Apex Legends: The Peak of Battle Royale

 

Apex Legends:

Apex Legends: An Evolving Battle Royale

Apex Legends: The Peak of Battle Royale

After clearing the landing area, it's time to travel. Movement in Apex Legends is a glorious experience, the running, sliding, jumping, climbing, and zip-lining feel precise, and require skill and practice to master. While on maneuvers players use the helpful ping system, which is easy and intuitive. The basic pings mark a location or indicate enemies, but more detained pings on a menu include watching an area, defending an area, or to warn that enemies have been in an area. Why travel? To find more loot and stay inside the circle. In addition to the 24 weapons, the shields, the equipment, the ammo, the health packs and shield cells, Apex also includes an abundance of attachments. Most weapons hold three, and they (like the rest of the game) are categorized in colors which identify how good they are, white, blue, purple, and gold. Players find stocks, stabilizers, magazines, optics, and special attachments. Searching addition locations increases the chance of better attachments, which increase the chance of winning the next fight.

But so many fights are not won or lost on shooting skill, but on which squad surprises the other, or has the better position. I am not a great shooter, but I was able to achieve a decent rank from awareness, tactics and strategy. If a fight begins with the enemy surprising an unaware squad mate, and dropping him before backup arrives, they already have the advantage for the remaining three on two firefight. A lack of awareness decides as many battles as shooting ability. Legends move quickly, allowing for flanking and surprise maneuvers. The speed at which one player can be killed means Apex often favors offense over defense. The counter point is that some Legends, like Caustic, Rampart, Wattson (or a very good position) make defense a reasonable strategy at specific times. Once on the move, one ponders how to play the strategic game. The arena is surrounded by a Ring that closes in periodically. Any player outside the Ring suffers damage. The damage increases after each movement of the Ring. The first Ring is mild enough that the player can survive outside it for an extended time. The second requires mild healing to endure. Starting with the third Ring, traveling outside becomes impossible. Some people play toward the center of the arena, seeking to find the best location to fight off new foes. They never want the anxiety of being overrun by the Ring. They want to defend the final building in the final Ring at the final standoff. Others prefer to skirt the edge of the Ring. They always want to be first to the edge, but don't venture deeper into the center. They like shooting others trying to return into the Ring. Then there are those that like playing just on the edge. They only arrive in the circle just in time, each time, and don't fear the danger.

Players need to think about the other threat, other players. Most people fall into one of four categories about approaching enemies. Sound travels far in Apex Legends; the gun shots and the explosions. Some people always run to the closest sound and immediately join the fray. If they see someone they shoot someone. Next are the people who are the hardest to define. They fight most of the time, but they scout the situation first. I consider myself a member of the third category. I'll avoid fights unless I think we have the advantage, the drop, the positioning, the equipment to win. I think of it like this. If everyone in the game is the same skill then you only have a 50% percent chance of winning an even encounter. My chance of defeating five squads to win a match is 3.12%. Even if I won 75% of my battles (which I don't), I only have a 23.7% likelihood of beating five squads to become a Legend. With twenty squads in a game, I'm using five as a reasonable average for how many one will have to outgun to claim the trophy. An aggressive team will fight more, and a less aggressive squad, less. I've won by defeating one squad, and by besting eight. There is a tactics which is less antagonistic than mine. There are people that almost never fight. They aren't aiming for first place, but second. I've played with all these types of people. Most were of the second character, the fairly aggressive, cautious enough to avoid firing at the first foe. I did play with two younger people (at least they sounded young), who surprised me with their plan. They said they wanted to camp, to hide, to not fight at all, to flee if fired at. I figured, games are so quick I would humor them. We hid in a large, semi-hollow tree trunk. When we saw a firefight nearby, they said don't shoot, so I didn't. When we were attacked, I, as Bangalore fired smoke grenades to enable our escape. One of my teammates went down, and I picked up their dog-tags. They insisted I revive the ally, as that would reveal our position. The other player and I hid until three squads remained. When our two foes attacked each other I convinced my squad member to make an attempt to third party the fight, defeat them both, and win. We didn't win, but we earned second place. It was an unique experience that I've never replicated, nor found anyone who wanted to. People play Apex to shoot and fight, even if it isn't always the best way to win the game.

Even though Apex Legends released over two years ago the developers are still expanding the game. They add new heroes, tweaks to the map, patches and balancing every new season and split. They are constantly offering temporary game modes with different rules, like a Ring that keeps moving, or a match with only snipers and shotguns. Apex still feels fresh, with plenty to learn, six months in. Good matches provide a feeling of adventure. If I play a game late at night before bed, I spend a minute of two rehearsing how we moved around the map, and the fights we won. They stay with you even if you performed particularly well.  I've been on a bit of a break, but the developers have even added a third map. In Conclusion,

Apex Legends is an phenomenal addition to the Battle Royale genre. It has visceral combat which combine crisp firefights and delightful visuals. It also features joyful movement on massive maps packed with unique locations. The Legends are different enough that they offer variations on play-styles, but are similar enough that a game is still won by player skill in shooting, maneuvering, and awareness. There's a fair bit of luck involved, especially in the initial drop, and then in the finding of good equipment, but the better players will be able to overcome that because Apex plays fast. A lost game ends in a few minutes, while a victory requires about twenty-five minutes maximum. Apex is free, it's easy to get into (because it has depth without being overly complicated), and it's fun. And just starting this week it's now on Steam. No one has to download EA's Origin to play it!

A final note. At the screen where the player chooses their character, the Legend Bangalore sometimes says, “Clips are what civvies use in their hair. This is called a magazine.” Is this supposed to be so obviously bad, or is truly a mistake? She might as well say, “Magazines are what people read at the doctors. This is called a clip.”

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