Developers have spent years trying to develop sensible touchscreen controls for first and third-person shooters that aren't just virtual sticks. A tribute to the great light gun games of old, Lawless just does away with movement altogether, and it looks fantastic.
Much more than a shooting gallery, Lawless is a grand criminal venture, set in the gun-lovers paradise of a 1990s action film. The player is a novice criminal, making his or her way up through the underworld ranks by shooting their way through a series of furious gun battles. Instead of worrying about running from place to place, each battle takes placed in fixed cover. When the battle is over, players are given a choice of new areas to hunker down in.
Lawless is being overseen by Ben Cousins, former DICE Sweden creative director, now head of DeNA’s European studio operations and general manager of the Scattered Entertainment studio (of The Drowning fame). If that's not enough pedigree for you, the game is being developed by EightPixelsSquare, a studio made up of key members of Eurocom, the developer behind one of the best rail-shooters ever made — Dead Space: Extraction. If anyone can pull off a good non-traditional shooter, it's those guys.
As with many a DeNA release, Lawless will be free-to-play, with the option to purchase and upgrade special weapons in the game using real funds. Currently in development for iOS, players can pre-register with the game at its official website, unlocking dual-wielded Glock 17s for their trouble.