At its very core, LawBreakers is a throwback to the old-school shooter. It’s a game among the company of those of a bygone era like Unreal Tournament and Quake. The faster your reflexes, the better your performance will be. It also blends in class specific gameplay from titles like Team Fortress 2 and most recently Overwatch. In fact, it would be most accurate to say that it and Overwatch are now competing in the same space of attracting gamers to their lobbies.

As a multiplayer only game, it restricts itself to a certain particular group of gamers. If you aren’t a big online shooter fan, this game has nothing to offer you. If games like Call of Duty, Overwatch and Battlefield draw you in, then there’s a lot that this game does that will resonate with your sense of taste. Be that as it may, you’ll have to keep focused. In this battle of Justice vs Crime, things are constantly getting hectic.

Loot from Stash Boxes is divided into 5 categories, ranging from common Base, through Boss rarity. Weapon skins, weapon stickers, and kick decals round out the majority of drops. Player skins and credit drops are also available, and honestly the more exciting to receive. Skins change the look of models, and stickers are attached to guns. The most noticeable are kick decals, as they appear on the screen of a player you kill after a melee death.

The setup is simple. Games are 5 versus 5 player matches across all five modes. Players can choose one of nine individual classes, each with two characters in them, totaling 18 playable heroes across Justice and Criminals. When you get down to it, the differences really boils down to speed and health. Some classes like Titan have more health at the expense of speed, while others like the Assassin are nimble but limited in offensive range. While there is a support type of class like the Battle Medic, it’s hard to classify it as such because how roles feel unnecessary.

The game doesn’t restrict you to a set number per class, and even if it did, every class has an equal opportunity to slaughter the other, making it a game of skill instead role-playing. Having a variety on a team will be more beneficial, but outside of top-level competitive play, this doesn’t seem to make a huge difference. Matches tended to have 2-3 of one class on a given side and it ultimately came down to who the better team was, not class composition.

Getting out of a fight is just as important as getting into one. Not every hill is worth dying on, and LawBreakers gives you ample ways to scurry away. Each class has their own abilities for mobility, but there’s also a blind fire mechanic as well. Using the blind fire button, you can shoot immediately behind yourself while running away. This is useful to deter enemies from trying to finish you off in tight corners.

Cliff Bleszinski was a level designer at Epic Games, and it seems that that eye for properly flowing maps has been inherited by LawBreakers. The maps look very good, indicative of their futuristic setting. It also only takes a couple of playthroughs to traverse them properly, finding shortcuts depending on your class’ mobility. Faster characters can find multiple exits to a gunfight and quick access to healing when needed, making you feel as if you’re not out of the fight and faced with that long respawn timer just yet.

The only real addition I could see improving the game is a stronger variety of modes. All the modes blend together. Occupy and Turf War require you to sit in zones with your team to score points, and the differences between them are the number of zones and locations. Uplink and Overcharge force you to grab a device and place it in your base to score points. Blitz Ball feels like the most dynamic mode and the one that felt the most fun. Faster classes like the Enforcer can decimate a team by snatching the ball and zipping in and out before anyone knows what’s happening. It’s very reminiscent of Bombing Run in Unreal Tournament.

For variety’s sake, it would be beneficial if there were modes like Deathmatch or Team Deathmatch. Also to have modes where zero gravity was turned off on the maps. It adds something new to the game but is implemented in a way that can be a bit frustrating when adjusting.

Have you played LawBreakers? What did you think of it? Played any other FPS that it reminds you of or have any favorite moments? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear them!