Cliff: Metal Gear is a 'game we're not doing'

by Dustin Burg on Jun 26th 2008 1:30PM

Chatting with the IGN crew, Epic's Cliff Bleszinski made it clear that Gears of War 2's storyline will not be presented like a certain game featuring Solid Snake and its 45 minute cutscenes. "Games aren't movies and aren't consumed in a single sitting" explains Bleszinski, "Metal Gear Solid is our example of the game we're not doing. Passive entertainment is on its way out."

Our interpretation of his remarks pretty much boil down to Gears 2 not having a too confusing storyline that features nothing but cut-scenes. Cliff isn't dissing MGS as much as he's explaining what Gears 2 isn't going to be, for better or worse. Though, we have a hunch Gears fanboys will think it's better to actually experience chainsawing through Locust scum rather than just watching the action unfold.

Source

Tags: epic, epic-games, gears-of-war-2, gow2

Reader Comments (39)

I should think not, it wouldn't be gears of war if they was.

well GOW is ultimately a much better game then mgs because of its multipalyer alone. MGS is done after you have watched it erm i mean played through it. GOW will last 1000+ hours. Especially since in that interview he mentiones how achievement tracking is now in the game, so no more hoping to unlock seriously at 10 000ish kills. Now theres suppose to be slider % bars for every achievement, so you know how close you are to obtaining it. This just adds that many mroe goals to the game. A++++

Word. I agree. The achievement tracking is pretty sweet. Achievements themselves don't appeal to all, but I dig them.

MGS is fine. I'm not particularly a fan but I can identify with those that are. MGS is good ol japanese style fun. Gears, however, is good ol american style fun. You can see the difference clearly methinks.

It'll definitely be 1000+ hours if you go for the inevitable "Seriously" achievement, or whatever they call it this time around. In any case, I'm looking forward to this game, big time.

Good, I think Gears of war had amazing in-game cinematics that told the story but didn't take the player away from the action. This is how it should be. Does MGS really have 45 minute cut scenes? Is that total, or 1 clip?

Yes. There are some long cut scenes. I'm not sure about 45 mins, but in my opinion anything other than an end-of-game type cutscene that is longer than 5 minutes is too much. I mean, for me, I get about a 2 hour window of gaming in each time I sit down. To sit there wasting it away on a 45 minute scene of nonsense would upset me.

Other people who have more video gaming time to themselves might see it another way.

I had read somewhere that the longest cutscene is over 1 hour long. That's just beyond stupid.

Cliff is a hype machine.

Cliff is a Hype.

microsoft is a hype machine, as is sony. however, at least microsoft's games are good.

MGS4 is a good game but the cutscenes and smoking loading screens is ridiculous, i am not a hardcore MGS4 fan and just played the game at a friends house, but after about an hour i was done, my friend who bought the ps3 just for the game wanted to return the system. its a straight up fanboi game, i have a limited attention span, GoW fits in just right

MGS4 is being sold to Americans a certain way, but it's 100% a Japanese game for Japanese gamers.

45 minute cutscenes aren't an accident... Japanese gamers like 'em. They want highly scripted, beautifully-rendered movie-style play. They don't like sandbox type games... I read this in an in-depth article online last year about American and Japanese gamers and their tastes. The Japanese culture is very different as is the expectations for entertainment.

So of course GOW2 wouldn't be like MGS4... strange for Epic to go out of their way to say it.

Are they... are they actually gonna kill that locust?

No no no. They are discussing what flavor of tea they will share at their regular, afternoon tea party. Also, kittens and bunnies and fluffy clouds.

check out the yahtzee review of MGS4.... 23 minutes from when the game start till when you can kill your first bad guy.... kinda sucks

I don't think there's much argument regarding this as it's really a comparison of Eastern and Western storytelling. Japan is known for flamboyant storyarcs while here in North America we enjoy faced paced naratives. I really enjoyed MGS4 and I will no doubt enjoy GoW2 when it ships.

GoW and MGS4 are both good. MGS4 is better than GoW. Gears of War has a horrible story, but the online is decent.

well, i've been reading x3f for about a week, and i have to say it, the pictures you show are so stupid, you have absulutely no sense of humour or sarcasm, like joystiq, pspfanboy or ps3fanboy, really get some good writers.

and about cliffy b, i think he's jealous of the mastermind Kojima, you never gonna compare a game like gow to a Metal Gear Solid, never, i mean gow is a great game but, c'mon MGS is a Master Piece.

