Cliffy: Gears hype "backfired in my face"

By Johnny Minkley Published 17 June, 2010

Measured sequel is "love letter" to fans.

Cliff Bleszinski has revealed his regret in hyping Gears of War 2 with the infamous words "bigger, better and more badass" - arguing that the phrase "ultimately backfired in my face".

Epic's design director insists his team is now focused on making the "most polished Gears game we've ever produced" while "trying not to be as catchy with it this time".

Speaking to Eurogamer at E3 on what he described as his "love-hate" relationship with the press, Bleszinski admitted that games PR had "gotten completely out of hand, where you have to have a Twitter to tease in a teaser trailer to tease in the launch trailer to tease in the announcement press release."

But he added it was "sad" but "necessary" to "announce things multiple times to make things stick", with so many distractions competing for consumers' attention.

On the media, he reiterated his recent attack on sections of the games press, relayed via Twitter, criticising a culture "where certain websites like to grab any sort of quote that they can and put it up in a very, very large font and let the flame war ensue in the comments."

Acknowledging that games marketing and PR performed a similar function, he clarified: "I'm just pushing back against the complete misquotes and the fabrications."

Refraining from sloganeering this time, he said Gears 3 "is going to be the best looking, most fun, most feature rich - and, most importantly - most polished Gears game we've ever produced. With Gears 2 we raised the bar but everyone caught up and we're like, okay, we've got to hit back twice as hard."

Despite releasing to widespread acclaim and success, Bleszinski said he thought the team "got a little bit drunk on the whole idea of set-pieces" in Gears 2, promising a more balanced offering that enhances replayability.

"[Set-pieces are] wonderful, they have their own place - buildings collapsing, monsters bursting out," he said. "And we will absolutely have plenty of that. But one thing that got a little lost in the shuffle in Gears 2 is the idea of nice combat bowls.

"I hope it's a love letter to what everybody loved about the first game while taking the spirit of the story and the cinematic moments of the second and putting it together with a really crazy feature set."

Gears of War 3 is the final part in a trilogy of games. But, given the series' incredible success, a further franchise title from the studio seems likely. "If Gears of War 3 comes out and does extremely well we would most certainly consider another game," he said. "But what that would be would remain to be seen.

"Is it DLC? Its own thing? What happens with the next generation of consoles? It's hard to predict even a couple of years into the future right now."

Gears of War 3 is coming to Xbox 360 on 8th April 2011. Check out the E3 footage below and our hands-on preview of Beast mode elsewhere on Eurogamer.

Picture of Johnny.

About Johnny Minkley

Johnny Minkley is a veteran games writer and broadcaster, former editor of Eurogamer TV, VP of gaming charity SpecialEffect, and hopeless social media addict.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

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Comments (43) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • bad09 #1 2 years ago

    Cliff Bleszinski has revealed his regret in hyping Gears of War 2 with the infamous words "bigger, better and more badass" - arguing that the phrase "ultimately backfired in my face".

    ...especially considering how broke the MP was (and still is I believe) in GOW2.

  • harzo #2 2 years ago

    I think this is very humble and honest of the guy to admit the shortcomings of the 2nd game. I did enjoy them as one player games and never bothered with the multiplayer anyways. Co-op with a friend online is probably the best co-op this generation. Bring on Gears 3!!

  • Ignatius_Cheese #3 2 years ago

    On the media, he reiterated his recent attack on sections of the games press, relayed via Twitter, criticising a culture "where certain websites like to grab any sort of quote that they can and put it up in a very, very large font and let the flame war ensue in the comments."

    Glad to see that Eurogamer never follows such a cultu... oh ;o)

  • matrim83 #4 2 years ago

    ^^ :D

  • PoundHound #5 2 years ago

    He sounds as though he's almost washing his hands of 2. I thought it was really good fun, especially in co-op, although not quite as awesome as GoW1, which is nothing to be ashamed of.

  • ZuluHero #6 2 years ago

    Call me cynical, but isn't he doing the same thing again?

  • Douche #7 2 years ago

    I rather like Cliffy. Good to hear him being a bit more reserved this time though.

    Can't wait for the new Gears. Bad09 is correct though, the multiplayer was pants. The host of the match would always have about a billion kills. It needs fixed.

  • AphoticCosmos #8 2 years ago

    I liked Cliffy's style of presentation at the conference, instead of the Treyarch guy's (who was a bellend) style, or lack thereof, of going "THIS IS THE MOST AWESOMEST THING EVER AND YOU SHOULD BUY IT", he was all like "Hey guys, so we've been doing some work and here's Gears 3, enjoy!".

