Game Review: Apex Legends

The Release

Apex Legends was never really leaked ahead of schedule. It was a hush hush game that Respawn Entertainment made when they saw that Battle Royal’s were making waves in the gaming market. Now, when players caught wind of it being released, many Xbox members felt like it would be your run of the mill Battle Royal game. Boy were we so very wrong on that aspect. A month after being released on the Free to Play Xbox market, Apex Legends has gained a bolstering 50 MILLION registered players. This knocks Fortnite into the ground since it took them 16 weeks to hit 45 million players.

• Developer: Respawn Entertainment
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One
• Release: February 4, 2019
• Mode: Multiplayer
• Reviewed On: Xbox One

Gameplay

Classes

My first time getting into Apex I got a flashback to Titanfall 2. Turns out, the Developer Respawn Entertainment also made and based Apex Legends off of the Titanfall series, just set 30 years in the future. Taking place in the Outlands of the Frontier, you and 2 teammates form a squad and choose one of nine “Legends” or play in the match.

Each playable Legend comes with a Tactical, Passive and Ultimate ability. These are used within the match to combat foes, shield your teammates or give a quick escape route from danger. For more information and a little backstory on each Legend, check out EA’s Character page.

Kings Canyon

Once you’ve picked your Legend to play, you are then transported to Kings Canyon. Here, you’re put into a dropship and transported across the map in a straight line. The groups “Jump Master” picks a landing spot and then flies the squad to said spot. After landing, you scour the area for loot – guns, ammo and hopefully high level armor.

During the looting time, it’s highly possible to encounter other squads, especially if you’ve landed in a Hot Zone. Your ultimate goal is to beat them; go figure right? If for some reason your weapons aren’t so hot and you get knocked, your teammates can come to the rescue. There is a revive capability that takes about 5 seconds to be able to pull off. If you’ve been thirsted by an enemy, or you bleed out, your teammates can then revive you at a Respawn Beacon. But be careful – they only have about 90 seconds all together to pick up your respawn banner before you are timed out from the match.

Zone Survival

Much like every other Battle Royal game out there, it’s a fight for survival. If you’re not battling other squads, you are sure to be out running the “death wall” to stay in the safe zone. If you find yourself outside of this wall, hurry to get back into it. The zone will continue to damage your health until you have entered the safe area. The longer you’re in a match and the more the zones have shrunk, the more they will hurt if you find yourself outside of them.

In-Game Cosmetics

Character Transformation

So with Apex, in-game cosmetics are a thing. Here, you get to pick a skin to make your Legend look all fancy like. You can go further by picking out a pose and a frame, different badges and a tracker earned from things you do in the game. This makes your character pop out and differ from everyone else.

You can also use microtransactions, either from buying in-game Apex Coins, or from earning them via Apex Packages. With these you have the capabilities to buy new skins for both weapons and characters. It’s a pretty nifty system that is an option to use, but you DON’T have to pay to play/win. This is where Apex differs from a lot of other games.

Weapons

There are a vast amount of weapons to use within Apex Legends.

And with that, an even larger amount of skins to make your style your own.

No matter the situation, you can always swag yourself out! You can obtain these skins from those transactions we talked about. I find the best way to get the goods is from the Apex Packs you earn from leveling up or buying.

Battle Pass

With every Battle Royal, there comes a Battle Pass. Now, the great thing about the Battle Pass is you don’t have to buy it to be able to get some cool things. You do have the option to buy the Premium Pass, which gives you a higher scale drop for every level you go up.

Apex’s first Battle Pass is Wild Frontier. It dropped on March 19th 2019, and gave way to a new Legend, Octane. The second Battle Pass, Battle Charge releases on July 2nd, 2019. With this comes a new weapon and Legend, keeping the game as new and fresh as possible.

Legendary Hunt

With this new freshness, Respawn saw that players might be getting a little bored. Maybe Apex was getting a little stagnant with the same ol drop, run, and gun aspects. Insert The Legendary Hunt Challenge. Here, players have the chance to finish several challenges put into the game and obtain some event-exclusive loot like a Bloodhound Epic (gold) skin! They also brought in Apex Elite. To get into this, you have to make Top 5 in your previous match, and consecutively keep it up to stay in there. You get a badge that shows off the streaks you earn while being able to stay in Elite too!

These events are no doubt preparing the player base for the Season 2 Battle Pass, due July 2nd!

Overall Thoughts

My overall thoughts on Apex Legends are exceedingly high. I was one of those Xbox players who thought the game was going to be like any other Battle Royal. Ya know, play for a week, get tired of it and leave it in a corner to take up precious game space. My brother constantly blew me up asking me to play it with him. This caused the game to grow on my like a weed and I can’t seem to put the game down now. I’m a hardcore Gibraltar fanatic.
LONG LIVE THE TITAN BUBBLE!!!

With all of the add-ons are coming into the Apex, it will only continue to make an already great game even more stellar. Overall, I would give it a 9/10 rating, and that’s only due to some minor lag issues.

Honor the Allfather and I hope to see many more players on the battlefield!