It’s, admittedly, a pretty obvious error to associate games with skins and a cartoonish art style with being strictly bad, but I believe League of Legends set the foundations for that standard in my head. The string of Battle Pass games to come out in the last decade, then, probably cemented it.
With that form of monetization becoming the quid pro quo developers make with players in exchange for AAA games remaining at 60-70 dollars upon release, I suppose that standard is one I should shake off.
Luckily, Apex Legends is doing that for me. By no means is the game new, nor has it had any big headlines in the news cycle lately. I just happen to be playing it right now.
I gave Apex a try a few years ago and found it a bit dull. I’m not sure if the game has gone through some staggering changes since then, but my perception of it has drifted quite dramatically. The gameplay itself, which I previously found cheesy in a tired way, is actually very well crafted.
The health and shields allocated to the players are carefully calculated to make sure each weapon, which has its damage, utility, and use cases expertly accounted for, has a role to play in the greater quest for a first-place finish.
I’m finding myself in a relaxed relationship with the movement, which combines the classic Counter-Strike gameplay of running quickly with your knife (nothing) out with the sliding and mobile-heavy gameplay seen so often in contemporary shooters.
Jumping off the side of a hill only to slide into a momentum-increasing lunge as a means to escape some well-equipped opponents before healing yourself up is an experience that is hard to describe in a way that properly captures the calmness of it all. It’s such a smooth game, Apex, that I think escaping a fight feels just as fun as taking part in one.
That is not something I’ve ever seen a shooter be able to boast about. Additionally, looting the maps in Apex feels a little like a PvE rogue-like: You’re trying to use your time hyper-effectively and, in some cases, getting into a fight is something you don’t actually want.
Gearing up, leveling up, and becoming a high-tiered trio in Apex is just as much a matter of PvE efficiency as it is PvP experience and accuracy.
When it comes to actually fighting human opponents, Apex has a wealth of variance to bring to the table; weapons, Legend abilities, utility items, weapon addons, and grenades. Each of these categories of items has a plethora of options to choose, mix, and match from, and each of those items and abilities, on their own, themselves can alter the gameplay associated with a particular Legend depending on how and when they’re used.
The gunplay in Apex, at this point, is synonymous with smooth. The Developers appear to get very little wrong with the movement or mechanics of the game, and the shooting is hanging right up there with the best of the best of modern shooters.
The controls are tight, the gameplay loop is very satisfying, and Apex Legends is actually a pretty fun game (even with the cartoonish art style and battle pass monetization.)
GLHF,
-E
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