LawBreakers Reviews
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.
Nimble, graceful, and original, LawBreakers' movement sets it apart from other FPSes despite a few aesthetic weaknesses.
LawBreakers is an inventive, electric and expertly engineered classic competitive shooter that deserves your time.
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.
One of the best arena shooters of recent years, but its high skill requirement and bland characters create an unfortunately high barrier to entry.
Excellent gameplay and mechanics are bogged down with lifeless characters, forgettable maps, and game modes that lack distinction from one another
A handful of the ideas in LawBreakers seem like concepts that are past their sell-by date, from the dubstep soundtrack to the cyber soldier aesthetic. That's a genuine shame because beneath all that, is a mechanically exciting game. The aerial combat feels fresh, and the twists on standard shooter game modes are solid attempts at flipping the script. But LawBreakers' confusing hero design, poor tutorial system and unbalanced maps all sabotage an otherwise good game.
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. [OpenCritic note: Miguel Concepcion separately reviewed the PC (8) and PS4 (7) versions. Their scores have been averaged.]
Boss Key Productions' first crack at making a first-person shooter has resulted in something that stands out from the competition, scratching the itch of players looking for a classic arcade shooter experience, with the benefits of modern game design.
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.
The most important thing I can say about this game is that it is fun. Very, very fun. When I open the game, join a match and start playing, I have an amazing time. The raw energy behind the movement, the weight behind the weapons, the satisfaction of landing hits and bouncing off walls. It all comes together to create a unique, memorable FPS experience, and I look forward to seeing what Boss Key Productions does to expand it in the future.
While Boss Key doesn't quite have an instant classic on its hands, there are enough cool ideas like anti-gravity combat in place that there's a sense of a foundation for something truly great.
A welcome surprise that does almost everything ok but keeping its online community hooked to the game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A great competitive FPS with a fair and tempting price-tag.
Review in Italian | Read full review
More than just another arena shooter, LawBreakers 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.
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.
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.
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.