Clifford Bleszinski stepped into the gaming industry at age 13, throwing down the high score in Super Mario Bros. for the premiere issue of Nintendo Power. Six years later, he designed and shipped his first game, Jazz Jackrabbit, a Sonic-inspired, side-scrolling shooter published by his new employer, Epic MegaGames. By 2004, Epic lost the "mega," and Bleszinski added the iconic Unreal franchise to his resume. The question became what to do next. The answer? More Unreal.

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Specifically, Unreal Warfare. Bleszinski wanted to take the chaotic frag-fest in a more military direction...something with control points, vehicular combat, and a distinct survival-horror edge, pitting humanity against hostiles called the Geist. Senior management shot it down. They wanted a new, single-player-focused IP, and Nintendo already owned the copyright on "geist." Bleszinski's alternative, "Worm," didn't go much further. The idea of enemies coming from underground, however, stuck.Production started as another first-person shooter, but early graphics tests convinced Bleszinski to shift to third person...the better to show off his hero's grizzled charms. Resident Evil 4's over-the-shoulder view became a working model, slowing the game's pace. Gunfights would take a more tactical approach than Unreal's non-stop kill-o-thons, but needed a faster brand of action than Capcom's thriller.The missing piece showed up when Senior Designer Lee Perry brought in a small, flawed PlayStation 2 game called Kill.Switch and demoed its cover-focused combat system. Bleszinski immediately paired it with Bionic Commando's fluid point-to-point movement. "Stop and pop" was born. Epic soon brought in Chris Esaki, Kill.Switch's lead designer, to join the team.That team never ranged above 30 people at a time, on a project budgeted around $10 million. With Epic's proprietary Unreal 3 engine in hand, the team didn't need to waste resources building, buying, or adapting one. Everyone's energy went into art, gameplay, and executing Bleszinski's vision. This game was his baby all the way.He envisioned a place of destroyed beauty, the great civilization ravaged by war and entropy. Gameplay centered on a four-man unit: player-controlled Marcus Fenix, co-op sidekick Dom Glynn (with an option for switching to Dominique), ex-sports star Damon Baird (named after a childhood friend), and an expendable rookie. When Lester Speight, famous for his Terry Tate: Office Linebacker commercials, read for the rookie, Baird became the bitchy tech guy and Augustus Cole joined the squad. The rookie took the name Carmine.Likewise, hiring veteran voice actor John DiMaggio for Marcus didn't require much consideration, but Bleszinski and his team spent a full year getting the character's look right. Then they added a collection of scars to give him that lived-in look.The look, feel, and gameplay all fell into place. Then things went insane.