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Lawbreakers | Review Thread

Budi

Member
lawbreakers-standard-banner.png


Reviews for PC: Metacritic 78
Easy Allies: 3½/5
Although LawBreakers suffers from a sparse number of maps and shallow characters, its fast and fluid movement, gravity-defying combat, and emphasis on skill blend together to make for a solid multiplayer experience. There's a decent core to build on, but it needs to do a lot more to stand out in the long run.
Digital Trends: 4/5
"LawBreakers" is a speedy, chaotic addition to the shooter market, but might struggle to break through.
GamesRadar: 4½/5
Mixing eclectic elements from throughout the genre's history, but making them all entirely its own, LawBreakers is an immediate, energised shot of FPS purity, with intelligence, depth, and exhilarating strategy to spare.
LeaderGamer: 9
It was the time we put Overwatch aside.
New Game Network: 76
Despite some superficial similarities to other recent multiplayer focused games, LawBreakers is ultimately its own beast with challenging, deep gameplay that succeeds thanks to the unique movement system, low-gravity combat and fun, varied classes.
God is a Geek: 9
Boss Key Productions has done a stellar job of implementing carefully considered design choices that make this more than just another arena shooter. It stands on its own to fill a niche that's different to any other titles out there, and I am thoroughly pleased to have the game change my opinions on it. An essential shooter.
Trusted Reviews: 4/5
It doesn't have the colourful personality of Overwatch, but give Lawbreakers a chance. Get beyond the steep learning curve and you'll find a team-based shooter packed with smart ideas and interesting mechanics, where great movement capabilities and a fine mix of weapons keep the action furious and fun. If you're looking for an online FPS where skill and speed matter, Lawbreakers has what it takes
Destructoid: 8.5
Boss Key's philosophy allows for a more old-school arena shooter approach where skill-based twitch reaction is more important than team composition. That's not a knock on any other game, it's just a different feel that Boss Key was going for with LawBreakers, and succeeded. It might not have the flair of a few other games on the market, but it has strong bones that can grow over time.
Multiplayer.it: 7.8
Lawbreakers is a frenetic and fast-paced shooter. The game deserves a try even if it's dedicated only to skilled players. We hope that the community will grow quickly with Boss key focused on releasing new content as quickly as possible.
App Trigger: 8
Boss Key throws its edgy, hardcore touch on the hero shooter subgenre with LawBreakers with decent success. The game blends fast-paced, twitch reflex mechanics with team objective based modes that are both competitive and accessible to motivated FPS players. While its character design is nothing groundbreaking, the focus on individual skill and quick reaction times make for a stimulating and entertaining experience. If you are prepared to overcome a relatively high skill cap, LawBreaker adds just enough flavor to the genre to warrant your attention.
GameRevolution: 4/5
Rock-solid presentation. LawBreakers is one very attractive game. I'd go as far as to say that technically it's more impressive than any other shooter this year, and certainly a cut above Overwatch. Even with its beautiful graphics, it runs well. This is an optimized game with great code, which has been a nice change of pace from my past week playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Metro: 8
Nuanced and fast-paced combat with a fun zero-gravity gimmick. Nine very different classes with a wide variety of weapons and abilities. Solid map design and plenty of content. Steep learning curve, with a lack of any proper tutorials or in-game help. Bland visual design.
Gameinformer: 7.75
LawBreakers delivers in terms of neat weapons, lightning-fast kills, and aspirational skills. You'll look back in awe at performing feats like landing a triple kill while blasting yourself backwards into a zero-g environment. Despite the adrenaline-fueled highs, the title falls back to earth due to uninteresting environments, generic characters, and a lack of variety. Even with an admirable effort to capture the spirit of the core arena-shooter and offer players a chance to show off their skills, the hero-shooter space is inundated with choices, and LawBreakers doesn't offer much to stand out amongst the rest of the pack.
PC Gamer: 84
In this mini-renaissance the genre is in the midst of, LawBreakers asserts itself as a complex, physical, and deep competitive shooter. It's an uncompromising game that doesn't make apologies for its high skill ceiling, but isn't so exclusionary that only those with pristine reflexes can enjoy it. There's a quiet gracefulness to managing the Battle Medic's hoverpack, knowing when to toggle the hover on and off to conserve fuel. It's a treat to play an FPS where some of the roles demand more left-hand coordination than they do mouse aim.
Gaming Bolt: 7
For some fast-paced fun without too many hang-ups about compositions and teamwork, LawBreakers could be good for a few games but you might want to stick with the latest hits for the long run. As it stands there's something special in the bones of Bleszinski's latest epic – it just needs more meat and personality to fully take shape.
Gamespot: 8
One sign of any worthwhile team-based shooter is a level of accessibility where everyone feels they can contribute no matter their play style, and Lawbreakers succeeds in this manner. And while the lack of Deathmatch is a lost opportunity, its sufficient playlist of modes offers a viable outlet to flaunt your kill/death ratio, even if it's at the expense of team success. What counts is that its fresh anti-gravity mechanics transcends its first-glance novel appeal and creates limitless combat situations that will be new and inviting to many shooter fans.
PC Games: 68
For a few fast-paced games Lawbreakers is always good, but interested parties are better advised to wait for the more promising Quake Champions. Until that appears, the current mini-player base of lawbreakers should already have moved forward.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Positive
Its zero gravity segments offer something that no other FPS can, and everywhere else it's a solid, polished shooter. If you like the sound of it then I'd jump in now and build up some experience.

