Ever since the shooter’s unveiling, gamers and writers have drawn comparisons between Lawbreakers and the recently released Overwatch. Lawbreakers is being made by a new studio formed by Cliff Bleszinski called Boss Key, while Overwatch is a product by Blizzard. Overwatch is already out, Lawbreakers is set for release, possibly, later this year.
Eurogamer caught up with Bleszinksi at E3 2016 last week, and they asked him all sorts of questions. They cover a potential console release as well as the pricing of the game. They also ask Bleszinski how he and the studio feel about the line drawn between Lawbreakers and Overwatch. Here’s the full video.
The fine folks at VG247 did some transcription for the clip. Here’s how Bleszinski responded to the comparisons between his studio’s game and Overwatch.
“When people see something, they immediately want to put it in a bucket with something else…
…And there is some overlap in regards to the fact that we have characters and guns and weapons and whatnot, but the thing is that our art style is a little bit more gritty – theirs is kind of, super bright colors, almost anime-ish characters…they’re going for a bazillion different characters, while we’re going initially with less is more, and we’re ramping up to find our balance…
…And them, as a game, are so much rock-paper-scissors. And for us, you know, if I come around the corner in Overwatch and I have the wrong character, and someone else has the right character, in that rock-paper-scissors match, I’m dead…
…Also, in Overwatch, if I enter a room with four, five, six people from the other team, I don’t stand a chance of really taking them all out. If you’re really good at this game with any of the different roles and classes, you can take out an entire team.”
I played Lawbreakers a good bit at a recent press event, and I have also dumped around 50 hours into the retail release of Overwatch. I think the games are definitely different, though I disagree with Bleszinski’s assertion that you’ll almost automatically lose a battle if someone picks the right counter to your hero.
Let’s apply this to the most easily identifiable scenario for Overwatch players. The counter a lot of folks pick to beat a Bastion in stationary form is Genji. However, a good Bastion can absolutely kill a decent Genji, despite the fact that Genji’s deflect move almost instantly kills Bastion in turret form. As Bastion, simply stop shooting once you see the deflect animation start up. That move is on a cool down. After it’s spent, rip the squishy ninja apart.
The same goes for all characters and their counters in Overwatch. Yes, the rock-paper-scissors aspect exists, but it isn’t as automatic as the hand game we’ve all played to win shotgun. It’s better described as a counter system. Just like in fighting games, a counter exists for most scenarios, but players can quite easily fail to use it. Counters still require some level of skill.
What do you think of Bleszinski’s statements?
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