Bleszinski finds romance ‘hard’ to convey, but tried anyway

One thing that most Gears of War 2 players could be finding out today is that romance isn’t always about hugging and kissing for the soldiers of the COG. One of the main subplots of Cliff Bleszinski’s latest offering is sidekick Dom’s search for his missing wife, Maria, amidst the larger scale conflict presented in the game. Recently, MTV Multiplayer spoke to Bleszinski about adding romance into a highly action oriented game and the reason it is not commonly done.

From the interview:

Well, because it’s f—ing hard to do, man. It’s really hard to do. I think we did an admirable job of it. Is it a Nicholas Sparks romance? No, it’s not. But there’s a little bit of heart in there.

While I agree that love is always a sidebar to blowing up alien’s heads, I found Dom’s emotional appeals less than satisfactory. If I didn’t have that picture as a clue, I would have sworn that Dom was actually missing something immaterial like a truck instead of a flesh and blood wife.

Bleszinski then goes on to note that “putting a little bit of heart in a shooter that’s full of … brutality” is a good “priority” to have. He previously noted the reason for the lack of dramatic buildup is because he wanted to keep pace and not have “40-minute flashbacks to Dom and Maria dancing in a field of poppies…” In reality, I think we all would have greatly enjoyed such a segment in a Gears game.