Apex Legends

In the last few years, battle royale games have become the new standard for popularity in multiplayer gaming circles. With such stiff competition, new competitors in the realm of battle royales have to add unique takes on their games to guarantee a decent player base. Apex Legends understands this need for innovation and delivers one of the most feature-rich gaming experiences we’ve seen on a battle royale yet.

Set in the same universe as Titanfall, Apex Legends combines the best elements of hero shooters and battle royale games to create a finely-tuned and unique experience. And it’s all free-to-play.

No assembly required

One common complaint that players have about Fortnite – an otherwise incredibly polished BR – is the prevalence of building, especially in the late stages of the games. This can be seen as a core element of Fortnite’s gameplay, but there’s no denying that it breaks the flow of the game a bit.

There’s no such thing as building in Apex Legends; on the contrary, the game prides itself on its fast-paced action and non-stop gunfights. That said, even the best BR games suffer from some idle gameplay: moments when you’re picking up weapons and struggling to find an opponent on the map.

Enter the Legends

The “Legends” part of Apex Legends’ name refers to the game’s heroes. These premade loadouts act like Overwatch’s heroes in that they are a predetermined character with a particular set of skills. As of Season 8, there are 18 playable Legends in the Apex Legends roster.

A standard match of Apex Legends is played by twenty squads, each containing three players. The only limitation to choosing your character is that there might only be one of the same character per squad; this means that each squad has to select characters that complement each other to have the tactical advantage over their adversaries.

Pretty and optimized

Just like Titanfall 2, Apex Legends has been built using Valve Corporation’s Source Engine. That’s right: the same engine used for games like Portal 2 and Half-Life 2 has certainly come a long way since its early days.

Using the Source Engine might sound a bit too ambitious for a BR game, but it works perfectly here. The aging engine is also as pretty as ever, featuring some seriously impressive maps and a healthy performance. That said, compromises had to be made: to accommodate the increased draw distances, Apex Legends uses an aggressive form of dynamic resolution that can severely hamper visual fidelity.

(Almost) Free!

As is the case with almost every free-to-play game, Apex Legends has a generous amount of microtransactions to ensure the game remains a free experience. Sure, no one likes loot boxes, but the good news is that only cosmetic items are available for purchase, giving paying players virtually no tactical advantage over F2P ones.

Just like with Fortnite, players can also purchase a Battle Pass for each season. This pass gives players the chance to earn exclusive skins and other goodies that are generally season-exclusive, and it offers a lot of bang for your buck.

Pros:

• Great performance
• Fun gameplay and satisfying gunplay
• New seasons keep reinventing the game in positive ways

Cons:

• Some visual compromises in low-end PCs
• Matchmaking and servers could use some improvements