Bigger, better, more badass. That was the mantra surrounding Epic’s Gears of War 2 before release; signifying the scale of the changes – for better or worse – made from the original Xbox 360 classic. While the debate between which is better, Gears of War 1 or its sequel, could rage on forever (for the record, it’s totally Gears 1), it seems the third game in the series won’t be making the over-ambitious missteps of its predecessor.
According to executive producer Rod Fergusson, Epic has shied away from the over-repeated creed attached to Gears of War 2, embracing a less is more design philosophy.
“Part of it is that you always want to do more, more, more, and when we did Gears 2 we had a ‘new, better, more’ process,†he said to Edge on the design process. “But going from 2 to 3, we’ve actually added less. We’ve changed it to be a NMBL – new, more, better, less – process instead. And we figured out there were some things we wanted to reduce down. But then, knowing it’s the last one, you kind of think, ‘Let’s just shove as much in as possible’ – but that’s not our way.â€
Fergusson continued: “We’re always focussed on quality and polish, and we know that for every feature you add, you’re taking polish away from other features. You have to find what the game is actually about, rather than just make a collection of random features.â€As a fan of the first game – particularly its multiplayer – who didn’t really appreciate the misguided increase in scope, this makes me happy. Now if only they’d bring back the legendary lobbies from Gears of War 1, and my excitement for the game would ramp in to overdrive.
Gears of War 3 releases on 20 September this year, with a public beta slated for April 25th, or a week earlier for owners of the Bulletstorm Epic Edition.
Source : Edge
Last Updated: March 31, 2011
