Epic's big sequel Gears of War 2, which almost cracked a grin from Tomonobu Itagaki during the Xbox spring showcase last week, is "five times bigger" on the action front.

That's according to exceedingly efficient interviewee Cliff Bleszinski, who says that the second game shows just how much "smoother" the Unreal Engine has gotten.

"[Unreal Engine has] never stopped evolving," Cliff told our buddies at CVG in San Francisco last week. "The character lighting is vastly improved, the environment is chippable and the trees get knocked down as physics objects.

"There's just so much shit going on, it's five times bigger this time. I think it shows the engine got smoother."

Admittedly, what we saw of Gears 2 was very impressive indeed - and it's definitely a shed-load louder than the first, with massive 'derricks' rolling through lush meadow environments, and the gigantic Brumack exploding from the ground to trample on Marcus and Co.

But just how has Epic managed to stick so much more action on screen? It's not as if Gears 1 was dragged out...

"It's sheer hard work, a lot of practice, having artists that are smart with where they spend their polygons and just getting the most out of the 360," says Cliffy B.

"Because it's not as if the 360's getting any better, it is what it is; a fixed platform. The mountain needs to go to Mohammad in this instance."

Courtesy of CVG.

May 19, 2008