It’s been 3 weeks since EA released Apex Legends, the free-to-play battle royale title that took on the genre with a storm.
Collecting 10 million players in 3 days and having at least 2-3 million concurrent players, the game doesn’t fail to impress.
Before we delve into the details, some background –
What is battle royale and why is it so popular?
The battle royale genre in video games gained the support of the masses in mid-2017, but it has been around for much longer since H1Z1 in 2015. The genre has proven to be widely appealing to a large audience since then.
The key feature of all battle royale games is the concept of last man/team standing. After the release of The Hunger Games back in 2012, people started to think, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if there was a video game emulating this?”
Brendan Greene, or as some may know him, PlayerUnknown caught on to this idea and set on to modify existing games, before creating his own, PUBG.
So how is Apex Legends any different?
#1. Character Uniqueness
The foremost reason for Apex’s popularity is it being able to combine 2 genres – battle royale, and class-based First-Person Shooter, seamlessly into one. It has 8 characters, or legends, to pick from and jump into battle.
Games like PUBG and Fortnite place you as equal characters, whereas Apex Legends gives you the freedom to choose, with each character’s mastery levels being different.
This is desirable for gamers, as we’ve seen from the track record of games like Dota 2 and League of Legends, with the same concept of multiple heroes and classes.
#2. Refreshing Graphics
PUBG and Fortnite have been at odds when it comes to graphics, with Fortnite being cartoon-ish, and PUBG being realistic.
Apex Legends lands up right in the middle of them, providing us an environment that’s a feast for one’s eyes, yet being customizable to a wide extent.
#3. Wide Variety Of Gameplay Choices
Players team up in squads of 3, with each squad member choosing from 8 Legends. What’s more, the 8 Legends have very different abilities and tactics.
Summing up, that’s a large number of combinations to choose from, as compared to PUBG and Fortnite, having no concept of classes.
#4. Free-To-Play
The game is free-to-play, which I think is a very big incentive. You won’t have to shell out a single penny to enjoy the game with your buddies.
Fortnite, too, is free-to-play, but Apex Legends covers up for literally everything that Fortnite was lacking in.
Related – “Ye PUBG Wala Hai Kya?” – A Gamer’s Take On PUBG & Online Gaming In Indian Society
So why hasn’t it taken over yet?
I found 3 issues with the game, which are inhibiting its growth to a certain extent right now –
Microtransactions
Apex Legends is published by EA, and with EA come microtransactions. In a nutshell, microtransactions mean purchasing in-game content with real money.
The company has been infamous for using this strategy as a way to gain more profit. A better model would be that in Valve’s Counter-Strike Global Offensive.
No solo mode
If you want to play, the server will find 2 others to play with you. While that’s good from a popularity gain point-of-view, a solo mode would win the battle royale crown for Apex Legends.
The soundtrack and knockout tactics
The soundtrack becomes boring after a period of time with repetitive music. Furthermore, players want to know the loadout other players who knocked them out had, to improve upon their own strategies.
Summarizing, I think Apex Legends is a great title in this pool of battle royale games, but still has scope for improvement in certain areas. Head over to download the game from Origin, and tell us what you think of it. Happy fragging!
Reach the blogger @Vindicator28
Image sources – Google Images
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