LEAP closed beta preview — A bumpy takeoff

Developer Blue Isle Studios describes LEAP as a multiplayer first-person shooter that blends numerous genres and styles. It’s got different character types, called exosuits, that come with varying abilities. There’s a classic assault class, a turret builder, a heavy weapon-wielding bruiser, and a stealth sniper. There are tactical elements to the gameplay similar to what you would find in Battlefield. But the combat lies firmly in the realm of an arcade shooter. You can also take to the skies in a hoverboard to move around the maps, which come in a few different sizes. I was very excited to preview LEAP closed beta, hoping it would be a new shooter for me to sink numerous hours into. It was not what I expected. I was expecting something like Apex Legends, one of my favorite shooters. But the only resemblance to Apex is that you have a class ability and an ultimate ability. The gunplay in LEAP is a lot more like Halo. The movement too, for that matter. It feels like it was made…