Thought/Process: Gear Shift: An Interview With Cliff Bleszinski

We thought he should shut the f*** up during E3, but it turns out Cliff Bleszinski's got some insights worth hearing.
12/17/2008 3:52 PM | 3 Comments | Page 2 of 6

Crispy Gamer: Going back to the time frame between the first release and now, what influences can you see from Gears in other games?

Bleszinski: Well, it's kind of flattering to see that every game has a cover mechanic now, and that Gears' crumpled-architecture aesthetic has taken over. It seems like the Fallujah follow-cam [Editor's note: the camera angle used for the Roadie Run] is in all the games. It's been fun to see the shockwaves in what people have to put into their games in a post-Gears world.

Crispy Gamer: Mercenaries 2 doesn't have a cover system and it just felt wrong -- like a core of the game was missing and it took away from the strategy. Who did you see as your main competition this time around?

Bleszinski: Everyone held us up against Resistance 2, which was Sony's shooter this season, but I think that's where the comparisons end. Yeah, [Gears 2 and Resistance 2 are] both shooters, but theirs is a first-person, large-scale experience, whereas we're a much more intimate group, so you can get to know each bastard you're fighting against.

Crispy Gamer: Speaking of getting to know your enemies, the game's iconic weapon is the Lancer [a machine gun-style weapon with a chainsaw mounted on the front that lets players saw people in half]. What was the inspiration for that?

Bleszinski: We wanted a natural evolution of the bayonet, and the first idea started out as a circular saw mounted on the gun. Then the art department got a hold of it and created the weapon we see now. I've heard there are people getting images of the Lancer tattooed on their legs.

We didn't want to have someone shooting a target far away; we wanted it to be more intimate. And, if we were going to have melee combat in the game, we wanted to take it to the next level from just bonking people on the head. So: chainsaw bayonet. We didn't think we'd get it to work at first, but I had to have it. Now it's our equivalent to the lightsaber in the Star Wars franchise.

Crispy Gamer: With so much swagger already built into the series' DNA, what was the plan to mature a franchise like this going into Gears 2?

Bleszinski: The main characters are still big bad dudes, but I think the key is to tap into more of the sad sensibility that came through really well in the "Mad World" commercial. We got more explicit about what the world is really sensing in terms of loss. We tried to allow more mature themes to bleed through. Sure, [the game] has giant monsters and cool weapons, but you have to weave in the human element, or else people detach and lose interest. Hopefully, that came through in the Pvt. Carmine character and the relationship with his brothers, and in Dom looking for Maria.

Crispy Gamer: The character of Augustus Cole was criticized a lot for coming across as a stereotype of a black man. Is there redemption for Cole Train? Do you think the criticisms were valid?