The forces of law again face off against those who seek to break the system. Boss Key Productions tries to storm the throne of the genre in the first project of Cliff Bleszinski after his departure from Epic Games.
We live a small golden age for lovers of the lead symphony. From titles that pose more classic mechanics to the new ramifications focused on the multiplayer experience. In the case at hand, the so-called Hero Shooters have emerged as the main attraction of the competitive scene in recent years. The influence of the MOBAs, together with the experimentation of several ideas in the past, has allowed a fresh formula to proliferate today, capable of revitalizing online standards.
The solo premiere of Cliff Bleszinski after his departure from Epic Games pointed to ways. A few strokes in the form of sketches fed the gossip about what letters he would put on the table. On the other side was a First Person Shooter focused on online entertainment and that, like Ace, would propose alternatives to the rules that franchises such as Unreal Tournament or Quake settled in the past, but retaining all their good work. With hooliganism by flag, this is how LawBreakers would be born .
Deal to death
Renew the established without forgetting the roots. This phrase sums up perfectly the purpose for which LawBreakers has reached the market. We are not facing another Hero Shooter anymore, but it shows having enough personality to distinguish yourself from the rest of the competition. It is true that on paper it does not differ much from the descriptions of other projects, but by scratching the surface its virtues begin to shine in this reinterpretation of the classic heroes against villains. Five against five in a battle without quarter.
We will have at our disposal a total of nine different classes , each with its own characteristics, abilities and weapons. There is no traditional division between roles, nor a goal that requires establishing a certain number of characters of the same type to be able to fight in equality. In LawBreakers our expertise on the battlefield is the only factor that will influence the doing within the team. Once we start experimenting among the different game modes, we will find that in certain circumstances or maps they agree on one or the other.
At one extreme we find Assassin, the agile swordsman who uses his plasma dagger as a liana with which to cross long distances or face-to-face against an adversary. A combo of his sword will destroy whoever gets in his way, but will only activate at very close range. In addition to the vine, we can use up to three consecutive evasions that have refresh time for each use. If the sword is not ours, we can exchange it for our shotgun; effective in close encounters but, due to its slight delay between the shot and the path of the shot, requires expert hands to exploit its full potential. Loading our ultimate we will enter a murderous frenzy, dagger in hand, where we will dismember the rivals with the increase in damage we will receive.
On the other side we find Titan, the typical strong archetype, of great health and who carries a rocket launcher as the main tool to mitigate the enemy - we can also use his secondary weapon, a ray gun, perfect for close encounters. Its slow speed is rewarded by the effectiveness of defending objectives, being able to sweep the players with a single stroke thanks to its ultimate : Berserker. Executing it our life will be increased while we launch lethal rays from the tips of our fingers.
Between these two are the other seven remaining: you can fly on the map thanks to the personal turret that will act as a rocket backpack, Vanguard ; the most versatile, perfect for all distances, Enforcer ; gunman who needs to perfectly master the shooting tempo of his two pistols -Alpha and Omega-, Gunslinger ; a version similar to Titan but focused mainly to quell enemy siege situations with the use of its blocking screens, Juggernaut ; the team doctor, can send probes to the allies to provide healing and shields, Battle Medic ; a kind of ninja focused on short distances, Wraith; It has a propeller on each foot with which to levitate on the map while using its continuous laser, Harrier.
Whenever we jump between one and another we will have to change our mentality so far, although some similarities remain as the number of active skills available: three, including the ultimate. The effort from Boss Key Productions to offer the maximum possible balance allows the player to enter a fair fight , where mistakes are paid dearly and skills are rewarded. It is true that the desire to improve is still present, and the title is not without problems. Juggernaut, for example, perhaps feels like the most situational class. His combat range is very close, in areas with gravity his slow movement speed does not help. Maybe with some complementary weapon can be more useful in the team beyond the defensive.
Each game in LawBreakers is an adrenaline rush. In combat speed and how gunplay affects the gameplay, it resembles the good times of notorious brands such as Unreal Tournament. The dizzying twists of wrist-or thumb with his arrival to PlayStation 4- brand of the house are still very present in him, as well as the demand precision millimeter while we deal with our pursuers. Simple to play, difficult to master. Its learning curve is reminiscent of the seed planted by those titles of the old school, where the progression was only to improve day by day. It does not matter the ratio of casualties and deaths, the number of points or the weapon that we use: the only thing that matters is to defeat the opponent in a duel with style.To alleviate the sensations of boredom the company has introduced the famous boxes of supplies. When we raise the level we will receive a new one, and when we open it, we will wait for four new cosmetic objects: Skins, stickers, profile icons...
