The first Gears of War 3 DLC is set to feature Michael Barrick, lead character from of the Gears of War comic series, design director Cliff Bleszinski has confirmed.
Diving into the threads on Neogaf, the artist formerly known as Cliffy B confirmed that, "No, it won't be the graphic novel, but it will have all new campaign content that doesn't have Marcus, Dom, Cole and Baird in it. Expect Barrick and more..."
Bleszinski was also keen to take the notoriously sharp tongued posters of NeoGaf to task over claims that Gears of War 3's writing was substandard with an extended defence of Gears 3's plot line and writing.
"I'm not going to defend our story here, those who love it and get it truly adore it," said Bleszinski . "You can find plot holes in nearly anything, from Lord of the Rings to Dark Knight. Story, like any art, can be somewhat subjective and is easy to pick on."
"The GAF crowd can be somewhat cynical. If you go to YouTube and look up many of the cut scenes deemed 'silly' or 'cheesy' on here the majority of the comments over there cite how the scenes moved them, made them misty eyed, or out and out made them cry."
"And those of you citing Cole as some bad stereotype - guys, that's just Lester being Lester. We introduced Jace as a more laid back character as a contrast to Cole's enthusiasm (which, after playing his sequence, is his way of overcompensating for not being the centre of the universe and having to risk his neck for a can of beans now along with some aches and pains)."
"I believe we're getting better at storytelling with each effort and the critical consensus is that this is the best Gears narrative yet, and we'll keep doing better in the future. You can pick anything to shreds on the internet because you've got the time and balls afforded to you by a keyboard and monitor. "
Bleszinski then concluded "And no, we're not going to answer everything. Creatives often leave certain questions unanswered so they can answer them later or let the hive mind of the internet to figure it out. The Gearspedia has already solved a lot of these questions."
The added insight follows Bleszinski's words on the campaign DLC just over a week ago when he confirmed that Epic's direction is Rockstar inspired with the added content not featuring Gears' main cast members.
Comments
15 comments so far...
StonecoldMC on 28 Sep '11 said:
Haters will always Hate. And that pretty much sums up Neo Gaf.
I wont go into too many spoilers but I thought the story and narrative in Gears 3 was actually really good, there is one point in the Game, I think most people who have played it, no what bit, but it did actually make me feel a bit sad. The slow mo's, the music, the characters all fitted in with the scene perfectly.
Well done Cliff, Karen and the rest of the team. A top notch Game!
KK-Headcharge78 on 28 Sep '11 said:
Me and some chums have act 5 to do and I'm really enjoying the story. I didn't sign up for Inception I signed up for Gears of f**king War and so far it is just brilliant, story and all. I agree generally that games are not yet where films are with story but I can't fault Gears in this instance, it flows, is funny and steadily fills in a few gaps all Gears lovers will want to know, oh and of course theres a rather, well, er wait till you see it. The quote I loved was this from Cliffy, never a truer sentence uttered;
'You can pick anything to shreds on the internet because you've got the time and balls afforded to you by a keyboard and monitor. "
kirankara on 28 Sep '11 said:
You gotta admit stonecold , cole is a crack baby and a bucket of chicken away from being an awful racist stereotype lol
Liked first gears, second the story was awful and the gameplay worse, as it was totally soul-less and dull, but third one has really stepped up a few gears(pun not intended, but oh well i'll roll with it lol) and it's a great game.
StonecoldMC on 28 Sep '11 said:
Perhaps, but if he is based off of an NFL player then they can be loud, brash and lary types of personalities. Well the ones ive seen on ESPN can be anyway, although in his sequence of play there were certainly some down moments, that I thought showed us another side to him. Like Cliff says, they introduced Chase to balance out the lunacy that the Cole Train brings and I think they did that quite well.
mogel94 on 28 Sep '11 said:
I don't know what their bitching about but I f**king loved Gears 3's story. Sure it didn't explain everything like that mad lab in Gears 2 but at least it had an actual decent story with characters who can actually emote and make you give a crap about what happens to them. I don't want to spoil anything seeing as its been out for a week but there were specific parts where I choked up a bit just because of how well it was handled. And anyone dissing the Cole Train is just trolling, his bits in Act One were fantastic! Cannot wait for any new DLC either
kirankara on 28 Sep '11 said:
I think they did it well in third game, but I really found him just plain annoying in 2nd one.
i really feel the whole story felt more like a proper script in this game, with characters feeling like they have more depth to them, even Cole and Marcus. they seem like people now, not like strerotyped war film cliches.