Reviews for PS4: Metacritic 76
GameZone: 9
LawBreakers takes the best elements of various shooters and puts its own unique spin on them to create the ultimate shooter. If you miss the days of old-school arena shooters or want a refreshing shooter, LawBreakers is the game for you.
Hardcore Gamer: 4/5
With eight different classes that feel completely unique from each other, and the zero gravity mechanics that can yield firefights the likes of which have not truly been seen before, LawBreakers makes a mark of its own in an increasingly crowded genre. Character action shooters aren't in short supply right now, but this one absolutely deserves attention. The high skill threshold and the interplay between classes actually makes this the first game I'd be willing to watch in eSports.
Push Square: 8
LawBreakers' world and characters don't carve deep impressions, but the experience itself exerts a strong pull with its diverse, balanced classes, solid selection of modes, and stellar gunplay. It's more than a nice distraction from its looming competitors, and while the map design and implementation of gravity leave more to be desired, the game has the potential to further defy gravity and our expectations if it keeps shooting for the moon.
TechRaptor: 8.5
Ultimately, LawBreakers builds a solid foundation for a unique and rewarding multiplayer arena experience. If you're a fan of bigger games with the need for speed like Titanfall 2 and DOOM, Boss Key Production's foray into the FPS market should be right up your alley. With a steady supply of new modes, maps and characters, this game could turn into a sleeper favorite, and it deserves praise for striving to innovate in one of the most crowded genres around.
Cheat Code Central: 4/5
Chances are, these tutorial tools will come to LawBreakers at a later date, possibly making this a moot point in the future. But as it stands, not having that resource hurts the game initially; LawBreakers does have an uphill battle ahead of it. But there's also no denying that once you start to get it, there's a lot of old school/new school hybrid fun to be had here. Blasting around as a jetpack-laden Vanguard and ripping people apart with her minigun, being awarded with Unreal Tournament-still kill streak announcements, and then in the same movement, getting that modern rush of contributing to the game's objective is a rush. Screaming across a stage in zero-G or flying around in an intense one-on-one fight in the middle of the battlefield is something you won't find in Overwatch.
EGMNOW: 7
LawBreakers is a tight, comprehensive shooter experience that stakes its claim in the crowded class-based shooter genre with fun anti-gravity gameplay, but occasionally frustrating gameplay and poor controls hold it back at times.
Twinfinite: 3.5/5
LawBreakers doesn't necessarily offer anything new or groundbreaking, the weapon and character skins that you can unlock as you level up aren't exactly very enticing either, and at this point, it's difficult to say whether the game will be able to keep its player base engaged in the long run. However, if you're simply looking for something new, LawBreakers is a solid enough arena first-person shooter game to get into.
Eurogamer: Recommended
It's tough to avoid the direct comparisons to other shooters, because they're all there in plain sight, and this does make LawBreakers easy to dismiss. But the important point here, is that LawBreakers may seem like Overwatch and 20 other shooters, but it doesn't feel like them. It feels like Unreal Tournament made for a 2017 world; a world of Twitch and esports and DLC and loot boxes. LawBreakers can't match Overwatch's strategic complexity or the amazing synergy between its classes, but do you know what? In that pure 'moment', that 360-degree, gun-on-gun struggle, I think it's stronger. As a pure shooter, it carries a violence and a punch that Overwatch doesn't quite match.
Playstation Lifestyle: 8
In terms of exciting moments and fun, varied competitive combat, LawBreakers has a great lock on what makes players want to play, both from the fast-paced competitive side and the specialized character side.
Attack of the Fanboy: 3.5/5
Beneath a brash exterior of dated ‘attitude' and unwelcoming presentation lies a finely tuned jet engine of a shooter, that has the technical chops to distinguish itself in a crowded and fickle genre.
GearNuke: 8
Despite carrying a steep difficulty curve, LawBreakers is a blast to play once you manage to master the gameplay. The net code is also excellent for a multiplayer shooter resulting in a smooth experience overall.
Nerd Much: 8.5
Most importantly, LawBreakers is fun at its core. It feels like the darker, more serious tone that the genre was previously lacking. All of the gripes about similar characters and maps go out the window when you're hovering around in rocket boots and shooting beams out of your chest in superhero fashion. It's more of a physical fight than other hero shooters, yet it contains the same type of learning curve that will see those who frequently play fare better than those who don't. LawBreakers is the brute of the genre, and we're expecting it to mean mug its way to a bigger fan base with ease.
IGN Italy : 8.5
A great competitive FPS with a fair and tempting price-tag.
Cogconnect: 9
All things considered, LawBreakers is downright fun. I can't wait to get back to slide stabbing my enemies and zooming across maps at breakneck speeds. On top of the stellar gameplay, the game is bursting with personality and a keen sense of humor both of which serve the game in standing apart from its competition in addition to the inventive, gravity-defying combat. LawBreakers injects profound energy into the modern FPS genre, and I can't wait to see how the meta develops and the game evolves over time with new game modes and characters. For a mere $30, LawBreakers is a game that every shooter fan should experience
LeaderGamer: 9
It was the time we put Overwatch aside.
New Game Network: 76
Despite some superficial similarities to other recent multiplayer focused games, LawBreakers is ultimately its own beast with challenging, deep gameplay that succeeds thanks to the unique movement system, low-gravity combat and fun, varied classes.
IGN: 79
In its best game modes, LawBreakers manages to make simply moving around feel amazing. Learning how to fall with style in the most deadly way possible is a thrilling challenge. Getting stuck playing a weak mode and map thanks to the grab-bag matchmaking can be frustrating, but it doesn't ruin an otherwise fast and tense shooter that lets you gleefully propel yourself through low-gravity with rocket boots and miniguns
Gaming Trend: 85
LawBreakers feels like combat occurring inside a snowglobe while a five-year-old shakes it really, really quickly. It's a shooter, like so many others out there, but it doesn't camouflage an axis-locked multiplayer formula with a new historical setting or gimmicky abilities — its low-gravity environments and lightning-fast traversal make it like no shooter you've ever played.
Slant Magazine: 2/5
The game's propensity for indulging counterintuitive elements feels like a willful act of self-sabotage.

