Gears 2: Much of Gears 1 setting inspired by London architecture, says Bleszinski

Gears of War 2 dev lead Cliff Bleszinski, speaking at a recent event for the game in London, has revealed that the original title's style was borne from a previous trip he made to the British capital.

"The European influence was there in Gears 1, honestly," he said when asked if the game's European style had increased since the first project.

"So much of Gears 1 was inspired by the trip I took a few years ago to London, and took a day to do the 500-step climb to the top of Saint Paul's, watch the sunsets over London and looked at the architecture."

New areas included in the sequel take the European idea further, with Austrian mountain villages being the inspiration for some of the levels.

"We decided to go Austrian, you know, mountain hamlets," said Bleszinski. "For some reason mountain hamlets have that kind of construction set look, like gingerbread houses. If you're going to do a mountain hamlet they give you the pre-fabs to put in, right?

"And it's a location you still haven't seen yet in Gears. It's still feeling like Gears but we've evolved the style to show you things you hadn't seen before. That was the goal."

Gears of War 2 ships for 360 on November 7. For the rest of our coverage from the event, including play impressions and new shots, click this.