Game Reviews

Below are a collection of game reviews that I’ve written as part of job applications and a few others just for fun. These reviews are from my lens as a game designer and producer.

Apex: Legends

Out of Nowhere

Apex: Legends is one of the gaming industry’s biggest breakout hits of 2019. Without any public marketing leading up to the overnight launch, this FPS Battle Royale style game seemingly came out of nowhere. Respawn Entertainment dropped the game within 24 hours of announcing its release. Fans of their Titanfall series were anticipating the third installment in the franchise (myself included). Releasing without a marketing campaign turned out to be an effective strategy to mitigate any backlash from moving in a different direction than following Titanfall 2 with a direct sequel. The game being completely free was also a big factor in its successful launch, lowering the barrier to entry for hesitant players. Now, some cosmetics can be purchased, but only cosmetics.

It will be interesting to see how other publishers respond to such an industry-disrupting launch. Will other studios follow suit? How receptive will publishers be to a non-traditional roll out?

The Basics

In the core game mode, each player is part of a 3 person squad. Twenty teams square off against each other on a large island populated with small cities and military facilities. Players drop into the game lead by a Jumpmaster, skydiving down from a dropship that flies across the map. Team members can communicate with each other using a ping system that allows for voiceless in-game call outs, one of the stand out features in the game.

At the beginning of the match, players start without any equipment or weapons. The map is littered with supplies either on the ground or in loot crates. The initial moments after drop are an exhilarating rush to arm up as quickly as possible so that you can eliminate any other teams that may have landed in your area. If your squad survives through the first few minutes of the game, you will need to rotate your position to stay within the ring as it constricts the playable area as rounds progress. The last team standing is crowned “Champions of the Arena”.

The Legends of Apex

At release, the game offered 6 playable characters called “Legends”, with an additional 2 that could be unlocked through purchasing them or earning enough in-game currency. These Legends each come with unique abilities, a Passive, Tactical, and Ultimate. Some abilities are geared toward healing and support, while others are built for mobility and recon. The different strengths and weaknesses of each character set the stage for interesting team compositions. A squad of 3 players that all choose mobile Legends is going to play very differently than a team built for locking down a location and fortifying it with traps. This Hero/Legend/Champion mechanic while not being new, does set Apex apart from other Battle Royales like Fortnite and PUBG.

Every 4 months a new Season starts, and along with it, a new Legend is available for play in the arena. Each Season has brought more lore to the universe in the form of short films and in-game events. Though not an essential game mechanic like the ping system, building out the lore of the universe will begin to create a fan base that continues to come back for more.

One of the things that immediately caught my attention was how diverse the line up of Legends is. Not only diversity in how they can be used within the game, but the uniqueness of each character’s backstory and who they are. The initial 8 characters included, someone who is non-binary, a gay man, a decent mix of races, as well as a robot. With each season’s roll out Respawn has continued to push more diverse backgrounds for each Legend.

At one point I had heard a rumor that the Season 2 Legend “Wattson” was going to be in a wheelchair. Which I thought was awesome, but would bring unique challenges regarding the character’s silhouette and hitbox. Around that time Respawn was actively working on fixing hitbox issues with the larger Legends, Gibraltar and Caustic, as well as the oddly proportioned, Pathfinder. I do hope they add a character in a wheelchair. Not only for representation, but I’d be interested to see how they solve issues like the shorter hitbox and movement animations, sliding is one of the core movement mechanics. Maybe the wheelchair could have large turrets mounted on top that are part of the Legends Tactical or Ultimate abilities, which could increase the height and size of the hitbox?

A New Industry Standard

The in-game ping system has already had a significant impact on the gaming industry. Other Battle Royale games like Fortnite have quickly adopted similar communication systems inspired by Apex: Legends. There have been ping systems in the past, but nothing with this level of simplicity, depth, and effectiveness. Whatever your crosshairs are pointing at can be identified and its location highlighted on your map and in your field of view. As you’re running around arming up and come across a weapon you already have or don’t want, you can announce to your squad what the gun is and where they can find it. This is true for any item in the game, even those within a killed enemy’s “death box”. If you see enemies off in the distance, you can keep your sights aimed at them and signal their position to your squad, and your teammates can respond back confirming they see them too. Other call outs allow you to describe your intention when pinging a location like, “I’m looting over here” or “I’m keeping my eyes on that location”.

Enabling players to communicate without the need for a microphone is truly revolutionary. As I understand it, the devs play tested for weeks without mics in order to get a better sense of how the average player would interact with the game. Not everyone has a mic, and those that do, don’t always use them. The call outs also help reinforce your immersion within the game, hearing the characters chatting with each other is quite a unique experience. I’d love to see this expanded on with additional contextual phrases. The “Smart Comms” as Respawn has dubbed it, is incredible but there is still room to grow.

The Right Level of Frustration

Jumping into Apex the first few times was challenging, you don’t know where anything is or where you are. At first, this was frustrating, but after you drop into the same area a few times you begin to figure out good looting routes through each section of the map. Once you’re familiar with the island’s layout, Apex offers solid gunplay. Guns feel powerful, with the right weapon in your hands you feel like you can take on any team. There are a few guns that are lower tier than others, but that’s how it should be. You want a wide range of weapon power levels. Otherwise, none of the guns feel special, you won't get that rush when you find a Mastiff and tear through an entire team. The inverse of that is dropping into the game and opening your third loot crate full of meds and shield cells, to finally find a P2020 handgun and the enemy next to you picked up a Peacekeeper shotgun. Well, maybe your aim is better than theirs?

Thankfully, the learning curve isn’t too steep, even if a new player was to jump into Season 3 they could get familiarized with the game in a few hours. Like most competitive esport shooters, it's going to take time to master the game, but it's a game that feels worth putting in the time to do so. As you learn the intricacies of your favorite Legend you feel more confident to attempt maneuvers in combat that maybe a few months ago you thought would be far too risky. Like advancing on an enemy because you’re playing as Pathfinder, your grappling hook sending you flying over opponents, pulling off the perfect aerial Eva 8 Double Tap shotgun blasts to finish them off winning the game. Those pulse-pounding moments make Apex an absolute joy to play.

Overall Thoughts and Score

Apex offers a breath of fresh air in the Battle Royale genre and has successfully carved out its own section of the shooter fanbase. The game is well crafted, although there have been bumps in the road after launch. Particularly when they pushed out an update that effectively erased everyone’s saved data for a few hours until they could revert to the previous servers. A few features that eventually came with updates should have been included day one, like the ability to “party-up” with squad mates after you win a match so you can keep playing together.

If you asked me during Season 1 what score I would have given the game, I would have assigned it an 87/100. However, now that the game is well into Season 3, a good amount of the initial issues I had with the game have been patched or improved. Slight additions to the UI have been made, like displaying the ammo type of the guns your squad are using when you open your inventory. These feature polishing updates show how much Respawn is listening to player feedback. The engaging limited time events like the Shadowfall zombie mode over Halloween, and the Duo mode that dropped shortly after have kept Apex relevant. For those reasons, I give the current state of the game in Season 3, a 93/100.