I know, trust me I do, I said the same thing when I heard Respawn Entertainment came out with Apex Legends, “not another Battle Royal game.” Then I played it and that changed everything for me, it’s not your average battle royal game. The gameplay and concept may be the same, but the characters and abilities separate it from the rest. Respawn took a great step in its creation and providing it to players for free. Although you do have the option to make in-game purchases for skins and so forth, similar to your other battle royal games. They still did things differently, you don’t have the ability to go in solo. Even if you don’t have a group with you the game places you with other players who are also solo. This at times can be a bit much as some Randoms may have a better grasp at the game than others. At times things can work out when all players come together and communicate for the win.
Apex currently provides a total of eight characters to select from, each having things that make them unique. You have Lifeline, Bloodhound, Wraith, Bangalore, Pathfinder, Mirage, Caustic and Gibraltar. According to when you unlock Mirage and Caustic there are many more characters to come. This within itself is exciting to know. The way to unlock Mirage and Caustic would be to either purchase in-game currency or play until you build enough Legendary token to unlock them. To unlock them both you need 24,000 Legendary tokens or 1,500 Apex coins. You can spend the money purchasing Apex Coins or you can spend time earning legendary tokens. If you spend the time you would need to get to level 43 to reach enough legendary tokens to unlock both characters. You have the chance to unlock one at level 23, after that you can build enough Apex coins to purchase the other character.
Character Abilities:
Wraith:
Wraith is a character that stands out from her appearance, her eyes are like something out of a scary movie. Her passive ability is like a six sense to detect nearby enemies, which can come in handy. Wraith can hear voices from the void when danger is approaching. Wraith’s tactical ability is to go invisible, she quickly repositions herself in and out of the void to avoid taking damage. This ability can cause players to become confused and allow the player to take the enemy out by evading. However, the downside with that ability is you are unable to see enemies when moving through the void and it takes a second for you to pull out your gun after leaving the void. This can be a problem when you want to evade, turn back and attempt to take an enemy out. Her ultra is what makes her stand out, the ability to create a dimensional rift to link two locations. The downside to this ability in a way is it only last sixty seconds, so should be used wisely. If timed right this can be a great tool, you can bait an enemy or team to go through the portal and have them land around your team.
Bloodhound:
Bloodhound is exactly what he sounds like, his passive ability is tracking enemies. He can track footsteps and share with teammates if someone has or is in the area. This ability is vital when trying to locate that camper sitting in the corner. His tactical ability is also beneficial as he can use the “Eye of the Allfather” to reveal enemies, traps and give an idea if anyone is in the structures in front of him and his team. He can even track footsteps so after the person leaves an area he can track them to their known location. His Ultra is similar except he becomes the ultimate hunter which enhances his senses in order to see tracks that might have been gone cold, it also makes him move faster. This when trying to take out an entire team can come in handy when trying to evade gunfire.
Gibralter:
Gibralter is that heavy shielded character you want running into battle first, he is covered in armor. His passive only makes sense for his appearance, it’s a gun shield. Every time he aims down his sight he deploys a shield to block incoming fire. This is helpful when in a gunfight with multiple people and you are only able to aim at one. The downside from what I have noticed is that after taking too much damage the shield drops, which makes sense but you would rather that not be the case. Gibralter’s tactical is Dome of Protection, which allows him to drop a dome-shaped shield that you can hide in. this is helpful when taking damage and you need to revive a teammate, the downside is the shield only lasts fifteen seconds. Which honestly is just enough time to pick up a teammate, so not really a downside. His ultimate is also just what you would think it is for a big guy carrying so much armor. My man can call a concentrated mortar strike on the position marked with smoke. This helps so much, especially when you have downed someone and their teammate is coming over to try and help them up.