Video looks without a score:
Totalbiscuit - WTF is: Positive
Gameranx - Before you buy: Positive
 
wouldn't it be nice if this game ends up having some kind of bounce-back story?

EDIT: speaking as someone who hasn't played it. maybe it's shit idk
 
It looks fun and enjoyable but also seems to offer no reason or truly unique identifier to choose it over any other existing multiplayer shooter.

I hope it does well and the community around it is active for those that are playing, but the style of the game is so bland and generic on the surface.

People who are sinking into it, what's the thing with it that has you hooked other than the competetive nature of the modes?
 

Griss

Member
When I saw how bad it sold I went and look at some gameplay videos and then read some of the reviews. Was expecting a car crash, what I saw looked like a really decent game. If something this well put together can only muster 3,000 players then my god, that's a tough market.

Reminds me of people trying to compete with WoW back in the day. If Blizzard is entrenched in a space in the market, it's probably better to ignore anything that even remotely approaches that space, no matter how unique you think some of your ideas are.

Hopefully a good reception can spark more sales.
 

Syf

Banned
Looks like solid reviews. Unfortunately you need to be exceptional to crack the current shooter market.
 
Really fun game. Deserves better attention than it's getting.

EDIT: I say "better" rather than "more" because a lot of the attention it's getting is just stupid "overwatch is better" nonsense, like come the fuck on
 

Budi

Member
I really want to give this a shot but there is just too much to play.
Yup there really is, even on this month there's atleast 3 games I'd want to pick up besides this. And even more if I didn't only play on PC at the moment. But I went with Lawbreakers for now since it's a multiplayer game and it's barely breathing even now and bit worried how it will do in the long run. But it's really fun even for me who hasn't played games like this in a 15 years. Or pretty much any shooter besides Rainbow Six and Overwatch. So I'm doing quite bad at it!
 

ItsTheNew

I believe any game made before 1997 is "essentially cave man art."
Lol at people expecting bad scores. It's actually fun and well made game with some flaws on advertising, character designs and what makes it different. Y'all should have checked it out with some friends.
 
Good reviews?

2 page thread incoming

This is funny because it's true. I was honestly expecting this to be a little worse off due to having what seems like a very high skill ceiling that many reviewers wouldn't get on with. It's probably not my thing either way though really. I'm not fond of MP-only shooters.
 
This is funny because it's true. I was honestly expecting this to be a little worse off due to having what seems like a very high skill ceiling that many reviewers wouldn't get on with. It's probably not my thing either way though really. I'm not fond of MP-only shooters.

