Interviews
Cliff Bleszinski On Gears 2, Re-Enacting The Miller Lite Catfight With Ted Price
October 10, 2008
Gears of War 2 is finished and ready for its November 7th debut on Xbox 360. To help fuel the ramp up Microsoft hosted an exclusive San Francisco event for journalists to play through every portion of the game, including the new campaign. Cliff Bleszinski, lead game designer at Epic Games, walked around the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf ballroom as 30-plus HD TVs broadcast his latest creation. In between watching game journalists blast their way through (and underneath) Sera, he took some time to talk about Gears of War 2, why some gamers expect him to go nipple to nipple with Ted Price in a fountain, and his thoughts on David Jaffe. As usual, Bleszinski had plenty to say. Check out the full interview after the jump.
Das Gamer: Now that Gears of War 2 is finally done and in the hands of game critics, how does it feel?
Cliff Bleszinski: It feels great. I always call this time period going over the dark side of the moon. It was especially tough with Gears 1 because we didn’t know if any of it would jive or if the reviews would be great, we didn’t know if gamers would take to it or if it would sell. And until the numbers came in and everything was settled, I was like depressed for a month and a half. I had some type of game developer male postpartum depression or something. Now I’m more confident this time. But still it’s a very nerve-wracking experience, man. Whenever I think about everything we put into the game from start to finish, the campaign, the co-op, the multiplayer, I think it’s really amazing. But you always hear that voice in the back of your head that makes you wonder. Watching these editors’ reactions to the game today, I think it’s going over well.
When you look at all of the gameplay modes in Gears of War 2, which one really stands out to you?
Cliff Bleszinski: I’m most proud of the campaign. Unfortunately, it’s the one thing we’re not allowed to talk about when promoting the game. We can talk about the Versus and Co-op and Horde, but the campaign is so secret. There are entire environment sets and characters and events and plot points that we can’t say anything about. We don’t want to spoil it for gamers. We want them to play through with a friend and experience all of that coolness. But, overall, campaign is the thing I’m most proud of with all we’ve been able to pull off.
Now that you guys are finished with Gears 2, what have you been playing in your free time?
Cliff Bleszinski: I’ve been playing a lot of Xbox Live Arcade games recently. I played Braid a lot, which I thought was a wonderful game, but also extremely difficult. I like to say Portal made me feel smart and Braid made me feel stupid. Castle Crashers was a riot. I though Bionic Commando Rearmed was excruciatingly difficult. I must be getting old with my reaction times or something, but I’m not as good as I used to be. I hope to pick up Silent Hill: Homecoming this week and this fall I’m looking forward to Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge.
Gears 2 ships the same week as Insomniac Games’ Resistance 2. That’s a lot of sci-fi shooters for one week. How much do you keep up with the other FPS titles out there?
Cliff Bleszinski: I think it’s important to know what’s out there in the shooter genre on other consoles. I have a lot of respect for Insomniac. Ted (Price) is a wonderful guy and I think they do great work. Everybody loves this dynasty shit where they want to see Ted and I fighting in a fountain pulling each other’s hair or something like that. Sorry, but it’s not going to happen. They’re making their own sci-fi extravaganza, as are we. When you break it down and look at each game, it’s largely apples to oranges.
