Nu het embargo rond om Gears of War 3 is opgeheven duiken de reviews overal op, en is er bij diverse Nederlandse websites vandaag de game op de deurmat gevallen. Ondertussen heeft de website Worthplaying een interview met niemand minder dan Cliff 'ik heb nu een ghetto pass dankzij Ice-T' Bleszinski gehad, en deze had een hoop te vertellen over de single en multiplayer mode van de game.

WP: With the single-player experience, you've talked about how you think the team went a little overboard with the set pieces in Gears of War 2. How have you avoided that trap in Gears of War 3?

CB: We focus on core combat, first and foremost. The player can flank enemies; he can flank 'em with weapons and flank 'em with ways to go about it that play differently with two, three and four players in co-op. From that angle, we're just like, "Hey, look! It's a giant worm! Isn't that cool?" Nobody's going to care about your giant worm unless it's an enjoyable, fun play space inside. I've gone on record saying that there's a certain amount of "I did not sign up for this gameplay" in games. I love Dead Space, but the asteroid sequence, I did not sign up for. It wound up being a frustrating moment for me in a series that I otherwise adore. The same thing happened with Gears. Players didn't sign up to avoid smashing puzzles and things inside a worm. They want to be a badass soldier and chain some monsters.

WP: Technology-wise, which parts of the game engine have gotten you really excited about Gears of War 3?

CB: Two main things. We've reduxed the lighting. Everything just looks nice and smooth now. We don't have to rely on an ubermeshing of everything to make it look visually detailed. The lighting just breathes. It's huge. I've always dreamed of that drama of clarity of experience. I've always been envious of Halo's clarity. You can take any screenshot of Halo and put it onto a tiny thumbnail and still pretty much know what's going on. Gears is a lot more in that direction now because the enemies pop, the environments pop, and you can see what the hell is going on.

The other thing is that we have Vertex Deformation Technology that's allowed us to create vastly more dynamic environments, with trees blowing in the wind and the Lambent Leviathan biting off chunks of the ship at the beginning of the game and all those moments. Thankfully, that's inexpensive. It's a great way to have the environment feel far less static than it ever has been.

WP: We saw that Ice-T got his copy of Gears of War 3. If you two sat down in a deathmatch, who's the better player, you or him?

CB: I'd have to say that I would come out on top because Ice-T's reflexes, I don't know how good they are these days.