Spoiler Interview: Bleszinski Talks ‘Gears of War 2? Bosses, Including That Last One
"Gears of War 2" lead creator Cliff Bleszinski and his team had some specific and unconventional ideas for bosses in their latest video game. After Bleszinski and I talked about the game's driving sequences, we dug into the topic of bosses.
He talked about some major lessons about bosses learned from the first "Gears." I dare to bring up "Halo 2."
Spoilers abound in the interview that follows. Don't read it if you don't want the ending of "Gears of War 2" or "Chronicles of Riddick" spoiled. If you don't want the boss battles of "Super Metroid" spoiled either, too bad. That game's been out long enough. On we go...
This interview was conducted by telephone a few days before the release of “Gears of War 2.” I finished playing the game’s campaign over online co-op with Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal a day earlier, a session I referred to throughout the interview. N’Gai had played as “Gears” hero Marcus Fenix. I played as sidekick Dom.
Multiplayer: I notice you don't do a lot of boss battles and we don't even see any Berzerkers in the game. Was that a conscious decision?
"If the lights went dark and the Krill came out, fine you could call it 'Gears 1.5.'"
Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games: Back when I was talking to journalists and we were doing the initial selling of it, there were wondering, "Is this 'Gears 1.5'?" I'd like to say, if you came around the corner and a Berzerker chase you and you had to lure it out -- and if the lights went dark and the Krill came out, fine you could call it 'Gears 1.5.'" Fiction-wise they're still there. They are the Locust females. You just don't encounter them. We didn't want to do that gag again.
We wanted to do things like razor-hail and getting eaten by a giant creature. We wanted to have levels where the level itself is the boss battle in many ways. You have that level with Skorge where he's throwing things at you and you're chainsaw-dueling. Iff we continued with that path, maybe Skorge is going to jump on the Hydra and you would have had a big tentacle fight or something like that in that room. We said, 'Ff--- it, let's do this as a chase sequence. Make it a multi-stage boss battle.' You're going through the caves. You're shooting it in its mouth. And then you wind up going through the trees a la [Return of the Jedi].
Multiplayer: That final battle with the super-Brumak went by really swiftly, using the Hammer of Dawn. I didn't know if that was because of the difficulty we were playing on or if that was one of those conscious decisions to have one of those empowered moments -- rather than a classic this-is-a-very-difficult-boss-battle moment. I felt like you guys were running the risk of getting into "Halo 2" territory where people were going to be surprised that "Wait that's it? It's over already?" What note were you trying to strike with that final note of gameplay?
"And from there on out, have you kill the thing that just gave you all that pleasure. "
Bleszinski: Honestly, it was rubber-banding back a bit from [the first game's boss, General] Raam being too difficult. And then we just wanted to end with a very empowering moment where the player gets to ride the Brumak. After dealing with everything that he has with the Locust, he finally hijacks the creature that he wasn't even able to fight in "Gears 1," rides it, and essentially is Godzilla tearing through Tokyo. And then, ultimately, end on a moment of true empowerment. And from there on out, have you kill the thing that just gave you all that pleasure.
In regards to what's going on with the fiction, the effects of extended Imulsion exposure have yet to be fully revealed. Obviously, it ain't pretty.
Multiplayer: You've played "Super Metroid," right?
"We would rather end on something were players would be like, "Huh, that last part was pretty sweet" rather than "F--- I couldn't kill Raam!"
Bleszinski: Yes.
Multiplayer: The end of "Gears 2" reminded me from that game when you think you're at your last moment and the baby Metroid -- which is large at that time -- descends on you and you get that rainbow beam.
Bleszinski: Yeah, that's classic.
Multiplayer: And suddenly the Mother Brain T-rex or whatever you're fighting has no chance against you. It was that degree of empowerment that I find very unusual for final boss battles. Usually, developers make them agonizingly difficult. To that extent, I found this refreshing that we're probably more powerful than the Brumak at that point and we're actually able to clean house.
Bleszinski: But you know what? You look at Sinkhole and the way that level is right before that Brumak moment, that is a good grind of classic, good "Gears" combat. Ultimately, we throw everything and the phonebook at you. At that point, let them just end on a high note. If anything, we always talked about the end of "Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay" when you get the mech suit and you're just tearing stuff up. I don't know if this was conscious, but it ends on a similar note. The fact is so many people didn't finish "Gears" because they got stuck on Raam.
That's the problem with boss battles, Stephen. Usually people either get it in the first three seconds or they never get it. Hitting that sweet spot where they can maybe die a few times and they don't always figure it out and they're panicky, it's a tricky thing to achieve. We would rather end on something were players would be like, "Huh, that last part was pretty sweet" rather than "F--- I couldn't kill Raam!"
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