Turf war is essentially domination. One team needs to capture 13 points, or 14 if there is a tie, by standing in a circle for a set amount of time. This will obviously decrease the more players get in and an enemy will stop the process until only one side is in the circle. What makes turf war a little different is, once you capture a point you don’t need to hold it. So if one team has A, there is nothing you can do to reclaim A. This will last until all three points are captured, followed by a brief intermission and then all the points will be unlocked. At this point you will need to recapture A or risk losing it.
The final mode, blitzball, is the ever popular capture the flag game. Both sides fight to capture a ball, that seems to be voiced by Justin Roiland, located in the middle and then bring it to the enemy base. What makes blitzball exciting is players have 30 seconds, after picking up the ball, to bring it from their current location to the capture point. The timer will continue even if the holder dies or someone on their team picks it up. If the other team gets it, the timer will reset and they’ll have 30 seconds to capture it. Failing to do so will result in the holder dying, which makes it a fast paced mode.
Having played the beta for a number of hours, I find myself impressed by how objective focused players are. This might be due to it being a beta, so K/D doesn’t matter, but every game seems to push teamwork and doing the objective, over dominating other players. With that being said, there are mechanics in place to make it clear when someone is getting dominated, pushing them towards getting revenge. It makes for a fun experience, if only for the fast paced gameplay.
Even though LawBreakers seems to be doing a lot of things right, there are some concerns. The biggest is how imbalanced the juggernaut class is. Not only do juggernauts have more life and the ability to increase their shielding, they can also deploy a shield to hinder movement and have a powerful shotgun like weapon. Even if you can outshoot a juggernaut, they tend to win one-on-one encounters, thanks to the increased life/defense. Their shield can also be used as a zone denial power, allowing them to safely heal, prevent would be attackers or delay progress.
Sadly, playing them feels equally overpowered. Outside of fighting another juggernaut, I don’t think there was a single time I lost a one-on-one encounter when I tried the class. This is different than the other classes, as they might be strong, but never overwhelmingly so.
Another is additional content. There are things missing from the beta, such as another class, but it seems like a good portion of the game is on display. For instance, all the images on the PSN Store show maps/characters available in the beta. So, this beta might actually be a substantial portion of the game, similar to Destiny. This isn’t a big problem, as the beta is fun, but it does make for a less compelling purchase.
In either case, based off the beta, LawBreakers proved itself to be a lot of fun. With my friend and I already putting 7 hours in the PS4 beta, it’s clear we’re enjoying ourselves. Sure, some of the classes are a little imbalanced and the gravity elements feel unneeded and cartoony, but right now it’s shaping up to be, if nothing else, a great start.
