Despite telling myself several times over that I was sick of battle royale games - no doubt after being wiped out for the umpteenth time in a game of PUBG, or scrolling past Yet Another Stream Of Fortnite - I have been sucked into giving Apex Legends a go. As with most people, it’s peer pressure that’s resulted in me giving in; this is a genre built on the idea of the ‘squad’ and their oft-mentioned goals, and if you’re going to give it a go you may as well do so with friends.
After about ten hours of gameplay, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. The gunplay is sound, the matchmaking is snappy, and the UI and location/target interaction works really well. Even more pleasing is the fact that the studio and publisher haven’t loaded the game up with pay-to-win gear that completely ruins game balance. There are two characters, Mirage and Caustic, who must be unlocked via either real-world currency or in-game XP - but neither seem particularly overpowered when I’ve encountered them in-game.
The balance of the game is quite impressive; good battle royale players will rise to the top, as you’d expect - but scrubs like myself will still always have a chance, if only a slight one. The presence of unique abilities for each character gives the game another dimension when it comes to engaging another squad. Multiple times I’ve been pinned down in a gunfight waiting to die when Gibraltar’s defensive bombardment ultimate has come into play - it doesn’t matter how good your opponent is, they’re not likely to keep standing out in the open trying to shoot you with artillery raining down around them. The resulting explosions and smoke then provides a good opportunity to escape and regroup; assuming your opponent hasn’t used their own abilities to get out behind you.
If I contrast this with PUBG, chances are I’d die very early in the engagement if the opponent was more experienced - it’s not quite the brutal spawn-die-rejoin experience of DayZ, but it definitely falls into the category of ‘git gud’ when it comes to questioning how one might have avoided that loss. Apex feels a lot friendlier in that regard, from the arcadey feel of the characters themselves to the smooth transition from one unsuccessful match into a new challenge; something that is far more drawn out in PUBG.
Will I still be playing Apex in a couple of months’ time? The longevity of these games is hard to predict for the casual player; the aforementioned PUBG gathering dust in my Steam library is proof of that. But if I do play some battle royale in future, the competitive-yet-accessible Apex Legends is a likely candidate.