Game:

LawBreakers (2017)

Category:

Review

Duration: 15:03

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LawBreakers succeeds as an FPS because it embraces and gives a middle finger to the last five years of FPS design. From a distance, Boss Key's first game looks like another five-on-five 'hero shooter' where each of the characters bring unique guns and unique movement, combat, and ultimate abilities (that you trigger off the Q key) into arena maps to contend for objectives. But beneath that basic structure are big, welcome divergences from Overwatch and similar games.One example: LawBreakers has no true support characters. The closest thing to a healer, the Battle Medic, employs 'fire and forget' healing, delegating the work to drones that automatically fly to teammates when you hit E, leaving your hands free to lob grenades. I love the ease of this role, and the challenge of maintaining lines-of-sight with teammates as you're both flying: assigning a drone to an Assassin as they swing like Spider-Man into an enemy base, or saving a teammate who's about to die with a single key tap from across the map.In this way LawBreakers pleasantly bypasses the concept of classes as battlefield jobs. There aren't turrets, teleporters, tanks per se, or other distractions. There aren't even conventional snipers, or guns with any kind of magnification, because LawBreakers doesn't want you losing sight of the importance of movement. Everyone is expected to fly, fight, and contribute damage.In place of any ordinary class archetypes, LawBreakers builds variety through its distinct styles of movement, and it's here that hardcore FPS players will find delightful nuance. Take the Wraith, who slides along the ground to accelerate, jabbing the air with a knife to swim forward in low-grav. They can also triple jump and wall jump, a moveset that gives the Wraith a darting, alien locomotion that's enjoyable to master.Each role has a fun micro-skill or two to learn, adding depth and steepening the learning curve in most cases. Gunslingers teleport in 15-foot bursts like Tracer from Overwatch, but the first shots from either of their dual pistols are buffed immediately after you blink. If you fly backwards as the Harrier, you shoot lasers from your boots that can fend off pursuers. This is the only FPS I can think of that lets me shoot behind myself, nevermind turns it into a way to physically propel yourself forward.I found a couple of these movement styles uncomfortable, and you probably will too. I felt fragile and clumsy as the Assassin, who uses a grappling hook to swing into stabbing range. But Boss Key could've easily strapped the same jetpack to each character and called it a day. The wide range of motion not only gives LawBreakers a clear identity, but these movement styles make characters more identifiable at a distance, making it easier to decide how to engage. It's a huge asset to the game.The forms of movement have good relationships with LawBreakers' guns—big, imaginative energy and explosive weapons that are the children of Unreal Tournament. As Harrier, I have
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Source: http://www.pcgamer.com/lawbreakers-review/

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