Lifeline:
Lifeline is the Jamaican medic, a character needed on your team at all times. Her passive combat medic is something that you need as she has the ability to revive knocked teammates twenty-five percent faster. The faster you get your teammate up the faster you can continue the battle to that win, no one wants to be outnumbered in a battle royal game. Lifeline’s tactical is D.O.C heal drone, a little robot drops and as long you are close enough it will heal you over time. Imagine you just finished a serious battle and need some health but don’t have any health packs. Lifeline comes along and says come let me heal yah know, in that miss Cleo voice. Things begin to look better after that, as you watch your health increase. Her ultimate is a gift from the Legends up above, she calls in a care package. As she again in that miss Cleo voice shouts “Care package inbound, “Big Tings in Dat” making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Caustic:
Caustic once unlocked looks a little something like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, like just left the chemical lab and is just ready for battle. His passive ability is extremely beneficial to his tactical and ultimate. He has Nox Vision, which allows him to see enemies when they are in his gas trap and gas grenades. His tactical is Nox Gas Trap, he places up to six canisters that will release a deadly gas. Now let’s say you are in a building and you know that other players are outside, you can drop these canisters and they will take damage. They will also be unable to revive a downed teammate while in this gas because they are taking damage while attempting to do this. I have seen this used and I tried it, it works wonders for solo situations. Caustic’s ultimate is not much different, he drops a Nox Gas Grenade that covers a larger area.
Pathfinder:
Pathfinder to me is Johnny Five, hey he did say “Johnny Five Alive” in the movie short circuit. This robot looking character, has a passive ability to access different beacons around the map telling you the next ring location. This comes in handy when you are deciding the next direction you need to head in. His tactical is to use a Grappling Hook, you may be wondering can you use that grappling hook on other players and the answer would be yes. You can shoot it another player and rope them in closer to you for the takedown. Funny to see and do. Johnny five to me has an ultimate that can assist in those tight situations. Let’s say you are high up and need to get across to the other side, but below you, are nothing but gunfire. No need to worry Pathfinder can create that path with a Zipline Gun. He can create a zip line that can take him and his team across without even having to drop down and engage in gunfire. Why fight when you can let someone else lessen the herd and later take them out.
Mirage:
Mirage is that magician that never really made it to Vegas all the way, he performed a show once or twice but it never stuck. Not to take anything away from him, as his abilities are extraordinary. His passive is Encore, which allows him to automatically to drop a decoy and cloak for five seconds when knocked down. Sounds like something that would be helpful, but if someone is shooting you it wouldn’t that matter too much. To what stands out the most for this character is his tactical and his ultimate. His tactical is Psyche out, he can send out a hologram of himself which confuses enemies. So, you think he is one spot when the real player is in another spot. This ability is helpful when going up against an entire team and you need to get away. His ultimate is very similar except instead one decoy he deploys several, almost like a disappearing act, except you just see five or six Mirage’s and have no clue which one is the real one.
Bangalore:
I saved this character for the last because she is my hands down favorite. I normally do not play as a female character in games, not sure why just not something I do. This character has some of my favorite abilities. Her passive is Double Time when she is taking fire, she starts booking, my girl can run. I have been in several jams and once she shouts out “Double time taking fire” I already know the problem solved. Her tactical has saved me and other teammates time and time again. She has a smoke launcher which creates a smoke wall on impact. Now the beauty of this is that if it explodes near an enemy it can cause damage. I have even knocked someone and taken someone that was knocked out. My absolute favorite is her ultimate Rolling Thunder, which calls in an artillery strike that slowly creeps across the area. This bad boy has helped me get two wins.
Final thoughts:
Apex is a game that has me hooked, I have several other games that I play and enjoy playing, but I put them aside because of this game. It has that cartoon look to it, with a realistic battle feel. The characters, the abilities, the finishers are not the only a part of what makes this game fun. It could be the excitement of something new, it could be the fact it was free, it could be the movement of each character. It could also be if you down someone that you want to make sure their teammate can’t revive them so you can perform a finisher move. Each character has a different finisher that uniquely defines them. Which you are able to unlock more using the in-game currency system. In my opinion, it’s all of it, the game is not good because it’s different. It’s good because the designers took time in creating something that players would appreciate. They thought of every possible scenario that would make the battle different. Even down to the weapons, those players are familiar with from playing the Titan Fall Franchise games. If you have not played Apex for some odd reason I highly recommend you give it a try. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
