Things You Might Not Know About The Development Of Gears of…

Summary

Gears helped define the Xbox and Xbox 360; Reloaded brings the original to new players.
Marcus Fenix's name, eyes and the "Mad World" trailer tie to Bleszinski's personal struggles.
Multiplayer was almost cut; Horde was added late. The project began as Unreal Warfare.

The Xbox would not be the console it is without the Halo series. Likewise, the Xbox 360 would not be the console it was without Gears of War. The series dominated reviews and sales charts, making it a premier franchise for Microsoft a good decade. New players can now enjoy the original via Gears of War: Reloaded.

New fans may be wondering how Gears of War came to be. Xbox 360 fans know at least that it was designed by Cliff Bleszinski, who was the talking head for the original trilogy. However, even hardcore fans may not know much more beyond that, and new fans are certainly in the dark. So, in celebration of Gears of War: Reloaded, let’s go through some development history.

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Abbreviations And Allusions To War

Look In A Mirror

Some fans have probably realized that Gears of War and God of War share the same abbreviation. There aren’t a lot of franchises that share this name, and it might not be a coincidence. Gears takes place on the planet Sera, which, when spelled backwards, is Ares.

Ares is the Greek God of War, the one Kratos defeats at the end of the first God of War game. It could be a coincidence, or it could have been a clever nod. Either way, it fits thematically with Sera because the planet has known war for eons. Gears of War and God of War sharing abbreviations could be coincidental, but it's still an interesting one.

Marcus Fenix's Personal Touches

What’s In A Name?

There are a few interesting tidbits about Marcus Fenix that fans may not know. Fenix was chosen as a last name symbolically to represent designer Cliff Bleszinski, who was going through a rough divorce at the time. Putting his energy into Gears of War was like Bleszinski rising from the ashes, like the mythical phoenix, a fantastical bird said to be able to resurrect itself after burning to ash.

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Marcus was given blue eyes to match Bleszinski’s father’s, and John DiMaggio, his voice actor, was the third and final attempt, according to producer Rod Fergusson in a documentary about Gears of War’s development. DiMaggio, of course, is famous for many cartoon and game roles, like Wakka from Final Fantasy 10 and Bender in Futurama. Finally, "Mad World" by Michael Andrews was a song Bleszinski listened to a lot during his divorce, which is why it made it into the trailer for Gears of War.

Character Differences

Dom Could Have Been Dominique

There were plans for players to decide Dom’s gender. They wouldn't be able to create a character for Dom, but they could pick a gender and then swap out the character model and voice. How this would have affected gameplay is unknown, but it’s not the only game to allow multiple gendered characters to appear based on player input, although it is usually focused on the main character.

Dom aside, Lt. Kim was written as a woman who was later changed to be a man to fit the more bro-infused vibe. As far as characters go, these were the biggest shakeups during development, and the Gears of War series never revisited the idea of choosing a character’s gender again.

The Game Inspirations

Two Obvious, One Unlikely

Cliff Bleszinski gave a presentation at the 2007 Game Developers Choice Awards about the game’s development. There were three games that inspired the team for various reasons, which are probably easy to figure out. In 2005, Resident Evil 4 was the hottest game, which inspired the over-the-shoulder viewpoint in Gears of War and perhaps the chainsaw enemies, too.

The cover system was modeled after kill.switch, which is a less famous title, but still important. Finally, most bizarre influence of all was Bionic Commando, an NES game. Bleszinski likened the traversal in that game to running between cover stations in Gears of War.

Cut Ideas

From Tactics To Shops

At that same 2007 GDCA talk, Bleszinski discussed cut content from Gears of WAr. One of these concepts was about how Marcus’s companions could start to dislike him if players weren’t active enough with his gameplay. Perhaps, if cultivated, this idea could have become a social system akin to the now-famous bonding feature found in the Persona games.

Another idea would have included players earning money and then spending it, citing Resident Evil 4 as an inspiration once again. Also, ideas for players to directly control their squad never made it in either.

Multiplayer Wasn’t A Priority During Development

The Iconic Horde Mode That Almost Never Was

In the opposite direction to cut content, there was a feature that did make it in at the last minute that almost wasn't included. In a GameSpot interview with Rod Fergusson, he explained how Gears of War was focused as a single-player game. Multiplayer was an afterthought and almost didn’t make it into the final package.

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It’s hard to imagine Gears of War without its iconic Horde mode now, especially since many games have cloned the idea since. Still, as much as fans love Gears of War’s multiplayer, the campaign and story are probably what they enjoy the most.

The Original Concept

A Very Different Game

The strangest part of Gears of War’s development is how it started. Originally, around the early 2000s, the project's code name was Unreal Warfare. It was going to be a class-based multiplayer shooter.

Assets were eventually reused for versions of Unreal Tournament instead, which makes more sense. It’s funny considering Gears of War shifted completely to focus more on single-player, especially since multiplayer almost never happened. Unreal Warfare may have been successful, but would it have been an Xbox 360 icon?

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