Mastery of gravity
One of the main characteristics of LawBreakers is the use of gravity as the main facet with which the gameplay is molded. All maps have a central area where gravity allows players to fly, affecting mobility and even some targets. Some roles are more likely to benefit from these areas because of the agility they have, but others will have to avoid these situations as much as possible if they want to prevail. Around these areas we find spheres of gravitational energy that will allow us , and never better said, gravitate around to obtain a speed boost always necessary in these circumstances.
Gravitational shootings are one of the funniest moments we will find in the game. They will not be the only moments where this factor will impact the confrontations. Some classes have skills that deploy new areas of severity temporarily. This is the case, for example, of the Vanguard. Around where he has deployed his ultimate will create a field of gravity that can catch us by surprise, or the Assassins, capable of throwing a grenade that deflects the projectiles of a sector, in addition to the levitation of other bodies.
We will have the possibility to enjoy eight maps , following a symmetrical design scheme, medium size closer to small. The narrow corridors prevail as a connection to the most important rooms, mainly where the bases of each team and the central zone are located. The sensations in general lines are really good, the approach of gravity is a fresh resource that works like a charm.and sometimes you can play with the effect to gain speed when leaving your field, such as the use of an impeller or shoot backwards so that the force of the projectiles gives us that extra push that in certain game modes come great. Although the rotation does not always work as it should, all maps are compatible with all the available game modes; however, some are more likely to appear on some levels than others.
Speaking of game modes, the choice has not been better in terms of variety. Most propose alternatives to the classic king of the hill and capture in general. Uplink and Overchargefill that last quota. In the first, a radio antenna will appear in the central area ready to be captured by a team. When we get to it, we must take it to our base to fill your meter. If the enemy steals it from us and manages to introduce it into its base, our progress will remain until the capture is filled and a new one appears. Overcharge is similar, except with the peculiarity that the meter is unique. That is, the progress is the same regardless of which team has made it. To achieve victory in both modes, a team must make three captures.
On the other hand are Occupy and Turf War , variants of the always effective King of the Hill. Maybe Occupy is the most classic of the five. A zone will be marked on the map for a limited time. The teams must enter it to add points to their locker. When the time is up a new zone will be enabled, rotating through different points in a set cycle. The team that reaches 200 points will take the game. Turf War, on the other hand, is a small game of chess. Three zones are unlocked for capture, once a team captures one it will join your locker, blocking itself at the moment. When all three have been claimed, a new count will be started for the next round, all while continuing to play. So until one side reaches 16.
Finally there is what is perhaps the most attractive way in the playable: Blitzball . This gravitational reconversion of a football game is what will test the team's skills. A ball will appear in the central zone until a player takes it, when he must score in the rival goal, occupied near his base. We will have a limited time to do it, otherwise it will explode on top of us. The use of skills as promoters, rather than as a method of elimination, is key to haggling advocates.
Stability above visual power
The arrival of LawBreakers to the PlayStation 4 consoles family was a surprise for the community. The doubts surrounding his transfer were obvious, a formula so ingrained in computer precise adjustments customized for this version. Since Boss Key Productions they have solved it with enough success, leaving the player to choose a series of key options to accommodate the experience, such as the field of vision. After changing the sensitivity of the camera completely changes the navigability scenarios, being necessary to adapt to the dizzying speed of the shootings-almost to the same scale as in the main platform. As for the point itself, it is true that they have resorted to classical aids when entering the field of rival detection. At first the aggressiveness of this supplement clashes, we expected a technique similar to the one used in Halo 5: Guardians , where the self-aiming is in an almost perfect balance between the path of the stick and the magnetism of the bullets.
In the months prior to its launch, the company used to allude to the solid online infrastructure that the game would display once it reached our homes. These comments are usually the typical promotional line of any multiplayer project, but it has been nice to find promises fulfilled. The work debugging the online code has paid off . It can be seen in the detection of impacts, without loss of packages along the way. It is a luxury to find a multiplayer that works so well in this sense.
