Gears of War Mk Ii Lancer Assault Rifle Concept Art
"Nosotros knew that our default gun should be very distinctive": Remembering the Gears of State of war Lancer, a weapon as ludicrous equally it was essential
With Gears 5 on the virtually horizon, we dip into the Edge Magazine archives to celebrate Gears of War's Lancer – one of the greatest weapons in video games. This is all a part of our ongoing On The Radar: Gears 5 coverage, a deep dive into the upcoming game and a celebration of the long-running series.
To describe Epic's Gears of War serial, nosotros need merely invoke its flagship weapon: the Lancer. A mid-range assault rifle with a chainsaw for a bayonet, the Lancer both epitomises and fortifies the games' manner, tone and themes. It's violent, messy, grim, clunky and more a little fleck absurd. In a medium where guns are more common than plotlines, the Lancer does the seemingly impossible: information technology stands out.
"Information technology was of import to us to create a unique silhouette for the Lancer so that information technology would be hands identifiable and instantly associated with Gears' combat," explains Cliff Bleszinski, Epic'due south original design director. "Early in Gears' development, we knew that our default gun should be very distinctive, multifunctional and, nigh importantly, fun to use. And, let's be honest, we're all big fans of The Evil Dead, Doom, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
To understand the Lancer, though, we must beginning understand Gears of War. The serial, ultimately, is about the inadequacy of its characters, the futility of their deportment, and the endless frustration of having to cower backside walls when other heroes in the medium can walk out and come across the enemy on even footing. Marcus and Dom are bulging at the seams with testosterone, simply they may as well be petit stick figures for all the adept their brawn does them. Despite their size, they spend the majority of their fourth dimension cowering behind overturned desks and vending machines. Progress is measured in inches every bit they creep forward from cover to embrace, conscientious non to expose all that vulnerable man mankind to Locust bullets. Indeed, 'progress' might non be the right word. Virtually every mission of the series not spent chasing a crimson herring sees you failing to salve a loved i or in retreat. Gears of War isn't about winning. It is about losing as little as possible.
The Lancer brings together Gears of War's grim fictional universe and its oppressive embrace mechanics and holds the two in a tight, self-strengthening symbiosis. Bleszinski notes that "in terms of the series' fiction, it was critical to develop a firearm that is constructive in battling the Locust – one that is devastating from both a strategic and physiological standpoint".
Further, both the Lancer's affordances and constraints reinforce the games' central comprehend-based gameplay. While devastating at close or centre range, the Lancer'south effectiveness drops off over a altitude, and y'all as a thespian lack the ability to use its iron sights. Under fire from the Locust's longer-ranged Hammerbursts, the Lancer-wielding role player must patiently claw alee to gain a position from which they can finer return fire. Yet the Lancer's ample prune size – although reduced over the serial' course – and the usually prolific presence of ammo crates means you normally accept few qualms about spraying bullets over a distance or blindly firing over a wall while pinned down. It grants the comprehend organisation the gritty desperation that it deserves.
And so, of course, there's the chainsaw bayonet and its gruesome, iconic executions. Bleszinski explains how senior concept artist James Hawkins iterated many designs for the melee facet, which began as a circular buzzsaw before evolving into the chainsaw of today. "In one case Jay unveiled the bayonet design, nosotros knew we were on to something," Bleszinski recalls. "We completely fell in love with it once we began tearing through Locusts. The chainsawing feel became increasingly rewarding as nosotros refined the Lancer's feel and outcome."
"It was critical to develop a firearm that is effective in battling the Locust – one that is devastating from both a strategic and physiological standpoint"
Cliff Bleszinski
Since Halo, a button on the controller dedicated to melee attacks has been standard for console shooters, allowing for a quick striking if an enemy gets besides close. Most of the weapons in Gears of War accept a similar utilise, but the Lancer is subversive. This is not Master Principal's swift pistol barrel or 'Soap' MacTavish'south stealthy knife thrust. Performing a impale with the chainsaw bayonet is clunky, heavy, wearisome and graphic. Instead of a quick tap of B to hit an enemy away, the button must be held down and the chainsaw revved seconds before the assail is fabricated. Then, while revving, the histrion must run up to the enemy to lacerate them. This is more difficult than it sounds: if an enemy shoots you, you lot'll blanch and must begin revving all over again. A chainsaw attack is non something you lot practise on the fly – it is something you do as a last resort. It is ever deliberate, methodical, and personal.
"Intimate violence is a pillar of Gears' gameplay," agrees Bleszinski. It is an intimacy that resonates throughout the series, between two equally unethical just equally justified armies. While you cower backside your wall and the Locust troops cower behind theirs, at that place is virtually a strange sense of comradeship, of sympathy, of understanding. Both humans and Locust are fighting for a globe they believe is their own, and neither human nor Locust wants to die. It is this intimacy that is epitomised past a chainsaw execution with the Lancer. All of a sudden, your Locust foe isn't hiding somewhere over there. He is standing right abreast you. This is the pivot on which the broader violence of the Gears of War universe spins.
It all boils down to this one chainsaw execution, where one human and one Locust connect in a messy, loud, almost erotic release of anger, flesh, and steel – an execution powered by hate and the ironic knowledge that the killing blade is called-for ane of the precious resource you are fighting a war over.
The feature originally ran in Edge Magazine #282. You can read more from Border here, or get the magazine every month by taking reward of our subscription offers for print and digital editions.
Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/gears-wars-lancer-both-ludicrous-and-essential/
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