Lawbreakers - Review

Lawbreakers is a fast paced arena shooter in which you can play as a number of different classes. The game evolves around movement and low gravity environments are key. If you want to be good at Lawbreakers, you have to aim and skill is required. However, does that mean that the game is entirely skill based?

Personally, I love the game. I love how it plays and I love the overall feel of it. It plays like a beautiful FPS game and handles extremely well. I cannot speak for the console version of the game, as I primarily play on PC. The guns feel good, the sounds are nice and the general atmosphere within the game is really good. I have played quite a few games and have noticed that the characters play very differently. As time has progressed people have figured out counters to certain moves/plays.

The game has a very nice visual style with it not being super realistic, yet realistic enough. It perfectly avoids the uncanny valley and allows comfort to be seen in the characters. Granted the Breakers are a little rougher than the Law, but that was a design choice. There is a nice selection of skins for the characters and their primary and secondary weapons, along with stickers to accompany the weapons. For me, this customization leaves plenty of variety.

The maps are also very nicely designed. Visually they look stunning and play very well. Each map seems symmetrical, allowing for a nice balance on both sides. The maps all play quite differently too! Some maps are more open than others and objectives are placed in closed areas, allowing for short range and melee heavy classes to prevail. Do I completely agree with this? No, however, it does provide a good level of variety for the matches, so overall it is a nice addition.

The servers are also very good and I have had no problems with them as of yet except for one random disconnect which wasn’t a failure of my internet. The hit registration and tick rate seems to be high enough to never encounter any hiccups of any sort. I haven’t even seen any rubber banding! As of yet, I haven’t had the chance to blame lag for my deaths or lack of skill.

I’m not going to ramble on with what I like as I feel my first impressions settled that moderately well. So let’s talk about what I dislike. The balance is horrible. I have had a mere 2 games that have been properly balanced with the winning team only winning by a small amount. Those games were fun, but apart from that the balance needs a lot of work. I understand that the game is new, however, it has been a while and that excuse is slowly dying. On top of the poor skill balance, the characters aren’t balanced at all. At first it seems like they are, however, Wraith is by far the most played and most overpowered class. The titan class is also very difficult to beat due to their high health and hard hitting weapons. Going against a team full of Wraiths and Titans is mere impossible if your team has a variety of classes in it.

So would I say that you, as a reader should get this game? That entirely depends on what style of game you like. If you aren’t an FPS player at heart, I wouldn’t recommend you pick it up. It appeals quite heavily to FPS players and what many have described as “hardcore” FPS players. Although I find the game quite fun, it is insanely hard and the 3D movement in the low gravity areas gets intense and quite hectic. Low gravity requires a lot of awareness and fast reactions, so if you’ve got those and are interested in the game, give it a shot. Remember, my experience may vary from yours!

-X_Pilot