Incendiary grenade

It can't be a new Gears of War without a new grenade type....

Pros:

"The incendiary grenade is pretty powerful. You throw it out, and it explodes instantly and provides an area of denial. People can't just run through the flame. So you can be like, 'Hey, you just stay back there for a little bit, and I'm going to switch to my rifle and try to pop you from a distance.'"

Cons:

"It's pretty easily telegraphed -- people can see you swinging the big flame grenade with the particles, which is one thing we try to do with all our weapons, by the way. The more powerful it is, the more obvious we try to make the telegraph, generally."

Hammerburst

The chainsaw-less assault rifle is back, Call of Duty-style.

Pros:

"The Hammerburst has a first-person scope now, which is new for the franchise. It changes the game a little bit, allowing for that down-the-barrel view. And if you get good with that weapon, and you get an Active Reload [editor's note: a timed button press that can give you boosted ammunition], and you get good at fanning the trigger, you're going to down people like nobody's business.

"It's been a really crazy game of balancing for us, and I really hope the beta's going to help us iron out any of the final kinks in the weapon balance."

Cons:

"When you're zoomed in in first-person, your field of vision is even tighter than it is with some of the other weapons. So you better watch your periphery. Also, it's not really good at close range. It's kind of squirrely when trying to hit guys -- it's really a mid- to long-range rifle."

Digger Launcher

Is it fair that a gun can fire deadly, living, burrowing ammo at you?

Pros:

"[Laughs] The Digger is great! It's a fire-and-forget weapon. I can kind of sling it at my enemy. But then what I can do is start unloading at him [with another gun] to get him to accidentally evade in the direction of it.

"The weapon is at its best when you're fighting two guys, and you sling it at them, and you just start walking away, and you hear that 'Pop! Pop!' and see the "+200" score pop up -- you know you just got a couple of guys.

"It's also really, really fun to try to get direct hits on people -- on guys camping behind cover, because it goes underneath cover. If you get a direct hit, it digs into their chest then burrows out, and their head explodes -- which is also very gratifying if that happens to kill someone next to them."

Cons:

"The thing about the Digger is that they can see it coming a million miles away -- it's the giant Bugs Bunny trail coming at you. So one-on-one, if a skilled player is coming at you from a distance, and he has the Hammerburst, and you have the Digger, you're going to lose. But at a closer range, you have a better shot.

"We’re trying to go with rock, paper, scissors with weapon designs, except we don't have rock, paper, scissors. We have [gesturing wildly with his hands] rock, paper, scissors, stapler...you know, weed whacker, and all these other things in the mix that we have to try and match, not only in weapons and damage but also the distance and chaos of battle. So it's really, really tricky, but hopefully we're going to hit that sweet spot."