KK-Headcharge78 on 28 Sep '11 said:
Anyone who watches NFL will soon see there are a few Cole Trains plying their wares, black or white. The original 4 piece was clearly crafted to achieve a balanced bunch with the option for the player to pick their favourite(s) Marcus is hard, intelligent and organised, Dom is quiet(ish) heartfelt and practical, Baird is sarcastic, less emotive and cunning and Cole is bombastic, crude and exciteable (providing the perfect foil for Baird)
My faves are Marcus obviously but also the banter between Cole and Baird over the 3 games, as Baird said saracastically in GOW2 'It's a f**king party down here'
I do agree GOW2 lost a little of the balance due I think to Epic's wish to make it super badass at all costs.
TheMid on 28 Sep '11 said:
Who gives a f*ck about the story (although I am enjoying it) Monsters that explode!!!!!!
Drusus on 28 Sep '11 said:
*No spoilers*
I thought the story was fantastic up to a point. Oddly the bit that made me tear up was between one character and a statue. Strange, I wonder if others felt the same about a very moving piece of dialogue. Sadly I thought it was all downhill from there, the dialogue, the plot.
The ending was frankly rushed and didn't make any sense, did anyone else get the impression it was going towards this epic plot twist at not one but quite a few moments only to be left staggered when they opted for the standard story path?
*Spoilers incoming************************
Also *Spoiler* what the hell was rapture all about! That was some lame gaming from the Phantom Menace opening sequence to the confusing what the hell am I doing here, why am I helping this guy, why have the locust left this guy alive then, why do I care, oh I don't anymore.
kirankara on 28 Sep '11 said:
not someone who particularly pay attention to stories tbh, but the Gears stories were just far too one dimensional before, with lame acting and scripts. If you cant relate to the characters, then the whole quest can get kinda pointless and dull, especially when you have to sit through cut scenes of people you think are morons.
Kk , im sure there are many cole trains in nfl etc, but without going all politically correct (pc can do my nut in), the balance of portrayals of black guys in games is so far off, its untrue. They usually either brash, loud, sports stars, killers, criminals of other descriptions etc etc. There has to be balance to these characters in stories, if gaming is to be genuinely accepted as a valid form of entertainment amongst the mass public, same way that tv and film has to be careful about steretyping races and cultures, otherwise we end up with even more racist p**s in world.
bit serious for a thread on dlc lol, but feel it's important.
Loving game so far though
CrispyLog on 28 Sep '11 said:
Ha, I saw Cliffys post when I finished gears and googled 'what the f**k is going on in gears' or something and it took me to that thread. Too much stuff left out, no doubt you'll have to buy a book or comic to get the whole story.
Still though, fantastic game.
StonecoldMC on 28 Sep '11 said:
Ill agree with you there! The first two Gears although, great Games, were certainly lacking in the story / character / narrative sense.
Bringing on a respected writer and author like Karen Traviss, was a shrewd move and really moved on all the characters really well.
FlacidDonkeyGuy on 28 Sep '11 said:
For anyone who bothered to read the books would know, the Cole Train only behaves the way he does for the moral of the others around him.
oOo ZOMBIE oOo on 28 Sep '11 said:
I really enjoyed the game but was dissapointed in the lacklusture story,but I suppose who cares.Its an action game and it delivered on that score, up to a point. I feel a couple more boss fights would have made it epic.
xsuicidesn0wmanx on 28 Sep '11 said:
Cole Train is actually based off a character Lester Speight played in Reebok commercials, which he helped create when he was in college. Terrible Terry Tate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHL0U4uHuu0 I'm sure if you watch the video you'll see the obvious similarities.