This article originally ran under a different banner/website in October of 2020 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, YOU MUST THINK ME PURELY MAD? This game was shut down nearly two years ago. Why are you choosing to talk about a game that no one can even play at the moment? I can see the confusion in your eyes as you are worried I might be conquering some ancient ritual to resurrect Boss Key Games. Alas, no, my loyal followers. I wish I, the Video Game Doomsayer, could tell you I acquired the rights to a game that I found criminally underrated, but it is not to be. I merely did not have enough time to play video games this week. However, the show must go on, so why not take the time to talk about a game that has been lost to the pages of history: LawBreakers.
Now for those still questioning what game I am referring to, let me give some context regarding LawBreakers. LawBreakers, a hero shooter with a similar structure to games like Overwatch and Paladins with a cops and robbers twist. Each class has a character you play when you are on the law side and another when you play as the Breakers. It gives each side their own unique feel reminiscing of when we played cops and robbers as a youth; also you no longer have to wonder why characters who oppose each other, like Tracer and Widow, are now ok with working together. Now LawBreakers might have context, it has little to no story in comparison with Overwatch. I may not like how the story of Overwatch seems little to do with its gameplay, but at least it has more of a story than LawBreakers’ cop and robbers narrative.
Fortunately, hero shooter games seem to survive off minimal story if the gameplay can hook players, and LawBreakers was able to hook its claws into me like a hungry eagle. I was infamous, among my friends, for saying that I preferred LawBreakers over Overwatch. For starters, LawBreakers had some Unreal Tournament running through it. Everyone is moving at the speed of light. LawBreakers feels like a throwback to the early days of competitive FPS where everyone is bunny hopping at breakneck speeds. Every class is equipped with mobility skills ranging from the Juggernaut’s sprints to the Vanguard’s jet pack to the Assassin’s Spiderman-like grapple. LawBreakers’ fastest class, the Wraith, is able to wall run, triple jump, and has a low cooldown slide that makes TF2’s Scout and Overwatch’s Tracer look like they have cinder blocks for shoes. Everyone’s moving around like streaks of lightning, it contributes to the chaotic nature of LawBreakers that spoke to me.
LawBreakers’ speed is highlighted when you enter sections of the maps known as zero gravity. You can always spot a new player in zero-g from how they move in it. Initially, you might think that all you can do in zero-g is float, but there’s more to it. As soon as players learn they have the ability to fire their gun backward, a move known as blind fire, they are able to piece together that they can use blind fire to propel themselves forward in zero-g. Combined each class’s movement skills and you find yourself moving at lightning speed with momentum carrying them. As a student of the Team Fortress 2 Soldier school of rocket jumping, I can concur that with rocket jumping LawBreakers’ rocketeer, the Titan, mixed with blind firing and pulverize movement ability can allow the lumbering Titan to outpace Tracer if done correctly and in LawBreakers, speed kills.
With everyone moving at the speed of light, nothing would be more of a pace killer than being stuck next to a slow-moving payload seen in other hero shooters. To complement their tempo, LawBreakers has game modes to cater to its fast pace. For starters, LawBreakers’ capture/defend mode plays into its chaotic nature. Each round of Territories will switch zones you need to capture throughout the map to enforce staying on the move. LawBreakers also offer two variances of capture and defend the flag modes known as Uplink and Overcharge. In Uplink, the flag will have two separate charges for each team, wherein Overcharge, the charges are shared among the teams and the team holding the flag when it is at 100% charge wins the round. My favorite of all the modes has to be Blitzball. Fans of Halo might know this mode as Grifball, where the goal is to grab the ball and to dash to the goal located in the opponent’s base. This mode has my fancy purely for the Blitzball itself. The ball is voiced by Justin Roiland, the main voice actor behind Rick and Morty. He voices the ball in the same style as Morty and to hear the ball panic as you are being shot is similar to how Morty panics when Rick takes him on an adventure and is a perfect fit. I will always smirk when I hear the blitzball yell: “GET READY FOR BLITZBALL!!!”
This all being said, I can see why people either never heard of the title or weren’t interested in LawBreakers. For starters, the Blitzball seems to have the most personality in LawBreakers. With the exception of the robotic Juggernauts, everyone is your standard bland human with an unnatural obsession with justice or breaking it. The only hero that pops into my head is the Breaker’s titan, Cronos, and to be honest, I had to look up his name. I don’t remember him for a memorable quote and belief but because he has the Slipknot-inspired helmet. Every LawBreaker hero can win a foot race, but I’d rather get a beer with an Overwatch character. The real killer is LawBreakers’ tutorial was woefully lacking. The tutorial is basically linked to YouTube videos of the devs going over maps or characters. No basic in-game tutorial. No explanation of zero-g sections or blind fire. I have watched numerous new players just float in zero-g and get picked off like sitting ducks. I can see those players running in frustration back to Overwatch and its stagnant meta, and that is the true shame here.
So what can games do to prevent becoming the next LawBreakers? For one, you have to have an aesthetic that’s more appealing than generic humans. More of LawBreakers’ characters should have been distinct like our Slipknot fan, Cronos. Take a look at Fall Guys and Among Us, the beans and crewmates have simple yet recognizable looks that anyone can be familiar with. Speaking of Among Us, clearly one of the ways to combat small resources for marketing is to court the streaming audience. Just look at the success Among Us has had since it has become the most popular game on Twitch. Since the game has taken off, the developers have stopped making Among Us 2 in favor of improving the first game. If LawBreakers had that success, maybe Boss Keys wouldn’t have felt the need to make Radical Heights.
MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS, while I am saddened LawBreakers had to shut down, I understand it is the natural end for a multiplayer game. Even popular multiplayer games like Fortnite or Overwatch have their player bases dwindle to nothing. I only hope developers heed the warnings radiating off LawBreakers like flashing lights. I truly do hope Boss Key head, Cliff Bleszinski returns to the world of gaming to make something that will rock my socks off.
