Epic Games, in conjunction with People Can Fly, is in full swing on the marketing campaign with Bulletstorm. The upcoming shooter is set to be released under EA’s Partners Program and is due out sometime in Q1 2011. Cliff Bleszinski recently discussed the new game, shooters and the industry at large.
Speaking with Gamasutra on a variety of subjects, Mr. Bleszinski initially likened BioWare's Mass Effect franchise as the Star Wars of our generation. “The thing that was cool was that Mass Effect is kind of an RPG for me, with the cover-based shooting. I think there's a reason why it's been successful. Because gamers love Gears," he said. It's like well, here's something that's like Gears, but even has more depth, and a different setting. It's Star Wars for this new generation, right?”
Though he sees narrative games such as Heavy Rain as an important part of development, Bleszinski went on to discuss what he believes makes an FPS a ‘true shooter.’ “If you can nail that 30 seconds of gameplay -- Halo nailed it with, you know, throw a grenade at an enemy to soften him up, pepper him with shots, come in and finish with the melee, right.”
“I think that's what Bulletstorm is doing with their kick, slide, leash, and weaponry. I think we're nailing that, and I think we're on to something special there,” said Bleszinski, as an example of how he believes his studio is on the right path to the hallmark of a good shooter.
He added, “I've played a lot of shooters that just want to be a shooter, but don't really ever nail that. It's like, okay, well, I should want to be the rat with the feeder pellet who's addicted to that one little thing in your game. The sound needs to be perfect, and, you know, to give the Bungie guys props, their grenade sound is still one of my favorite ones in all of games, because it has that little high-pitch pshew at the beginning, and I just want to throw a grenade just to hear that sound. You look at the Gears headshot; you look at the heads exploding in Bulletstorm, the sound of the thump in the leash. 'Oh, I want to do that again.' That's good sound game design, that a lot of people miss."
Speaking on the state of the industry, Bleszinski made it clear that talented individuals will seek to develop artistic vision, citing the recent Infinity Ward shake up and ‘Bungie going indie’. “There are so many things going on with the industry right now that I really can't even drill into too much detail,” he remarked, “those who are smart will recognize where talent is and will aptly take care of the talent, and if they don't, the talent will go and figure out a way to do something.”
