Daily Thoughts: Apex Legends

Apex Legends was my first attempt at a proper battle royale game. Turns out I like it! So much so that I want to make a couple of points on why I liked it more and didn’t quit immediately like how I quit Fortnite moments after I started playing it.

Note: This is just a quick list of bullet points after less than 2 hours of initial play time. There’s a lot of room for design analysis and critique, but that would require a bit more time with the game. Apex defies a lot of standards set by the “original” battle royale, H1Z1 and its direct successor, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Might do a comparison analysis later on, but there are my immediate thoughts after playing the game for the first time.

1. Accessibility

Respawn really stepped up their game in accessibility options in Apex. Accessibility options are very, very diverse and easy to access. These might be small, even meaningless to many people, but for some, these are absolutely necessary and very welcome. Remember, experience of the majority doesn’t translate to experience of all.

Look at these options!

• Settings are accessible at any time, default to the ESC key on PC.
• Accessible chat options
• Built-in voice-to-text and text-to-voice system- all voice chat can be subtitled and vice versa. This is absolutely phenomenal for the genre where it relies heavily on both audio and visual information.
• Keys/controller and mouse sensitivity are completely remappable (most AAA games do this now, but not all games do this)
• FOV slider (most FPS/TPS games have this, but neat to see)
• Options for toggling or holding crouch and aim
• Three different colorblind options for different types of colorblindness– most games just have one “colorblind mode” with a toggle switch. Nice for them to include options for the three most common types of colorblindness.
• HUD and icons are clear, with opacity fully editable.

2. Representation and diversity

Apex did 10 times more on diversity and representation on launch than what Overwatch did in the past 3 years. Two characters (Bloodhunter and Gibraltar) are officially LGBT and nearly half out of the eight legends in the launch cast are visibly PoC. Representation is always important, and Respawn nailed this part.

(*It was hilarious to see the Gamer Culture^TM reacting on Gibraltar and Bloodhunter’s lore though*)

*Sobs in joy* JUST LOOK AT HIM, DAMMIT

 

3. Design-

Character design- Each and every legend is very distinguishable and unique. Their armor reflects their personality, cultural background, and in-game positions.

I was very impressed with Gibraltar’s design. His armor conveys both his occupation as a search and rescue agent and his cultural background (I’m not an expert on this but his front vest, neckless, and his idle pose all convey his pacific islander heritage), and his color highlights stand out vividly from the grey background for better visibility (sources: TBSkyen’s design critique video. Go watch em!).

Writing- Not sure if accents were accounted fully in the writing, but if they were, they are a very nice touch to convey extra character.

4. Gameplay

Environment design- Even though Apex doesn’t have the wall run and Titan action of Titanfall, it does have a fascinating environment design. Parkour is seamlessly integrated in the environment; instead of wall running, sliding is the new main method of traversal. The environment reflects this by having a lot of high ground and slopes. This was very fresh to me, as other battle royale games always gave me a sense of flatness. It uses high ground very effectively and effectively; the environment feels very dynamic, more so than other games that I’ve seen.

Also, the different zones present are full of character; each zone has a unique story that is clearly visible, and combined with the great sense of verticality and environment traversal, it makes the environment feel real.

(I want to explore the game design aspect of this game in a separate post, but I’ll post my general thoughts here for now)

Squad system- Respawn absolutely nailed this aspect. In Apex, you get to team up with two other players as a three-people squad against 19 other squads. Teamwork is essential, because unlike other battle royale games, everybody starts out on a different footing.

Hero Shooter- This is because Apex is also a hero shooter. Each hero has three different abilities, all working in synergy. Also note that every hero (so far) has at least one ability that directly helps their teammates. Another conscious decision there to encourage teamplay.

Cooperation- Apex’s ping system is one of the best non-verbal communications systems I’ve seen in a multiplayer game so far. It’s that good. I feel like Respawn really wanted to go against the unspoken truth: that voice chat is absolutely necessary to play as a squad in battle royale games.

So much to talk about just this feature alone. Maybe next time…

Respawn system- Another “deviation” from the norm set by PUBG: match isn’t immediately over after you die. Your teammates can pick up a “banner” of yours after you die to respawn you back into the game using a respawn node (which are located in wide-open “hot spots” and respawning requires a 10-second channeling time. Very nice risk-reward). Not sure if pings are available while you’re dead, but you can still use communication methods to direct the living players.

The “Zone”- Apex takes a different approach when dealing with the safe zone. Each game is divided up into multiple rounds, and the safe zone shrinks only after the round is over. The amount that it shrinks at once, however, is very large. This both forces movement and concentrates action towards the center of the map (what “traditional” zones do) and gives a bit more time with each encounter, as it obviously requires much more time to battle with a squad than to fight a single player (unique).

 

I really want to do a deeper analysis on game design, but sadly I’m short on time. I will come back to this subject once I’ve played a bit more of it.