Apex Legends

Rarely does a game hold my attention for as long as this one does. What it excels at is shooting mechanics, and simply, the overall feel of it. Yes, it’s a battle royale. Yes, it’s free. Yes, there are microtransactions. I’ve dropped easily 40 hours into this by now and I haven’t spent a dime.

For those that are unaware, Apex Legends is team based/squads of 3 based first person shooter in the battle royale genre. 20 teams of 3 compete to be the last team standing. Players drop from a single dropship and can jetpack glide down to the surface/area they wish to land. Weapons are randomized across the playfield, with certain areas leading to better tiered loot than others. Supply drops land randomly (or purposefully, I haven’t figured it out) which contain high tier loot, possibly legendaries. Loot is separated into common, rare, epic and legendary.

Now even with the weapons being tiered off, each weapon is a powerhouse in its own respective range. The shotguns, mainly the peacekeeper, dominate the close range. The sub-machine guns dominate the short-med range, and assault rifles to alright all round, but better at medium to long range, and sniper rifles can actually work at all ranges provided one is skilled.

Being skilled is actually seen in this game because those that are such, will be absolutely deadly with certain weapons while the casual gamer will feel a sense of “this gun needs to be nerfed”. I personally dominate with the g7 scout and the wingman.

When you play the game, you have the choice of 6 characters to choose from at the start. The other two can be unlocked by leveling up and gaining currency or spending real money. It took me about 40 hours (roughly the last little while I been playing) before I got the last character. Each character has their own unique hit-box (which I absolutely love, and pray that it doesn’t get changed), and their own set of abilities with a passive as well.

There’s Bloodhound, it can track enemy player’s recent movements with its passive, it’s tactical is to scan nearby and see through walls where the enemy is – it doesn’t show if they move away, just where they last where – and her ultimate makes her run really fast, and all enemies are highlighted red that are in sight.

There’s Gibraltar, who has a off/on shield whenever he aims, his tactical throws down in an area a shield that blocks all outgoing and incoming damage, and his ultimate rains mortar strikes in a massive area.

There’s Lifeline, a combat medic who has more than one passive; she can revive teammates while providing a frontal shield to block incoming damage, and she heals 25% faster. Her tactical is a long cooldown drone that provides healing to both ally and enemy. And her ultimate is a care package that can kill if it lands on someone, and contains high tier loot, usually purple shields.

There’s also Wraith, who can tell when an enemy is aiming at her or her allies, or if she’s being pinged or her allies are. Her tactical makes her invisible and invincible for 3 seconds and her ultimate plants a portal at one location, then you run to another spot and place the exit. While she’s using her ult, she runs 25% faster.

There’s Bangalore who when she gets shot at, she runs twice as fast. Her tactical is a multi use, before cooldowns, smoke grenade. Her ultimate covers an area in missiles that blow up after 5 seconds or so – easily dodged.

Caustic (gotta unlock) has the passive that he can see his enemies, even through walls, if they enter his gas. His tactical is that he can plant up to 6 gas mines around the map, 3 at once before 30 seconds cooldown to recover each charge. His ultimate tosses a grenade that covers a large area in toxic gas.

Mirage (gotta unlock) has a pretty tame passive in that when he gets knocked down, he goes invisible for 5 seconds and has a clone do a death animation. His tactical is he sends out a decoy that runs in straight line and if anybody shoots it, they get revealed to only Mirage. While his ultimate deploys clones in a circle who just stand there, while he himself goes invisible for a bit.

And lastly, there’s my favorite legend. Pathfinder. This robot’s passive is that he can scan beacons which are found in tall places around the map, which will reveal the location of the next circle. It’s astounding how many players fail to realize that tactical value in that. You can plan ahead where to move. Most games when my teammates abandon (so aggravating, I’m almost to the respawn and they quit), i can get second easily because I’m already waiting inside the next ring. Pathfinder’s tactical is he shoots a grappling hook that propels him to a target location, and when used correctly, can send him to hard to reach places or move about the battlefield with such ease; you can also grapple enemies towards yourself. His ultimate lets him create a zipline that can reach up to 10,000 range, and the ziplines stay on the field. I play Pathfinder the most.

All in all, I highly recommend this game to both veteran and casual gamers alike.