE Online.

Third Person vs. First Person. Believe it or don't, the difference between first person and third person changes the way games are played. Third person in particular has quirks that First Person doesn't. One would be the ability to look around corners without exposing one's self.

No doubt there's going to be builds that work around one primary weapon. There's bound to be similarities of some builds to TF2.



Verdict?

Shouldn't be in Open Beta. The trailer itself is an indication of their "inspiration." It would've been fine as a free mod, but I'm assuming that this is being planned for an official release. It's still too similar and the developers need to work on it for much longer. Valve could easily let loose a single case and this game would go Ka-plut. It's an act of plagarism. There could be other ways to handle this, but it looks like a re-skinned or mod of TF2. The concept seems interesting, just a very, very poor execution.