Shack: One of the significant differences between Gears and Gears 2 are the number of large setpieces, typically featuring varied gameplay--on-rails shooting and the like. What was your inspiration there?

Cliff Bleszinski: We call those moments palate cleansers, like sorbets. Like if you're ever doing one of those big meals, at the big fancy restaurant, and the sorbet comes out and at first you're like, "Is this dessert?" And they're like, "No, there's crispy fried duck coming up." And you're like, "Jesus Christ, I'm going to explode Monty Python-style."

But what we do, we have these moments where you know, there's the part where you're in the tank, and you can drive around wherever you want. When you're in the truck, the truck yes is on a linear path, but you're in a big bathtub at that point, so you can kind of take cover here, or get in the turret and kind of do other things. So although certain sections like that are on rails, we try and give a certain amount of freedom within that.

And you know, I don't want to get into too much with the Reaver ride and things like that, but it's all about just using cool little mechanics, from turret moments to sections that are pseudo-on-rails, to other surprises like environmental hazards and things like that. Yeah, establish the core of your stop-and-pop gameplay, and then have fun with it, play with it. We're trying to surprise the player with something new around every single level. That's what keeps it compelling.

If it was just shooting guys the entire time, you'd get bored. You have to have story bits that people want to know about, you have to have one-offs, you have to have water-cooler moments. You know, cover falling down, choppers crashing and all that cool stuff that people don't expect.

Shack: More than the shooting itself, it feels like the trademark of Gears games is the pacing.

Cliff Bleszinski: Well, pacing is a carefully orchestrated formula. There's a reason why you're in the snowy mountain hamlet, and you don't have your sniper rifle yet, Carmine has one. So you're looking over at him and you're like, "When do I get my sniper rifle?" Or you see the Centaur earlier in the game, and you're like, "I have a feeling I'm going to drive that." Or you see certain creatures and you're like, "Oh god, I'm going to have to fight that at some point."

Stuff like that, that's all just seeding the player's head. Same thing with narrative bits, and reminding the player what he needs to do with his objectives, and reminding the player that Dom is frustrated and upset. And hopefully if you do a good job with all of that, the player, if he plays through the first act, hopefully it will resonate and start kicking around in his head. He's like, "I want to go back to that, I want to see what kind of cool stuff comes next." And then hopefully he'll want to talk to his buddies at work about it, and share the experience, and play co-op, and start playing all the other cool stuff.

Shack: Before the game came out, there was a lot of speculation that it might include four-player co-op. Was that ever even considered?

Cliff Bleszinski: No. We always knew there would be two. It wasn't like we tried to do it and we weren't able to do it, it's like--the game is built for Marcus and Dom.

Shack: Is that born out of the story?

Cliff Bleszinski: Yeah, we're not doing, "Player two is a clone of Marcus who awkwardly stands to the side." Player two is Dom, and he has something to say, and they interact with eachother in the world. Once you start adding three and four players, then the quality of the narrative just starts going to hell.

And right now people are having a blast in Horde. We said, "How can we have a [multiplayer] mode that leverages what's fun about co-op," which is going back to back with your buddies and killing a lot of enemies. And that's kind of where the genesis of Horde came from.

Shack: You guys have shipped a huge multiplayer component. What is it, seven modes?

Cliff Bleszinski: Yeah. That's a lot more than we shipped with the first one. There's a lot of game in there, dude. I think pound for pound, videogames are still the best value for your entertainment value. Hands down. If you were to break it down, the amount of hours you get out of a game like Gears, or your Call of Dutys, or your GTAs, it's way more for your dollar than any movie.

Shack: Do you ever say to yourself, "What the hell are we going to put in the next one?"

Cliff Bleszinski: No, I assure you that we're very restless creatives. Any future product--we would never consider doing if we weren't 100% sure that we couldn't beat ourselves at our own game. Of course, if we did something else in the future, I don't know how many more crazy moments we could do. [laughs] But I guarantee the well is deep in regards to creativity.