Developer Boss Key Productions and publisher Nexon have revealed the first gameplay trailer for their free-to-play first-person shooter LawBreakers.We see loud, flashy trailers for new first-person shooters all the time, but LawBreakers is worth following because of Boss Key's founder and CEO, Cliff Bleszinski.Bleszinski was previously responsible for the Gears of War series at Unreal Engine maker Epic Games. He also created Unreal Tournament, the fast-paced, no bullshit "arena shooter" that the Unreal Engine is named after.
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LawBreakers is being pitched as a new first-person shooter that's all about skill, not "streaks," the often annoying reward showcased in Call of Duty's multiplayer mode, which allow players to call in AC-130s and drone airstrikes.Arena shooters like Unreal Tournament and Quake, by contrast, focused on acrobatics before the streak rewards system was ever introduced.Judging by the trailer above, this greater sense of mobility seems to be LawBreakers' defining feature. Players have an assortment of futuristic guns they can use, of course, but they can also fly around the levels with jetpacks, rocket jumps, and what looks like a laser lasso.First-person shooters have been following Call of Duty's formula far too long, and LawBreakers' faster, super-powered movement seems like the right way to shake things up. On the other hand, Bleszinski and Boss Key aren't the only developers who've been thinking this lately.Titanfall, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (both of which were released last year), and Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which will be released in November, are all trying to break the mold with some type of jetpack-assisted flying. They're also not free-to-play like LawBreakers, which is always a good cause for suspicion.However, this is the first big project from Bleszinski since Gears of War, which helped define the shooter genre for years, so it'll be exciting to see if he can make the same impact again.