    It's quite refreshing when surrounded by hyperbole, and I think you've got to have a stone cold heart not to love Cliffy.

  • spekkeh #9 2 years ago

    Aight Cliffy Bitch, we cool brah.

  • Yossarian #10 2 years ago

    [Set-pieces are] wonderful, they have their own place - buildings collapsing, monsters bursting out," he said. "And we will absolutely have plenty of that. But one thing that got a little lost in the shuffle in Gears 2 is the idea of nice combat bowls.

    Now if only we could convince the other developers (or the ones who aren't Bungie, at least) of this, we would be on to something.

  • jag10 #11 2 years ago

    if you want the game ''bigger, better and more badass" have a chat with gabe newell.

  • Toothball #12 2 years ago

    I don't get distracted by twittererers or teasers or hints of trailers trailing teaser announcements. I usually leave that sort of thing until there's something more substantial. Mostly sites like this cover anything important anyway.

    Actually, probably my least favourite thing is a countdown to an announcement. Those things are the worst. I don't recall Cliffy B of being guilty of that at least.
    Edited by Toothball at 17/06/10 @ 09:20

  • menage #13 2 years ago

    2 was way better than 1 in the sp game, which is all I played. never finished both though, gun play never really clicked, never felt like I actually hit anything. Just spraying in a general direction and hoping something drops..
    Edited by menage at 17/06/10 @ 09:21

  • tincanrocket #14 2 years ago

    On the media, he reiterated his recent attack on sections of the games press, relayed via Twitter, criticising a culture "where certain websites like to grab any sort of quote that they can and put it up in a very, very large font and let the flame war ensue in the comments."

    Tip to Cliffy - if you don't like this, then stop using Twitter, you twat, as its very nature means that any comments posted on it have no detailed context.
    Edited by tincanrocket at 17/06/10 @ 09:22

  • Quint2020 #15 2 years ago

    People talk too much shit about this bloke, he always seems like a nice guy in interviews and such and he makes bloody good games, what's the problem??

  • TruWari3r #16 2 years ago

    So does anyone know yet what this new "Beast Mode" thing is he mentioned during the e3 MS conference?

  • nickthegun #17 2 years ago

    Im choosing to read 'less set pieces' as 'less parts with insta-kill sections because they pissed everybody off'

  • Cheddar99 #18 2 years ago

    @TruWari3r
    It's playing as the locust (class based) against a team of cogs seemingly. Kind of a reversed horde, look cool.

  • Ranger101 #19 2 years ago

    bad09 Gears2 MP hasn't been broken for a very long time. Stop repeating the same old shit over and over again.

    It's the only game I've ever seen that has constantly been giving updates almost 3 years after release, for free. There are always special event weekends, announcements, global mods and silliness, even now.
    Edited by Ranger101 at 17/06/10 @ 09:49

  • DiamondIce #20 2 years ago

    I've never bothered with the multiplayer side of GoW so didn't experience the online issues that seemed to crop up in the sequel.

    I played and completed the 2nd game four times: one co-op and the other 3 on the progressive difficulty settings.

    I really enjoyed it but I hope they don't have too many cavern-type areas in the 3rd.

    Edit: I don't know why so many people get so emotional about Cliffy B. What terrible and evil thing has he done to get this kind of hate?
    Edited by DiamondIce at 17/06/10 @ 10:02

  • dingo75 #21 2 years ago

    I'm waiting until Cliffy B will try to mend the rift EPIC has between themselves and the PC community.
    That will be something fun to watch once they come crawling back.

  • muscleblade #22 2 years ago

    The hate against Blezinski has been way out of proportions and not deserved at all imo.

    Gears 2 is a great game and everyone is copying the great Horde mode. Horde mode was copied from Resident Evil Mercenaries but Cliff has said that Gears is influensed from Resident Evil.

  • muscleblade #23 2 years ago

    @menage

    I dont get it. They arent exactly long timeconsuming games campaign wise.

  • ParanoidZombie #24 2 years ago

    I like the fact that he insists on the "polish" aspect: had gears2 been as polished (gameplay-wise) as halo3, this would still be the most played game on xbl. Take your time, make sure everything is well-balanced and battle-tested to the max, that's all the franchise needs IMO.

  • Acrid #25 2 years ago

    I bet it's not the only thing to have "backfired" in his face

  • TransientBlade #26 2 years ago

    Personally, I liked Gears 1 a lot. Played a bit of Gears 2 and not interested. As a consequence, the same with Gears 3.

