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Cliff Bleszinski dishes on Gears and games

• By Sid Shuman
• November 03, 2008 14:41 PM PST
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Read the full interview from our November issue with Gears of War 2 designer Cliff Bleszinski, for his thoughts on the game, the importance of co-op, Xbox 360 storage limitations, and how demos can actually spoil games.

Originally published in the November issue of GamePro.

GamePro: Horde multiplayer mode is a pleasant surprise. What was the inspiration behind it?
Cliff Bleszinski: We definitely knew we wanted a bigger co-op experience. Five players make sense, because in multiplayer we support five-on-five now. Being able to help your buddies by voice chat after you're dead -- "you've got two Boomers coming around the corner!" -- shifts your role into a meta-strategy game, too. We wanted the campaign to be bigger, but we didn't want to arbitrarily string four players together like a chain gang. Did you ever see Oh Brother Where Art Thou? If you look at the online numbers for other games, the number of players that play four-player co-op are surprisingly small.

Why is that? Is that why the Gears 2 campaign only supports two players?
The thing is, everybody says they want four-player co-op...but as you add in more players, the narrative experience decreases exponentially. Have you ever tried to watch a movie with four drunk people? Some have to go pee, some have to grab chips...I don't want to discount that [larger co-op] experience, but we took what works with four or five players and moved it into a Smash TV or Geometry Wars setting. For a story-driven campaign mode like ours, I think two players is kind of a sweet spot. It's easy to grab one buddy, whether you're online or on splitscreen, and just go.

Golden guns -- are they just aesthetic?
The golden Hammerburst is offered to folks who go to the midnight madness launch events. The gold Lancer comes with the Collector's Edition of Gears of War 2. So if you go to the midnight madness and buy the Collector's Edition, you get both. It's such a cheesy thing -- it's just a weapon skin, a texture -- but it winds up being a big deal in gameplay. It looks impressive when you see it in-game, and it helps player visibility so you can spot friends more quickly.

How many rounds are in Horde? Do the enemies get stronger?
There are 50 waves, and in later waves the enemies will get modifiers such as double health, so coordinating fire and active reloads become a very big deal. I think Horde is the dark horse of Gears of War 2, people are going to be surprised by it.

What happens if you clear all 50 waves?
Honestly, I don't f*cking know. I've only gotten to wave 40! You totally caught me there -- I need to beat it before we ship.

Is there anything to unlock, or any secrets that tie into Horde?
All of your Achievements count in Horde. There aren't any specific unlockables in Horde, but there are unlockables in the main game. If you encounter certain enemies in the single-player campaign, you'll unlock them for multiplayer play, such as the Locust priests.

How important is a co-op experience these days for a shooter?
In the last few years, it's gone from being 'nice' to being 'necessary.' It was a feature that gets planned early on in a lot of games but later gets cut. In a post-Halo, post-Gears world, I think you've got to have it. It's a great way to expose an inexperienced player to a game, and allow them to have fun. It's great for getting girlfriends to play, too.

What games do co-op well, in your opinion? Who are the guiding lights of co-op?
Not many, to be honest. Most people play Halo co-op, and Halo is one that does a great job of it. One thing I hate in co-op games is this [gestures in an "alley-oop" position]. That needs to go away. Of all the things you can do with weaponry and moves in co-op, your big unique idea is to give somebody a leg up? Really?!

In Gears 2 co-op, we've got some cool puzzles that take advantage of co-op. The crane you saw at E3, in the real version of that level, Dom gets in the crane and Marcus pilots it to maneuver Dom around. It's a bit like the spotlight levels from Gears 1. There's another part where Dom and Marcus have to carry a huge bomb between them, and it's like watching two guys wearing a donkey suit -- in co-op, if one players goes the wrong way it messes things up, and both players are blasting at Wretches with pistols. There are some co-op driving moments, and there's another vehicle scenario where Marcus and Dom each ride Reavers. That's a co-op experience, not this [makes the alley-oop gesture].

Speaking of the campaign, who's your favorite new enemy?
I like the Tickers. I like enemies who give you a bigger reward if you take a bigger risk. If you get close to a Ticker and melee it, it'll flip onto its back and become, essentially, an exploding barrel. If you're good, you can make it blow up in your enemy's faces. There are Locust who carry Scorcher flamethrowers, too, and you can pop their tank to wipe out everyone nearby. It's all part of a positive feedback loop.

Driveable vehicles, how big of an emphasis will they have in Gears of War 2?
You only ride on the Derrick, but you can drive the Centaur tank, which works like a monster truck. The Centaur level is fun: you're driving up a mountain wall, across frozen lakes where you can hear the ice creaking and cracking, and powersliding through Locust crowds. And then the Centaur goes underground. You also get to ride the Reavers, and there's a great chase sequence there in the campaign. And of course, later in the game, you get to ride the Brumack. It's a big middle finger to the Locust when you do that. You can watch the crowds just running and screaming from you.

In the campaign, are there more sections where co-op players can split up?
We have what we call "informal splits" this time. Marcus will tell Dom to go right, but you don't have to split if you don't want to. Gears of War is a fairly linear game, but we've reduced that through the split paths and open-ended areas. We're not trying to pass it off as an open-ended MMO or anything.

Tell me about the new mortar weapon.
It's something you have to learn how to use. We talked about making it easier to use, like the grenade trajectory arcs, but I said, "let 'em learn it." It puts out a blast that's as big as a basketball court, so you can miss a little and still do major damage.

What about the gatling gun?
You can't evade, and you move slowly when you're carrying it. But if you manage to get it aimed and ramped up, all you have to do it touch an enemy with the spray and it'll be deadly. If it starts overheating, you can actively cool it and keep it spinning so you're ready to fire again. And it's a really retro-style gun, you crank the handle to spin it....With those heavy weapons, the encumbrance is so huge, that if you manage to ramp them up, you're going to lay waste to everybody. If you get good with the mortar, you are going to smoke people from across the map. Of course, you've got to pick it up first and get into position.

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