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Diffrent strokes for different folks. Gears 1 had little story but lots of action , MGS has a huge and epic story line (which may be to complicated for those with tiny brains) with less action. I think that both styles have plenty to offer. I felt like MGS was like a summer blockbuster on top of being a game, needless to say I felt I got my moneys worth. I also felt better about paying a ton of money for my ps3 (which is now on loan to a friend so he can play mgs)

MGS 4 easily beats Gears 1 in single player. They are different experiences and while Gears was fun MGS 4 was awe inspiring. I can see why some 360 fanboys like Gears more; MGS4 is not for 15 year old kids who have short attention spans. As for replayability MGS 4 campaign is so good that you'll keep coming back to get the better weapons. The cutscenes are skippable if you are playing the second time through and don't want to watch them again. Frankly MGS4 practically amazed me which Gears did not. Gears is fun but MGS4 is a more sophisticated experience. That's why many 360 fanboys diss on it. There's space for both types of games.

MGS4 is brand new, and how many years ago did gears come out? You can't compare the two like that shashwat.... when gears 2 comes out, then you can compare them....oh and gears is still number 6 on Xbox Live.....

"There's space for both types of games."

then why do you insist on comparing them, and saying one is more "sophisiticated" then the other....

Sorry for my rant, anyways..........
November can not come soon enough.......

I'm looking forward to this game, and I have a lot of respect for Epic as developers, but I have no respect for Cliffy. I think he is an arrogant asshole. Almost like the Dane Cook of game devs (except worse)

If I want story I'll watch a movie or read a book. A game is for playing and MGS has never done that too well. So saying MGS is better than GOW is just pplain wrong...END OF DISCUSSION!

Agreed. These are the same fanboys who think Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was a good movie.

MGS4 fanboy credibility on what constitutes a good story = 0.00%

maybe if gears of war had a real dam story they he would be right but since its doesnt he cannt attack a game with a better overall story and great gameplay to match it.cliffy need to stay out of the pr light cause he one of the worst developer for pr.

Well it's getting a book, a film and they've brought on some comic book writer (i think?) to do the story for gears 2. So uh, you're wrong?

Gears 1 had a good back story to it, they just didn't expand on it or really fill it in, the story is there and can be epic, they just need to take advantage of it.

What are you talking about? Just because some people want to make some money on a popular game doesn't mean the game has a brilliant storyline. And a game's storyline should be presented IN THE GAME, you shouldn't have to read a 1000-page novel beforehand to understand what's going on. So uh, you're wrong?

If I want a story, I'll read a book. I don't put a video game in so I can watch a story unfold. MGS4 is horrible. I understand the need for some character/plotline development, but it was WAY over the top.

GoW1 had just enough story to keep me interested and not bored to tears.

MGS4 would be so much better if you could skip the cutscenes.

I completely agree. We don't play games to watch non-interactive movies. I also found one of the few sites to agree with us on this topic:

http://www.poweredupgamers.com/Pages/PS3/Games/Metal%20Gear%20Solid%204/Review%20-%20Metal%20Gear%20Solid%204%20-PS3.html

Enjoy...

Well I for one think that the story does matter! It makes a game SO much better.. GOW was truely great but the lack of a decent storyline was quite a bummer.
MGS4 on the other hand is spectacular to watch, not so mch to play but still offers one of the best single player experiences ever!
Cheers

You forgot the best part of his comments:
"This time round there's more repetition. "

Yeah, thats what we all like. More repetition. :p

He would say that, Gears doesn't have a real storyline. It's about on par with pacman. Enemies! Get them!

Maybe Gears 2 will be longer than 4 hours...hater...

Wow. MGS4 is my first metal gear game, and i love it. I also like the unreal tournament series, but that quote makes me want to ban all unreal games in a heart beat.

Gears of War story is generic and simple so of course there won't be as many cutscenes. MGS 4 story is detailed, complex and very deep so it needs more cut scenes than Gears of War.

Gameplay + Story> Gameplay

Umm, MGS is getting rave reviews everywhere not because it has solid core gameplay elements but because it also tells an interesting and compelling story, gears 2 would be lucky to have the same...

I don't think its fair to compare the two.

There are some games like Gears of War where I just want to kill shit.

There are some games like Final Fantasy (Havent played mgs4) where I want a storyline.

I mean, to say that one is better than the other is just a step backwards in the variety of the gaming industry.
If we said "We do not want cinematic cut scenes", every game would be like Gears, and vice versa for RPGs and the like.

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Cliff: Metal Gear is a 'game we're not doing'

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