The Lancers aren't all the same weapon

The Lancers aren't all the same weapon The chainsaw Lancer is one of the things that makes Gears immediately recognizable. You can show somebody that weapon without putting the game's name beside it, and a lot of people are going to know exactly what they're looking at. But the different Lancers aren't just the same rifle with different attachments for decoration. The attachment changes what you can do, and the rifle itself changes how you should be using it. The chainsaw Lancer This is the familiar combination: automatic rifle fire and a chainsaw for close encounters. You can keep pressure on somebody at a distance and still have a very different answer when you get close. That doesn't make charging straight across open ground a good idea. Revving the chainsaw isn't a shield. Neither is the execution animation when somebody else has a clear shot at you. Gears 2 adds the chainsaw duel when another Lancer meets yours. It's a small moment compared with the scale of the war, but it's exactly the sort of raw, hands-on combat I mean when I talk about what makes Gears different. Original manual (https://t.co/lmUSlnfFdC), Gears 2 manual (https://t.co/yK7h44xOiI) The Retro Lancer The Retro trades the chainsaw for a blade and a running charge. That changes the space you need. It isn't the same as standing next to somebody and revving the saw. The rifle also has much more recoil to manage. Short bursts and a suitable distance matter. If you try to use it exactly like a more stable rifle across a long sightline, you're fighting the weapon instead of using what it's good at. So the choice isn't only whether you'd rather have a blade or a chainsaw. It's also whether the way the rifle fires suits the fight in front of you. Retro and standard Lancer handling (https://t.co/R9WhwlZyvY) The Lancer GL The GL in Gears 5 takes the attachment in another direction. The grenade launcher gives you an explosive option against a position instead of another close-combat finish. That can be useful when someone is protected by cover, but it doesn't make explosives the answer at every distance. You need space and a target worth spending the ammunition on. GL mechanics (https://t.co/AXfzOg53QT) Those differences are why I want to talk about the weapons individually instead of just calling all of them a Lancer and moving on. Gears has plenty of guns, but these are a huge part of its identity. The sound, the close combat, the way a fight can suddenly turn into something brutal right in front of you. That's part of the dark, down-and-dirty feeling I love about the series.