CliffyB on Gears' film prospects

By Tom Bramwell Published 11 July, 2006

Plus: characters, multiplayer, downloadables and achievements.

Cliff Bleszinski reckons the only way Gears of War would become a film would be if "the absolute right people were attached who understood not only the game and its universe but also the (hopefully!) rabid fanbase that we'd like to acquire".

Speaking to Xbox.com, Gears' lead designer also explained how certain characters came about, talked about the decision to include multiplayer, hinted at how some of the game's 360 achievements will work, and even revealed that the game's locations drew inspiration from St. Paul's Cathedral.

"I kept pushing for beautiful environments; you can have a post-apocalyptic world but why does it always have to be boring industrial buildings and concrete bunkers?" he asked rhetorically.

"One of the most inspiring moments that really secured the idea of this European influence on the architecture happened one day at Saint Paul's Cathedral in London," he added, directing readers at one of his personal photographs of the London skyline.

Certain elements of the design drew inspiration from closer to home. "Your best friend in the game, Dominic Santiago, is somewhat based on one of our artists named Danny Rodriguez," Bleszinski reveals.

"They say 'do what you know' and that's what we set out to do. We knew we wanted the main anti-hero of Marcus - sure he's gruff and a badass but he's smart as well. Dom is the best friend, we've also got the asshole of the bunch - a guy named Baird and then there's the one and only Augustus Cole aka the 'Cole Train'. He's a former Thrashball champion and he seems to love fighting the war."

We're also told that despite its inclusion now, multiplayer "wasn't a huge priority initially". "We knew we wanted to push a cinematic single-player experience that you could play with a buddy. After a while we realized that people come for the single-player and co-op and that they stay for the versus so we started pumping effort into the versus."

Obviously that's something Epic, creator of the Unreal Tournament series, knows a bit about. So is there a difference between the Gears characters and the Locust hordes they're up against in multiplayer?

"The difference is primarily cosmetic," we're told - "we simply wanted to leverage the war in the Versus realm. I prefer to play as the Locust because whenever you pull off a successful Active Reload you get to hear your character make a sinister chortle."

It wasn't all revelations though - Bleszinski says they're keeping quiet about vehicles for now - but he did hint that we can expect Gears to take advantage of the downloadable content aspects of Xbox 360. "No promises here," he noted, "but I can assure you that I'm as addicted to Marketplace and Live Arcade as the rest of you. And now you can finally download stuff and play another game!"

Finally, there's good news for those of you farming gamerpoints. Gears will certainly keep up the tradition, with hidden "Cog Tags" to find for achievements.

Gears of War is due out later this year exclusively on Xbox 360.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TripleSeven #1 6 years ago

    First. I guess. What's so great about it?

  • #2 6 years ago

    Yum yum, feed me!

    A gun with a chainsaw attatched you say?

    What the heck's an "active reload" though?

  • reality_cheque #3 6 years ago

    It's like real time weapon changing I guess.

  • bauhaus #4 6 years ago

    This game does indeed look awesome

  • reality_cheque #5 6 years ago

    Am I the only one who thinks that picture of london looks quite post-Armageddon? :/

  • bionutz #6 6 years ago

    Yeah, same question here.

  • cyacomini #7 6 years ago

    ***when*** this year ??

  • #8 6 years ago

    PS3 launch day?

  • davesy #9 6 years ago

    I can see my office in his St Paul's pic :)

  • nickthegun #10 6 years ago

    Im trying to get oblivion out of the way to clear the decks for this and dead rising. Its not an easy task.

  • The-Bodybuilder #11 6 years ago

    >"Am I the only one who thinks that picture of london looks quite post-Armageddon? :/"

    Just your typical london day (which is post-apocalyptic).

  • NthSimulachum #12 6 years ago

    "Get oblivion out the way"?

    How exactly? It's way too big to even contemplate completing it. Shitloads of quests, the story, the daedra shrine, the 5 guilds, and then explore and do every single last dungeon.

  • Skooch #13 6 years ago

    "What the heck's an "active reload" though?"

    The game is to implement a reloading feature where as your ammo clip runs out you can time your reload hit perfectly to the last spent round for a super-fast reload action and a brief damage amplifier bonus. If you mistime this action you get punished with a brief weapon jam.

    It's sad, I know, but I have already pre-ordered this game.....

  • peterfll #14 6 years ago

    Am I'm the only person who can't take someone who refers to themselves as "CliffyB" seriously?

    *PetieF signing out*

  • cyacomini #15 6 years ago

    @Skooch

    Did you get a good price on pre-order ?

    I'm tempted myself - but don't really want to pay £49.99 for this, even though it's an AAA release...you only encourage them to sell titles this high if you pay it.

    £39.99 would be acceptable, £34.99 would be better ;)

  • Skooch #16 6 years ago

    @cyacomini

    I paid 39.99 on Amazon - which seems ok. Your right, 50 quid for a title is too much, even if it is triple A.

  • Skooch #17 6 years ago

    Did you guys see the real-time demo that CliffyB did for E3? Looked pretty awesome, I like the way you can change the trajectory of the nade-on-a-chain. I also thought the weapon change looked pretty smooth as the dude slides weapons in and out of a holster on his back. The gun with a chainsaw on it just seals the deal.

