Two new apps are tearing up the charts this week. One is Dong Nguyen's frustrating new tap-title, Swing Copters, determined to take back Flappy Bird's #1 spot and viral success. The other is Star Wars: Commander, one of the first new Star Wars gaming IPs released since Disney bought the brand from George Lucas.
I've been playing both over the past few days, and while my thoughts on Swing Copters can be summed up rather quickly (Flappy Bird with ten times the frustration), there's a bit more to say on Star Wars: Commander.
The first piece I read about the game was a Gamespot interview with the executive producer of the game, Nathan Etter. The entire thrust of the piece is him trying to convince everyone that no, despite how it looks, Star Wars: Commander is not a Clash of Clans clone. He cites the ability to choose between the Rebels and Imperials as a big departure from Supercell's megahit, along with the inclusion of something resembling a storyline.
"What we really did want to do was continue the line of innovation in the [free-to-play combat strategy game] space," Etter says. "We could have just chosen to let people play one side [but] we really wanted to invest, and differentiate the two and really give people an authentic experience across both... That storyline has been something that a number of the players have remarked upon quite positively and have been excited to see."
In practice, however, it's nearly impossible not to see the game as Clash of Clans with a Star Wars skin, so much so it's a wonder it wasn't made by Zynga.
At least in early levels (which is all players can experience right now due to the slow pace of resource collection and endless time gates), the games are mirrors of each other in almost every way. There are three forms of currency, two of which you use to build different types of building, and one of which you can shell out real-life cash for to speed up build time or fill your resources. These "crystals" serve exactly the same purpose as they do in Clash of Clans, and even the shiny green icon is almost exactly the same. Etter says that the game is absolutely not pay-to-win despite the inclusion of this paid form of currency, but there's very little you can't get done between instant building completion and endlessly refilling resources if you do want to pay real-world cash for crystals.
But so far everything from defense towers to walls to resource collection to builder (droid) huts is identical to Clash of Clans, with only skin-deep differences on display. But what about what's supposed to set the game apart?
Yes, you can choose between the Rebels and Imperials within the first minute or two of the game, but if there's a reasonable way to ever experience what it's like for the other side, I haven't figured it out yet. It would be cool if you could have two camps running simultaneously, but so far as I can tell, most players will only experience one side or the other, and would be forced to erase their base and start over if they wanted to give the other faction a try. And for a game that takes weeks, months or even years to cultivate a base, deleting all your progress is not very appealing. For all intents and purposes, there is only one faction for players, whichever one they choose at the beginning.
The "story" is a little bit more extensive than Clash of Clans' single player which is more of a challenge mode than anything else. Little pictures of little characters pop up and explain why exactly it is you need to destroy this Tusken Raider village or that Imperial base, but the depth of the storyline is probably what you'd expect given that you have maybe three sentences of dialog per mission to work with.
And despite being out years later, Clash of Clans seems to do many things better than Star Wars: Commander, particularly where combat is concerned. It's hard to guess where your troops will attack, and the animations are downright microscopic on a phone. The entire game runs a bit choppy on my older model iPhone while I've had no problems with Clans over the past year or so I've been playing.
I think Star Wars: Commander just goes to show how depressing the mobile space is right now. It's one thing to have no-name devs swooping in to make crapware that aims to emulate popular games. But it's another to have all the resources of Star Wars and Disney at your disposal, and still resort to cloning.
What a "clone" really is remains up for debate, as that claim is always countered by "well aren't all FPS games just clones of Doom?" But playing these two games side-by-side, despite minor tweaks and skin changes, it's hard to feel like there's anything there resembling actual innovation. I'm sure the team worked hard on the game, but even if it's a quality product, there's no way to accurately say it's an original one.
And yet, that's what app customers want. The charts are full of clones, and now Star Wars: Commander is firmly in the top ten itself. If you're tired of waiting for three days as your Clash of Clans buildings finish construction, now there's a sci-fi version to keep you busy in the mean time. I'm just hoping that this mobile creativity drought won't last forever, but it will until the scene stops rewarding copycatting over innovation.
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