14 DAY TRIAL // Epic design boss Cliff 'Cliffy B' Bleszinski has recently revealed an interesting tidbit of information about gamers: they hate sequels to titles but love it when the third game in the series appears.
Bleszinski is currently hard at work on Gears of War 3, the third title in the Gears of War series, which has become one of the most important third person shooter franchises exclusive to the Xbox 360.
According to the Epic Games executive, gamers, especially those that play shooters, almost have a tradition of hating sequels and then loving the three-quels, which are the third titles in the series.
"For some reason in the shooter world, there's this thing about hating sequels," he revealed in a recent interview.
"Everyone loved Halo and a lot players were like: 'Halo 2 sucked!' Everyone loves Counterstrike and then Source comes out, 'that sucks!' Quake 2, Gears 2, every single shooter..."
He added: "And then the third one is somehow the one where everyone's like: 'Oh, it's going to be a lot more like 1, remember you like 1, right?'... In some ways, maybe the original was better but in many ways users are in love with the memory, you're competing with the memory of your own success - which is a very difficult thing to do."
The original Gears of War went on to gain critical acclaim, thanks to its cover-based mechanics and the use of the then unprecedented Unreal Engine 3.
Gears of War 2, on the other hand, wasn't exactly so well received, as many players cited that the story wasn't all that great, and that the multiplayer mode, arguably the most important one, wasn't up to par with the original.
Now, with Gears of War 3, Bleszinski and Epic Games aren't just relying on the fact that gamers usually love three-quels, and are throwing in new features, like dedicated servers for the multiplayer mode, and will also hold a public beta stage in order to get fans interested in the new game.
Do you think Bleszinski is right or do gamers just judge titles depending on their merits, and now on the number they have attached to their name?