LEAP Beta Gameplay Preview

LEAP is a fast paced, team oriented first person shooter game. I would compare it to something like Battlefield in that moving with your team is very important as wandering alone into an enemy controlled zone would most likely result in immediate death.

The game has some neat additions that make it feel pretty unique and help it stand apart from other games of the same genre. Two main mechanics, the grappling hook and the hoverboard, make it very easy and quick to travel long distances.

The hoverboard can be easily summoned with a press of a button and once you hop on, you can fly pretty high and then zoom across the map. This makes it incredibly easy to travel from one control point to another so you can help attack or defend with your team. The only real drawback is that you are an easy target to hit on the hoverboard so it’s mainly used to reposition from one area to another and not used in actual combat. There is also a short cool down once you hop off, so it can’t be constantly spammed.

For close range combat, the grappling hook is a fantastic addition. There doesn’t seem to be any cooldowns and the range is generous so you can easily grapple across wide stretches of open ground. The points of interest usually have structures or land formations with verticality so using the grappling hook would definitely give you an advantage.

The game feels pretty good to play once you get over the initial learning curve. You die pretty quickly in this game so moving with your teammates and positioning yourself near cover or high ground is a must. Thanks to the hoverboard and grappling hook, positioning yourself in an advantageous location is fairly simple and quick.

The gun play seems fairly solid as well. The default starting assault rifle seemed to have manageable recoil and it was easy to track targets but it did seem to have severe damage falloff at long ranges to keep it balanced.

The game seems to have a class based system with weapon unlocks and upgrades as you gain experience. I didn’t get a chance to try out all the classes but there were support oriented classes, as well as slower classes with more heavy weapons for those wanting a different style of play. The classes each have different abilities and ultimates as well. The default class you start with had a deployable shield and the ultimate was an airstrike.

The only minor nitpick I had with the beta was the minimap. I know it’s normal for a lot of these types of games to display enemy location on the minimap but I felt that it made it too hard to move around. There were plenty of times I managed to track and kill an enemy without really seeing them thanks to them being spotted and being visible with a marker on my screen and the minimap. I don’t think it’s necessarily unbalanced or not fun since everyone has this advantage. Just my two cents.

Overall, LEAP was pretty fun to play. The fast and easy movement and repositioning along with a fast time to kill makes the game feel like it’s high octane action all the time.