Hyper paced class warfare caught between worlds
Set on some distant future and dystopian Earth or Earthlike planet, with pockets of zero gravity marking the world, the Law and the Breakers fight each other for supremacy over something, or more likely because they can. There isn’t much in the way of context to what LawBreakers has to offer, which is some class warfare in a hyper paced arena.
LawBreakers feels like a game stuck between worlds. It can be roughly approximated as a bridge between the team oriented and class based Overwatch and the old school arena of Unreal Tournament. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite strike the right balance between its influences, despite its solid foundation.
Cliff Bleszinki’s Unreal roots shine through the most in that core, high tempo retro arena combat. The movements have a natural flow that make the environments a joy to zoom around, even if they aren’t much to look at or interesting from an artistic perspective. The maps with their zero gravity zones really tie into that free flowing movement that many of the characters can take advantage of.
Similar to Overwatch, each class has their own unique weapon and abilities, but each class features a representative on the Law team and the Breakers team. Unlike Overwatch, these characters lack defining characteristics and have next to no personality. The progression being cosmetic and lootbox driven for characters that are hard to care about, makes it hard to care about the progression.
Fortunately, and perhaps most importantly, how the characters play is much more compelling. The roster is limited to nine classes, but what's there manages to cover a reasonable base. All of the weapons have a good, weighted impact to them, and the abilities are widely varied, so the classes all feel like they have a place. Bulkier characters are great a locking down objectives and points of interest, while the faster characters can traverse entire maps in seconds.
Every class has a way to move around more quickly, but no two classes share an ability. One class might have a grappling hook and another a simple sprint, or one of many takes on the jetpack. Also increasing mobility is the ability to blindfire, or shoot behind you. This acts as a boost in zero gravity, and while it’s pretty neat and fun, it seems more detrimental than anything, as liberal use means frequent reloads. Each character also features an ultimate ability on a longer cooldown, and while they can be powerful in the right hands, none of them feel like they break the game. For the variety of its roster and for fast paced and hectic as this game can be, everything feels pretty fair, yet it's difficult to not feel as though all of its character driven chaos undermines the effect and appeal of classic arena shooters and their clear influence on LawBreakers. The primordial appeal of classic deathmatch is there at first glance, but quickly fades as the roster and modes show more and more of their nuance, for better or worse.
It’s unfortunate that the diverse toolkits of the roster are the only bits of the game that feel inspired. For having a balanced and rock solid core, it just doesn’t have any legs. The biggest piece is there, but it isn't big enough, and the rest of the pieces fail to finish the puzzle. There’s no campaign or setting of the stage, and characters are little more than ghostly portraits with little in the way of personality or backstory, making the progression feel futile.
LawBreakers feels caught in the zero gravity between worlds. As a character driven shooter it is lacking any of the charm displayed in Overwatch, and as a retro arena shooter it doesn’t feel focused enough with its cast of characters to match the simple pleasures of Unreal Tournament.