  • stepneg #27 2 years ago

    The multi player would have been my most played game as I loved the first but the stupid host advantage was and still is so obvious that it ruins it completely.

  • metalangel #28 2 years ago

    I didn't like Gears 2 at first... far too many setpieces and cutscenes interrupting your fun. Once you get past the initial section though it does settle down into some good, out and out action like the first one.

    Plus it has Horde mode! And it DOESN'T have the driving section from the first game!
    Edited by metalangel at 17/06/10 @ 11:16

  • mcmonkeyplc #29 2 years ago

    Halo 2 says high.

  • peterfll #30 2 years ago

    How resfreshing to see him being a little more grounded.

    Let the games speak for themselves Cliffy, as for the most part you do a great job, so they don't need lots of additional hyperbole.

  • ignatiusjreilly #31 2 years ago

    Every game needs hyperbole.

    Wait until this is a bit nearer release and it will get it too.

  • CaptainQuint #32 2 years ago

    Bring back the Gears 1 shotty and they'll bring me back to it's multiplayer.

  • Bulbatron #33 2 years ago

    I wish the Kryll would be in Gears of War 3, but that seems unlikely, since I seem to be the only one on the entire planet who liked the Kryll sections.

  • AphoticCosmos #34 2 years ago

    @Bulbatron

    I'm pretty sure that the Kryll were wiped out by the Lightmass offensive. That's the excuse I heard for their absence from GoW 2 anyway.

    But I do think that the Kryll section in GoW was really, really atmospheric, and I'm a sucker for atmosphere in games!

  • MaFlippinHeadHurts #35 2 years ago

    I loved the first Gears and thought the second was only good but that I imagine was down to the first being more fresh and original.

    I don't mind big set pieces, however, riding on the back of a big truck/beast and pointing my gun at monsters just felt too much of an on rails experience and soon wore pretty thin.

    More of the first please

  • metalangel #36 2 years ago

    @bulbatron: Avoiding them on foot was fine, but the driving bit was easily the worst part of the game. It doesn't matter, they're all but extinct now anyway. @brod: Wow, a PC fanboy, don't see many of you round these parts. Finished nodding furiously at PC Gamer's latest round of desperate "why the PC is still the best and most important gaming platform" articles, have you?

  • Eraysor #37 2 years ago

    I some respects I hope Gears 3 does badly so they have to make another Unreal Tournament, but I loved Gears 1 and 2 so either series continuing would suit me fine! I hope it comes to the PS3 eventually too, though that might not be for another generation.

  • Lukus #38 2 years ago

    I quite like Cliffy B. I know a lot don't, but as long as you take everything he says as tongue in cheek, he's perfectly fine. It's good that he believes in what he does and gets passionate about things.

  • Centrifugal #39 2 years ago

    Gears of War 2 was bigger, better and more badass. I wasn't a fan of the multiplayer, but campaign was an epic experience.

  • cw- #40 2 years ago

    @brod My main gaming machine is the PC, but Gears1 on the PC was not very good. It is a console FPS designed for consoles. It works well on the x360 and should stay on the x360!

  • brod #41 2 years ago

    @metalangel

    Preferring to play shooters with the only accurate control scheme currently available doesn't make me a PC fanboy. I own all current gen consoles and they get plenty of use, but not with that genre of games if I can help it.

    Shooter + controller makes no sense to me. Yes they can work, with aim assist / auto aim. Who wants to have the game aim for them in a shooting game? Newbs, that's who. Funny, on a PC, 'aim assist' is considered cheating.

    On a related note, I have high hopes for the Playstation Move finally providing a viable control method for shooters on a console. Bring on the negs! :)

    ps. I do play some shooters that aren't available on PC such as Halo 3/ODST, Gears 2, etc, and yes I can hold my own in multiplayer, but I always wish I could play them on PC instead.
    Edited by brod at 18/06/10 @ 06:04

  • Turrican #42 2 years ago

    "where certain websites like to grab any sort of quote that they can and put it up in a very, very large font and let the flame war ensue in the comments."

    He pwned Eurogamer there I'm afraid. Although CVG is worse.

  • Captain_Jono #43 2 years ago

    "where certain websites like to grab any sort of quote that they can and put it up in a very, very large font and let the flame war ensue in the comments."

    Cliffy B Slams Gaming Press!
    Gears of War Creator declared war on a gaming press he says is more interested in cheap internet traffic than reporting the facts. Sources close to the developer say that he proceeded to tear off his shirt and challenge Tom Bramwell to a boxing match.
    Pictures P3,4,5,94.
    Edited by Captain_Jono at 20/06/10 @ 21:38