| Apex Legends | |
| |
| Developer(s) | Respawn Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Release Date(s) | 4 February 2019 |
| Genre(s) | Battle royale, first-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer, Training |
| Rating(s) | Common Sense Media: PG-13+ |
| Platform(s) | Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One |
Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 4, 2019, without any prior announcement or marketing.
The gameplay of Apex fuses elements from a variety of video games, including Respawn's own Titanfall series, battle royale games, class-based shooters, and those with evolving narratives. Approximately sixty players are pitted against each other on an island in squads of three, with one player controlling where their squad lands. The squads then must scavenge for weapons and other resources to fight other squads, during which the play area gradually constricts in size until one squad remains, thus ending the match. The game also features care packages and the ability to revive your teammates within a certain amount of time. Communication with team members can be done through voice chat or through a ping system, allowing teammates to mark supplies, locations, and enemies with ease. The game features nine heroes to choose from (though three of them are locked by default), and features a microtransaction system for cosmetic items.
The concept for the game came to fruition during the development of a new Titanfall game, after EA's acquisition of Respawn in 2017. The sudden success of the battle royale genre prompted the developers to create one of their own that incorporates elements of the series, in addition to the concepts seen in games throughout the past decade. Following its release, the developers announced plans for cross-platform play.
Apex Legends received very positive reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay, progression system, and fusion of elements from various genres. Some considered it a worthy competitor to Fortnite, a similar game that had gained massive popularity in the previous year. The game surpassed over 25 million players by the end of its first week, and 50 million within its first month.
Gameplay[]
Apex Legends is a battle royale game borrowing concepts from the hero shooter genre of games, and is set 30 years after the events of Titanfall 2 with the Militia-IMC conflict that was central to the main line Titanfall games over, leaving many Frontier worlds without a central governing and leading to the rebirth of an old bloodsport. Apex Legends differs from most battle royale games by incorporating Legends, pre-defined heroes with unique abilities that fall into roles such as Offense, Defense, Support and Recon.
As with other hero shooters, players select from one of about ten pre-made Legends, each which has unique appearances and sets of passive and activated abilities with cooldown timers, along with an ultimate ability that requires charging up over the period of the match. Players are grouped into teams of three, with each player selecting a unique Legend in turn, and each match features up to twenty teams competing for a total of sixty competitors. All teams start with no equipment aside from a melee attack and their Legend's abilities and are flown over the game's map via a dropship which flies in a straight line from a random position on the edge of the map to cross to another position on the opposite side. Each team is assigned a "Jump Master" who decides when the team will exit the craft and guide them onto any spot on the map that they can reach. The map contains a variety of locations on the map include military bunkers, watchtowers, and depots, squalid slums and prefabricated housing, industrial facilities such as a water treatment plant, or the wandering supply ships which contain high-tier loot.
Once on the ground teams scour the various structures and supply bins on the game map for weapons, ammunition, and other equipment. Weapon attachments and defensive items are tiered, indicated by their color. The progression is white < blue < purple < gold. A more 'rare' item is always better than a lower-tier item, and gold tier items give special effects such as reducing cooldowns of tactical abilities.
An orange field begins outside of the map and periodically constricts inwards, a hallmark of the battle royale genre, shrinking the playable area to create a situation which inevitably leads to the teams fighting for loot, eliminating each other to be the last team standing, all while staying within the ever-shrinking safe zone on the map.
A player can be 'downed' into a vulnerable bleed-out state. Players are able to use a 'knockdown shield' item to protect themselves while they crawl for cover or to reach a squadmate, who can then revive them. A rare item found in the arena, the legendary knockdown shield, allows a player to self-revive after a lengthy animation.
If the player bleeds out, or an opponent causes enough damage to them through gunfire or uses a finisher move on them, they are then eliminated, dropping their equipment to be looted by surviving friends or foes. The 'deathbox' also contains a banner that can only be picked up by friends. The player can potentially be respawned if their squadmates recover this banner in a limited amount of time. Once picked up, there is no time limit for the remaining teammates to take it to one of several Spawn Beacons, which are scattered on the map. Teammates can be simultaneously revived in this manner.
Apex features both built in voice-chat communication with squadmates and a highly context-sensitive single-button communication approach that allows players to ping their teammates map features like weapons, ammunition, hazards, opponents, or points of interest. Voice acted lines spoken by the Legends are specific to each weapon, ammunition type, equipment type and level, and the status of what is pinged; player characters will voice concern or anticipation when a supply bin or door is pinged when opened as this carries the implication that enemies have already passed through and looted the area.
Apex Legends is free-to-play and supported through microtransactions for cosmetic items and legends. New cosmetic items can be earned from opening Apex Packs, the game's version of loot boxes that contain a random assortment of rewards, or spending the in-game currency Crafting Materials, which are gained through Apex Packs. Apex Packs are freely earned as the player gains experience levels. Additionally, players freely gain Legend Tokens for playing matches as well as for leveling, which are used to unlock new Legends and certain cosmetic items. A final currency, Apex Coins, is bought with real-world funds and can be used to buy Apex Packs, unlock Legends, or purchase specific cosmetics.
Characters[]
You can read their bios here: https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends/about/characters
Seasons[]
| SEASON | TITLE | PERIOD | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | Wild Frontier | 19 March 2019 - 18 June 2019 |
Prior to the release of the season, players were encountering jump pads dotted around the world map, an ability introduced as Octane's ultimate ability. Octane, who is known as a daredevil, was introduced as a playable character. Battle Pass rewards included skins for characters and guns with a wild and prehistoric theme. Near the end of the season, the battle pass started to introduce challenges with rewards using the Legendary Hunt challenge event. |
| Season 2 | Battle Charge | 2 July 2019 - present (ends 1 October 2019) |
Prior to the release of the season, players found Flyers appearing around the map with death boxes. Players could shoot the flyers who would then drop the boxes with loot. The season introduced Wattson, who helped create the Apex ring, as a new playable character. The season saw major map changes, including Leviathans appearing on the map itself which can stomp on players. Unlike the first battle pass, the second pass see's players earning rewards through daily and weekly challenges alongside regular experience levelling. It also introduced a new legendary weapon known as the L-Star as well as various cosmetic additions such as new loading screens, new jump music and sky diving emotes. A ranked mode was also introduced. |
Other Information[]
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