BY LIAM MCCAMISH (´20)

I recently heard of Apex Legends yesterday (02/04/19) while browsing Twitch, a streaming platform for video games where you yourself can stream games or watch people stream games. Five of the top people I follow were playing it, so it caught my attention. I haven’t played it yet but what I know as of right now is that it’s another Battle Royale. The hit new game mode in video games where the last person standing wins.

Today is 02/07/19 and I have to apologize for my ignorance in my statement above. I decided to play Apex Legends when I got home and I had an extremely good time. Apex Legends has a certain flow to the game that is extremely rewarding and gets you hooked. Let’s talk about some of the upsides to playing Apex Legends over other current Battle Royale games.

Apex Legends is a free to play Battle Royale game on the Origin game platform. Finding the download for the game is easy and simple. All you have to do is download Origin to a computer, make an account and download Apex Legends. Once you first get in the game, it might seem a little complex but it is easy to understand and get used to. Apex Legends is the first battle royale game that has certain characters that have different abilities. For example, there are Healers, which special ability is to heal teammates, Assault heroes can drop artillery strikes and Heavy´s have a shield they can put up. Understanding these heroes is important to you winning the game and becoming the next champion.

Figuring out the armor, backpack, shield and ammo system also takes 1 or 2 games to figure out. Each gun takes specific ammo, for example, a shotgun takes shotgun ammo, a light machine gun takes light ammo and so on. Armour goes from common (colored in white) to Rare (colored in Blue) to Legendary (colored in Purple). Gun extensions range in the same way. So you could have the same gun as someone else you are fighting but if they have purple gun extensions, their gun is better than yours. Same goes with shield, you find blue armor, you get the blue shield. It takes a second to get used to but once you learn it, it´s like riding a bike.

The game itself is smooth and optimized. The game runs fast and doesn’t feel laggy or glitchy. Unlike most Battle Royale games when they first come out, this game feels complete. I have yet to see any glitches or exploits that break the game. This makes the game very enjoyable and fun.

This is why I also like playing Apex Legends over other Battle Royale games. Because of the system put in place, it heavily rewards players who fight all game long. The way the game is constructed makes it very hard for people who sit and hide all game to win. You have to eliminate other players to get better gear to beat other players. So if you sit around all game hiding from other players it is extremely hard to win the game. This is a problem with a lot of Battle Royale games. Like Player Unknown´s Battle Grounds, for the entire game, some players strategies is to wait for the very end of the game to attack and win. This strategy can work in a game like PUBG because there is a very low kill reward system. This can be very annoying for players who fight the entire game only to lose to a group of players who have done nothing but hide all game. But Apex Legends eliminates this and makes the game very enjoyable.

Some of the cons of Apex Legends is that there are only 3 people to a squad and that’s the only mode you can play. So if I´m playing by myself I have to play with two random people that I don´t know. Also if this game were to come out on Steam (the largest game platform used by computer players) it would catch even more attention than it already has. 

I have to give Apex Legends a fat 9/10 this is the standard that we should hold games at when released. A finished, polished and a tested game. Optimized with no big game breaking issues. The only reason it’s not a 10/10 is because 1 it’s not on Steam and 2 not being able to change from squads to solo. Overall very enjoyable, smooth and all around fun to play. If you haven’t played this Battle Royale and you like games like Fortnite or PUBG please give this game a try, it won’t disappoint.