There are some classes that are easier to grasp, in my opinion, that kind of helps with the skill-ceiling. I think people are also still figuring things out on what can be done with the physics and stuff.
 

Zereta

Member
I liked what I played in the Beta but the UI kinda sucked, visually uninteresting and gameplay was chaotic in a way that wasn't fun. Almost would have preferred it if they didn't have the zero gravity zones and instead had characters have more abilities that could affect local gravity on individual targets or AOE.

But that's just me.

I'll probably pick it up on sale but even then, if the population size doesn't pick up, it's hard to recommend.
 
What about compared to an actual competitive game like Quake or CS?

I don't think there's much of a comparison to CS. I suck at Quake (and haven't played the new one) so I can't really compare them.

I'd say it's fairly comparable to 6v6 TF2, albeit easier and slower due to the prevalance of automatic hitscan weapons, advanced movement being a bit more "automatic" (and ergo limited), and there not really being a Scout equivelant. Miles below Tribes.

"Overwatch for those that actually enjoy playing shooters."

This is probably the most accurate statement.
 
Game is a ton of fun. Definitely need better tutorials and maybe some more diverse character designs. However, I do think the criticism of it being super edgy are being blown way out of proportion though. That stuff is there but not really in your face most of the time. This is coming from someone who put Drawn to Death down after 5 minutes because the "edginess" drove me insane.
 

Budi

Member
Game is a ton of fun. Definitely need better tutorials and maybe some more diverse character designs. However, I do think the criticism of it being super edgy are being blown way out of proportion though. That stuff is there but not really in your face most of the time. This is coming from someone who put Drawn to Death down after 5 minutes because the "edginess" drove me insane.
Yeah I feel it's more in the marketing materials "skilled as fuck!", but personally I can take it with tongue in cheek. It's not that serious and doesn't really matter while in-game.

And as I was once told in GAF "we are all adults, we can handle swearing".
 
Game is a ton of fun. Definitely need better tutorials and maybe some more diverse character designs. However, I do think the criticism of it being super edgy are being blown way out of proportion though. That stuff is there but not really in your face most of the time. This is coming from someone who put Drawn to Death down after 5 minutes because the "edginess" drove me insane.

Drawn to Death is next level edge.
 
It's vastly more interesting and better skill-indexed than Overwatch. Low bar, admittedly.
I thought it was a mix between a movement shooter and an ability based shooter but vastly worst than both and didn't make up for it with a "sum of its parts" vibe. To each their own.


It doesn't do movement as well as Quake, Tribes or Titanfall and doesn't do the class thing as well as TF2 or OW.
 

lazerfox

Member
Very surprising it got so many good reviews. I didn't enjoy the game at all when I played it in the Beta.

I'm probably spoiled from all the amazing shooters lately.
 

Gator86

Member
Everyone seems to agree that it's a good game. The issue is that the publisher has done little to emphasize that at all.

Basically. I've heard no one say it's a bad game, just struggling to realize it exists or wondering why they'd play it over something else in the genre.
 
It definitely deserves the good reviews. It's a really solid and tight experience and I didn't experience any bugs on PC.

However, it just bored me unfortunately. I hate to say that...
 

Budi

Member
Haha, yeah. The game used to have a lot more foul language--it still does have F bombs, but they're used very few and far between I've found.
Yeah it's even mentioned atleast in the TechRaptor review, they played an earlier build too with much more profanity. I think the devs have listened to feedback and acted accordingly!
 

Gold_Loot

Member
Really enjoying this on PS4. Once it clicks, it's easy to get addicted.

Match making is virtually instant as well.
 

Cmagus

Member
I've been playing this quite a bit and it's a lot of fun. I've found that most matches have been pretty intense and while the steep learning curve is there it doesn't take long to find a role you like and become comfortable with it.
 

Belker

Member
Haha, yeah. The game used to have a lot more foul language--it still does have F bombs, but they're used very few and far between I've found.

Even though I'm English, I think they could differentiate themselves by making it an entirely Scottish FPS with Scotland-specific swearwords and lines and the theme being different clans fighting each other.

Then they could have called it Baw Breakers.
 
Game is a lot of fun and deserves being checked out. For those asking what makes it stand out, Cliffy b wasn't bullshitting with his line of 'Overwatch is an abilities based game with shooting, lawbreakers is a shooter with abilities'. It's a succinct way to say that this game is way more about accurate shooting and movement skills than using the right hero/ability at the right time.


Also this game runs like a dream on PC and has god tier netcode. Reading that they based the recommended specs around getting 90fps made me know the guys at boss key really get and play PC shooters.
 
Had so much fun with this during the last days. Really feels like Unreal Tournament meets modern team-based shooter. So good. Do yourself a favor, look past the art style that seems to turn off so many and enjoy an awesome shooter.
 
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