  • oceanmotion #18 6 years ago

    @peterfll

    His second name is Bleszinski. Just easier with Cliffy B.

  • peterfll #19 6 years ago

    @WooHoo

    Oh yea, I know love, but not everyone with a slightly exotic name decides to abbreviate it. I think it's more of a 'I'm a cool guy who'z a bit streeeeet" when it actually just comes across as something chavvy, especially as this guy always refers to himself in this manner in all of his press.

  • glaeken #20 6 years ago

    Sounding good. You do wonder though if they should be thinking about films before the game is even out. It could end up a bunch of arse for all we know. I hope it does not but it would not be the first time a major hyped title did not live up to expectations.

    Just on the whole buying thing I get all my 360 games from Tesco's now. £39.99 for all new releases. Ok not as cheap as some places but you can walk in on the day of release and grab a game.

    I do wonder when the specialist game selling shops are going to drop the £49.99 price crap as they must be loosing a lot of sales.

  • Garibaldi #21 6 years ago

    @Skooch

    It failed to impress me actually. Yeah, it sure looked nice graphically, but the combat seemed duller than a sack full of John Majors, plus your character's voice was absolutely hilarious - sounded like he'd been smoking a hundred roll-ups a day since he was five.

    From the trailers they'd shown beforehand I was hoping for a tense experience in which you were hunted through a near perpetual night, making use of light sources along the way just to stand a chance, but now it seems that's just a small part of the game.

  • oceanmotion #22 6 years ago

    Yea, I know what you mean but tbh in video interviews he refers to himself as his full name. In written interviews its Cliffy B and thats probadly on the writer's part. His website is Cliffy B but that makes sense for people trying to find it easily.

    Anyway, stupid thing to talk about.

  • oceanmotion #23 6 years ago

    @Garibaldi

    No need to jump the gun. I'll just refresh your memory. First time GOW was showed, night level, using the light to safely get about, 2nd time the game is showen, even darker level, very creepy, rain soaked. Finally the one we saw at E3, daytime.

    I make that 2-1 for night levels. We will just have to wait and see what the rest are like.

  • Skooch #24 6 years ago

    "Just on the whole buying thing I get all my 360 games from Tesco's now. £39.99 for all new releases. Ok not as cheap as some places but you can walk in on the day of release and grab a game.

    I do wonder when the specialist game selling shops are going to drop the £49.99 price crap as they must be loosing a lot of sales"

    Hmm, thanks for the Tesco tip, that's a good point about getting it on release day. Places like Game, HMV etc. selling titles for 50 pounds a pop make me laugh. It's such a rip-off, and it bugs me to hell that no-one else on the planet seems to pay as much for games as UK gamers.

    /waits to be corrected

  • Skooch #25 6 years ago

    @Garibaldi

    WooHoo!!! is right, there are still a lot of dark levels. IGN have a lots of vids available that show a helluva lot of dark, creepy, night levels to get your teeth into. You are correct that it's not going to be a gameplay revolution, but I am hoping for an intense, action-packed ride that's full of nice set-pieces, and a half-decent multiplayer, although for me it'll all be about playing it at home, alone, in the dark, in 5.1 surround sound on my nice big HD plasma and getting immersed in the experience.

  • nickthegun #26 6 years ago

    "How exactly? It's way too big to even contemplate completing it. Shitloads of quests, the story, the daedra shrine, the 5 guilds, and then explore and do every single last dungeon"

    Well, ive completed the arena, mage and thieves. I want to get the main quest, dark brotherhood and fighters done and I will consider it finished with. If theres any slippage I will fart around doing some dungeon crawling and fetch quests until at least one of them comes out.

    I dont want to 100% it, necessarily, just do the main quests. Im not the type of guy who will 100% a GTA game, just the main story and the most interesting sub games.

    However, I do think, if you are that way inclined, it is eminantly possible to 100% Oblivion. Shit, if I was still a student I probably would. I got Knights of the Round, for christssake......

  • Skooch #27 6 years ago

    I know several gamers that have a 1000 points - although I'm yet to speak to anyone who claims to have 100.00% completed it. That's gotta take a good 300+ hours, double that if it was me attempting it! :-P

  • ChromeMud #28 6 years ago

    GOW looks like a sure fire hit for EPIC.I'm hoping for good online co-op aswell as a good cinematic single player experience.I really like the design of the characters and the backdrops.I'm hoping the sound effects are bassy and full of zing!
    Pre-order in effect!That and Viva Pinata,yup...er,it's cuz my lady told me to, honest!

  • #29 6 years ago

    Online co-op FTUW! Would be perfect for me as I often play GRAW with 1 other guy and the new levels are very challenging (especially when a bloody attack chopper turns up out of the blue at the end and mows you down - after 40 minutes of tactical, steady, measured well-thought-out gameplay to beat the map and not leave oneself exposed - damnit!

    So a more light-hearted run-and-gun co-op (as in 2 people) proper campaign to do on live/split screen sounds mighty good to me. Add to this what looks like an amazing prodution, tailored towards the platform and a 2nd genaration of game performance and we're on to a winnner.

    Oh, and a freakin chainsaw on a gun - finally!