You have to make a small break in performance. The objective of the ratio of frames in console is in sixty images; However, the basic model of PlayStation 4 fluctuates constantly up to figures close to 30-38 frames. This should not harm a single system, but with the entry of PlayStation 4 Pro things change. In it almost the whole experience is kept in the goal, which can provide a small advantage if the opponent is in the basic version. We do not like this disparity of experiences in the same ecosystem, so perhaps more could be done.
Unreal Engine 4 has been the chosen engine on which to build the whole. It is not the best example to show a great visual bulwark, but the result has been correct. As a last point, both voices and text are in full English . The non-localization of the game to our language is not such a big barrier to being a product focused on multiplayer. The number of players in the LawBreakers community is not very high at the moment. In the version for Steam, the figures vary between half a thousand almost any time of the day. In the console version, at least on the European server, there is no palpable lack of rivals.The search for games is done quickly; In a matter of half a minute we are choosing our role to play. It is true that on some occasion, especially when someone leaves from the meeting point, we will have to wait in the warm-up round until the gaps are filled, but it is not something that happens with assiduity. At present you can enjoy the game without problems.
conclusion
LawBreakers is the return of the competitive arena in its most renewed essence. Boss Key Productions has managed to transfer the sensations of the old school to the current of the Hero Shooters. Balancing nine such disparate classes without falling into a division by roles is not at all a simple task. We can think that including this kind of skills can result in small buttons of panic with which to press and perform a slingshot. No. Here the skill of the player prevails over any factor, with the player being solely responsible for their mistakes and successes.
The five game modes are reinterpretations of the great classics that swarm in the genre, shining with Blitzball's own light, a version of American football with all the adrenaline of these duels to death. Gravity is one of the main characteristics that we will find. At the center of the eight maps we will enter a gravitational field that will impact fully on the gameplay, which will alter the nature of the shootings. In a multiplayer title of these characteristics it is nice to find an online infrastructure that works without problems. The fruits of all the debugging work have been collected in your online code.
The problems lie in the performance of the version for PlayStation 4. The ratio of frames fluctuates constantly between figures close to 30 images and the objective, 60, within the basic model. Quite the opposite as in PlayStation 4 Pro, where the number remains high at the maximum established during much of the experience. This can lead to small inequalities in a shootout between players of different versions, which is incomprehensible in a title of such competitive depth.
In short, LawBreakers is a fun-filled experience.
The best
- The playable formula combines the old school with the new current.
- Almost perfect balance between the nine classes.
- Great online code, shows the strength of your online infrastructure.
- The skill of the player prevails over any factor.
Worst
- Lack of a way where there is a ranking by skill ranges.
- Performance issues in the basic PlayStation 4 model.
Game of remarkable finish that we will enjoy and remember. A good purchase, highly recommended for lovers of the genre. It is well cared for at all levels.
Gameplay 9
The formula of the old school is mixed with the new current of the Hero Shooters. The balance achieved with the nine classes available is commendable. Although some feel a little below, as is the case of Juggernaut, do not tarnish the final result. LawBreakers is a title of pure and simple skill, a fair fight where the special movements of the classes are designed to add, not to automatically decant the balance in your favor. It squanders its own personality.
Graphics 7
The use of the Unreal Engine 4 is correct, without fanfare. The result in console is marred by the irregular performance in the basic model of PlayStation 4, fluctuating between 30 and 60 frames per second. Quite the opposite as in Pro, where the target rate is maintained for most of the experience. This can lead to certain imbalances in a shootout between players from different platforms, which makes no sense in a competitive multiplayer.
Sound 8
The electronic mixes influenced by the industry in the United States are the main themes that we will hear in the transition between menus and in full game. Both the voices and the texts are in full English, although being a multiplayer title is not such a big barrier. With the passing of the hours we will be recognizing the melodies thanks to the characteristic rhythms that accompany it. Good work in this regard.
Multiplayer 8
Its online infrastructure allows to provide the necessary strength in a title of these characteristics. The debugging in the online code has resulted in an experience that perfectly fits the standards of such a demanding genre. Battles five against five where the Law and the Breakers collide in a duel to the death.
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THANKS FOR READING, ALSO CHECK OUT MY PREVIOUS REVIEW ON DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION (PC)
