From Respawn Entertainment comes a Battle Royale game that nobody needed, until it was released, and suddenly everybody needed it. With so many Battle Royale games already dominating the market place, such as Fortnite and PUBG, you might have thought that there wasn’t space on the big stage for yet another Battle Royale game, but then you would have been wrong. Respawn made a gamble that nearly paid off, with Apex Legends surpassing 50 million players after being released just over a month ago. Some say it was due to EA shoveling millions of dollars to promote the game, but who cares? I mean, we do live in the era of corporate capitalism, so it’s unavoidable, really. Point is, the game is here, and everyone’s loving it!
What’s New, What’s Not?
The characters in Apex Legends have a lot of personalities. From the energetic Pathfinder robot to the psychopathic Caustic, every character of their not-so-extensive character list seems to have a long untold back story. They’re either quirky, funny, serious or just straight up deadly. They could be sharpshooters, weapons experts, stealth experts, and every ability is generally unique per character. This is great because characters should have, well, character. However, this is one of the not when it comes to comparing what’s new and what’s not. Games like Overwatch and Fortnite already have characters injected full of personality that have special abilities unique to them.
They’ve also got stuff like shrinking playing areas, and the whole “jump out of a plane” thing. Sure, none of these are original, but the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So, Respawn deciding to go ahead with the generic Battle Royale theme made sense. However, this is where Apex Legends breaks off with the other games in its genre. The first difference you’ll immediately notice when you start playing is that its communication system is completely different. To begin every battle, you are put in three-person teams, but it doesn’t matter even if the other two players are complete strangers, because your game experience won’t change one bit. Every character has an extensive list of predefined voice commands that you can activate with just a simple click. You can let your team members know about anything going on around you without having to speak a word. This is excellent, especially since the character will be speaking with his or her own voice, so you’ll have the pleasure of not hearing Wraith scream obscenities about your mother in Russian.
Talking about new game mechanics, something that players found surprisingly satisfying is the fact that you can revive your teammates even if their health is completely depleted, and that you can respawn your dead teammates. Other games do not give you this type of opportunity, instead of forcing your dead teammate to sit on the sidelines until the match is over. Of course, there is a time frame within which you can revive your dead teammates, and there are a certain number of grueling steps that you need to take, which attracts a lot of attention. But hey, if it was easy, then what would be the fun in that?
Similar to most other Battle Royale games, you have a ton of weapons, from heavy machine guns to energy weapons. You also have no fall damage, and you are expected to rely more on your abilities than your weapons. Oh, and another thing, teamwork is extremely important. Perhaps more important here than in other games of this type. I mean, they already have an intuitive communication system in place, so why not use it? Stick with your team. As some guy with terrible English once said, there is no “I” in multiplayer.
How Does it Pit up Against Everything Else?
Normally, when reviewing a video game, it makes sense to not start comparing different games of the same genre until the very end. However, since Apex Legends was born into a world full of similar Battle Royale games, I think it’s quite important to take a look at how it pits up against all its more aged opponents. So, what IS actually better? Apex Legends, Blackout, Battlefield V, Fortnite, PUBG? If you want to start a flame war anywhere on the internet, just ask that question.
Generally, if a game gains a lot of attention and players, then it has to be good. It doesn’t matter how much marketing is done on a game. If the game is bad, no one is going to play it. So, it can be said that all the Battle Royale games you hear about are good to a certain extent. Since this game has already taken some of the foolproof techniques that other Battle Royale games use, then added their own unique design and mechanics into the game, this makes out as an excellent addition to the genre. Of course, only time will tell how much and how long this game will be played for. There is a certain amount of hate going around for some of the more popular Battle Royale games such as Fortnite, due to complaints of the gameplay being uneventful and dull, while games like Battlefield, which happen to be Triple-A titles prized at around $60 apiece are labeled as “too expensive”.
PUBG gets a lot of heat for being too buggy, while players report mechanical flaws with Blackout. Apex Legends, so far, doesn’t seem to suffer from these problems. However, since this is just the start for this franchise, I’m afraid we’ll just have to wait it out to see what is better.
What do the People Say?
Ultimately, it’s all about what the people say. If your players aren’t happy, then might as well concede to loss. The very first thing anyone would notice about Apex Legends, before they take a look at the gun mechanics, before they take a look at the voice acting, even before they jump out of the plane for the first time, is the price. So it’s a good thing this game happens to cost absolutely nothing. With a price tag of $0, nothing is holding anyone back from jumping straight into the game. Since this is free, there is no pressure to play. There is no “OMG I spent so much money on this so I have to eat my way through it” kinda mentality going here. Don’t like the game? Stop playing it. But even then, this game has more than 50 million people playing, so what does that tell you?
Similar to the other Battle Royale games, this game features micro-transactions. Out of the eight characters in the game, six are available to you from the start, and you can buy the other two. However, the two you can buy are no better than six you already have, so if you keep losing, stop blaming the game and git gud. This means that whether you will win or lose depends solely on your abilities, and there is no pay to win scheme going on here. So far, IGN has rated this game 9/10, 89% of Google users like it, it’s caught on a lot of hype, attracting players from all around the world, and so far, people think it’s a success.
Rounding it all Up…
All in all, there is a huge stream of players moving into Apex Legends from other Battle Royale games, and since the game is free to play, what do you have to lose? The game mechanics are excellent and the gameplay itself features a unique style. The characters are well built, and the game has one thing that most other Battle Royale games lack: a final polish. Respawn has successfully built a game that is both complete but also leaves plenty of room for growth. May it be new characters, weapons, maps, or changes to the game’s design and mechanics, Respawn can be assured that they will have tons of eager players just waiting on them.
