LawBreakers starts shooting in August

LawBreakers [official site], the new multiplayer arena first-person shooter from Cliff 'Please Don't Call Me "Clifford 'CliffyB' Bleszinski" Like I'm Still 26' Bleszinski and his team at Boss Key Productions, will launch on August 8th. That's a hot slap of news out of E3 today. LawBreakers draws on Bleszinski's years working on Unreal Tournament while at Epic, then whacks it with class-based characters (do we call them 'heroes' or what? with MOBAs I'd just say wizards and you know what, let's stick with wizards) and futzes with gravity in interesting ways.

Despite the fact that we ourselves have given away literally thousands of LawBreakers alpha keys, er, I haven't had a go myself yet. This might be some petty lingering grudge from the days of pointless 'Quake vs. Unreal Tournament' arguments. So I'll learn on the words of Rob Zacny after he played a year ago:

"What turned me around on Lawbreakers is its structure. It's a multiplayer shooter that's designed to play and feel like a sport. I don't mean 'Lawbreakers is the next great esport!' I mean that it's built to create the kinds of clutch plays and teamwork that made Rocket League an instant-masterpiece. Lawbreakers isn't about gravity mutations, nor is it beholden to its forgettable backstory about anarchists battling police in attractive, faux-dystopian theme parks. It's about offense, defense, and turnovers."

LawBreakers will cost $29.99. Yep, it was originally announced as free-to-play but that plan changed a while back. If you fancy a go yourself, sign up for the beta.