Highly praised for art direction, multiplayer and all-around polish, the Gears of War franchise has been a stellar success for Epic and the Xbox 360. One noted concern, however, by the various review sites was the rather bland story first presented in Gears of War. Often considered ‘campy,’ Epic moved to create an emotional impact with the remaining two titles.
That being said, Epic designer Cliff Bleszinski has made it clear that the intention is to create a more emotional storyline for future releases in the Gears of War franchise. To him, the setting needs to be less like Predator and more like Band of Brothers.
"Camp is something that I would love to continue to evolve the franchise away from - there's no giant worm in Gears 3,” said Bleszinski. “Gears was always intended to be more Band of Brothers than Predator. We got a lot more towards Predator and I'd love to drift a lot more towards Band of Brothers."
Many noted that the game took a serious ‘left turn’ in the second title, bringing more of a storyline to Dom and Maria as part of the main story. Gamers were quick to turn Dom’s crying out for Maria as an internet meme, rather than a stirring account of love and loss in a world defined by hopelessness.
Still though, Bleszinski defends the sequence, albeit with a few reservations.
"The problem was that we didn't earn it," he said. "The cutscene was very well done, in my opinion, even though it was, you know, buff guys in armor, things like that. If I could go back and change it I would have had many more flashback scenes where you build up how Dom and Maria were before as well as teasing the fact that it might not end well."
"The other problem of course is our GUD system, which stands for Gears Unscripted Dialogue. The fact that we put in these barks of the characters shouting out things as gameplay feedback - for a perfect active reload, 'shit yeah'; or you take out an enemy, 'suck it'. Those contribute to the game's dude-bro perception but they're designed to serve as gameplay feedback mechanics."
"I had wanted to disable Dom's GUD system for at least the next few levels after that, so he didn't just kill his wife and now he's yelling out 'hell yeah!' as he's killing Locusts, but I believe it got unhooked before we shipped."
Gears of War, for many gamers, is an outlet for sheer violence and rousing multiplayer. With the added elements of storytelling in the campaign, one simply needs to progress through the story to get a feel for a franchise that is aimed to become more than a 3rd person shooter title. There is clear indication that Bleszinski’s words ring with a sense of truth; Gears of War 3 added a depth that the previous titles in the series simply had yet to match at the time. Perhaps in coming titles, Gears will be hallmarked not simply for a popular multiplayer, but for an engaging and all-around experience.
[Thanks Edge]
