This is the first Battle Royal mode I have ultimately enjoyed. I played about 20 hours or so in Fortnite and genuinely found that game play is boring and repetitive. I watched a bunch of game play for the Player Unknown’s Battle Ground, and got the same feeling from that game. Just campy and ultimately too little action for me.
Enter Apex Legends. Made by Respawn entertainment, the company behind the Titanfall franchise. Immediately when I tried it I felt somehow familiar. The movement was fluid and the combat is mostly first person view. At first I sucked and admittedly didn’t like the game because of the time it took to see any action. Then I started to play enough to rack up some kills and really dive into the deeper mechanics of the game and the awesome characters with unique abilities.
I quickly found some favorite character abilities that allow me to feel useful without getting too many kills, but this let me learn how to survive well. One aspect I really like about Apex Legends is that it is automatically played in groups of three. This increases the survivability by great lengths. When I, or a teammate, goes down there is a good chance of being healed and brought back into the fight. Even if totally eliminated there is a secondary way to respawn a team mate so overall, right of the bat, I felt that I was getting more play time per match, thus more experience and practice playing the game.
The fact that everyone is placed in a team adds a factor or camaraderie, I want to do better for my team mates so I try to learn how to get better and when to be patient. Generally people are pretty nice and play together well. I have only had a few instances of shitty people but alas that is the internet age.. bound to meet a few here and there online.
The gun play is solid and the weapons behave consistently so you can really learn and get good using certain ones. Learning the different characters and how to use their abilities is also a lot more fun than the stale base characters of any other BR game mode currently out there.
Overall it is a solid game and I can see why it is popular. It is free to download, and you can buy micro transactions to unlock more cosmetic items.
There isn’t much I don’t like about the game for what it is. Therein lies the fault. I will not go as far as to say it is a full game. It feels like a game mode, forever more. The matches are too short and there is not enough depth to keep me playing for more than a handful of matches. Playing with friends and chatting makes it more fun for a bit longer but in the end it is a game mode and not a full game.
There is only one map. The maps in these BR modes are large and separated into different biomes or areas that contain different set pieces, architecture, and geography. They are basically a bunch of mini arenas within a large map. This gets boring after a while just like any single map, once you have seen all the locations and fought in different areas they all start to look the same in this game. There isn’t much variety in the map department. This is standard in most BR modes.
Now that this game is nearing several months old, the entry level skill gap is pretty high at this point. I often get melted by more experienced players right off the bat just because I am not fast enough or don’t know what to pick up first. The game is pretty unrelenting to newcomers. The game is entirely PVP there is no “single player” experience or story. So after a couple rounds and eventual wins … that’s pretty much all there is too it. Nothing grand happens when you win, you don’t get any wicked bonuses or anything… you just play another match.
So far critics have said that the skins and cosmetic items are underwhelming but i don’t really notice or care for cosmetic items. I will say that the season pass that they charged 10 bucks for is ultimately not worth it. The pass nets you a few cool skins and cosmetics but only after a grueling grind through 100 levels of crap rewards. I doubt I will be able to get anywhere near the end considering the levels for the season pass take more Exp than normal game levels. haha.. but hey you can purchase any levels you miss if you really want the rewards.
Overall a great Battle Royal mode. Nothing more, nothing less. I am sad that such a fad of a game mode has made it to become a major fixture of modern gaming. Just feels cheap. I like the bigger game modes and larger teams! Battle Royal game mode has infected some of the best shooter franchises, turning them into husks of their former selves,
In the end it is free, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes intense player vs. player action, or anyone who enjoys BR modes in general.