I admire any team that attempts to break into the first-person shooter market these days. With already-established games such as Call Of Duty, Rainbow Six and Apex Legends knocking around, getting your foot in the door isn’t always easy. You only have to look at the recent demise of Battlefield to see that things can turn very sour quickly if you don’t get things right. Even Halo Infinite has suffered plenty of backlash for the way production has progressed and that is an exceptional game when it comes to the core mechanics. That said, I am always intrigued when someone has a stab at something new. This time it is the turn of Blue Isle Studios with LEAP which makes its way to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 4|5 after its full release on Windows PC after an early access period.

Introduction

LEAP prides itself on being a fast-paced large-scale multiplayer first-person shooter that can cater to up to 40 players. The game boasts some unique features such as traversing the terrain on a hoverboard or hopping onto the back of a mechanical robot-style horse to get to the heat of battle quickly. There are four classes to choose from each with different weaponry and abilities with a special unique powerup to cause maximum damage and disruption.

Gameplay

I’ll get the good stuff out of the way first and state that when the game is functioning well, the movement and gunplay are sublime. When I first jumped into a match with LEAP I got instant vibes of playing the original Titanfall for the very first time. I did find I need to tweak a few bits and pieces when it came to the controller layout and it took me a while to work out how to use my hoverboard as it wasn’t mapped to a button in the first place. Once everything is laid out as you want, it feels as natural as playing any other major shooter out there.

Admittedly I struggled at first and wondered whether I just needed to rank up more and unlock some more weapons and gadgets. There is always an adjustment period in any new shooter with learning all of the maps and how it handles and it took me a lot longer with this game than any other. After 3-4 hours my ability was improving but because of the poor ping rates, I didn’t do well in the majority of firefights. In the rare moments where the ping rate was playable. slaying enemies and capturing objectives was great fun. There are many maps and modes that echo some of the most popular in other shooters such as team deathmatches, capture-and-defend type matches and domination-involved experiences. It felt at its best when the server was full of plenty of players all fighting for the same goals but was only achievable with cross-play switched on.

Modding & Server Browser

I love the fact that people can create their own custom game modes and the best ones are consistently being tried and tested. I played one where the floor was lava and another that mirrored the popular “Gun Game” mode on Call Of Duty. The server browser is available seemingly for those hunting for certain game types or jumping into fuller servers during quiet periods. These options will extend the shelf life of the game somewhat and give the hardcore community of LEAP a place to gather for longevity and replayability.

Graphics & Audio

LEAP is a little up and down in its visuals and performance from what I’ve played on Xbox Series X. Map structure is actually really well done for the most part, but if the server you’re in is light on player numbers it’ll feel far too vast. Unfortunately, I have noticed many textures and assets popping in late and trees looking blurry when it comes to draw distance, so there is more work needed. The game shines in other areas though. There is some excellent lighting when the rays of the sunshine glimmer through and the architecture of the maps makes for many viewpoints. 

The variance of cosmetics was quite pleasing and I was surprised that for the time being everything can be acquired through natural gameplay. Weapon skins, avatars, player banners and full outfits for the four classes are well presented. The sound design seems pretty spot on and I didn’t encounter any problems.

Cross-Play & Connectivity Issues

LEAP offers cross-play which is always a huge bonus especially when it comes to the first-person shooter genre. Another plus is that this can be toggled on and off at your leisure, something other games on Xbox don’t offer (glares at Call Of Duty).  There are some really frustrating issues in the launch week though. Ping rates are all over the shop and inconsistent which is making for really unbalanced play. Out of the 8 or so hours I’ve played, my ping rate has never been below 150. Across many other games, my ping barely raises above 20. This isn’t just me, this is almost all players in every match. Whether this is a server issue which can be resolved, I am not sure but this is holding the game back massively. 

Bring with this the PC community and the clear hacking going on. Now I count myself as a slightly above-average shooter player and I can tell when something just isn’t right. On countless occasions, I’ve spotted several individuals with suspicious behaviour. There appears to be no internal way to report this or any banning system implemented. Understandably cheating and hacking are often outside of the development team’s control and it happens in the biggest games out there, but there is no encouragement to try and stop these players. You may say, well just turn off cross-play then Jordi, problem solved. The issue here is that the Xbox player base currently isn’t large enough to jump into a game at full capacity. When I turned cross-play off I’d be lucky to find a match with just a handful of players on either team.

In Conclusion

I’m disappointed with LEAP because I really want to like it. You can tell there is a good game there deep down. The problem is that connectivity issues, unbalanced gameplay, PC cheating and poorly optimised presentation on Xbox are hampering the final product. If the development team can at least iron out some of the issues it faces, then it could fare to be one of the better shooters out there. But in its current state, I’m sad to say it will turn more players away than keep them engaged for the long term. I’ve been reading a lot of feedback out there saying that this should have been a free-to-play game with paid cosmetics and battle passes and I’d actually agree with that statement.

Good Foundations, Poor Implementation

Understandably the game has been developed with a low budget, both in terms of production value and marketing so they need to sell this at retail value to make revenue. Making this free to play however would have given the game an opportunity to have full servers, people making the choices of whether they want to spend money on cool stuff and some breathing space to fix issues. At £24.99 currently, I find it difficult to recommend, but it is a shooter that tries new things and does have some deeply satisfying moments when it all works. I hope the teams who have worked hard to get this over the line don’t give up because if LEAP ran buttery smooth it would be worth the entry cost.