We do a special kind of review on gamelust called a ‘rolling review’ where we play the game and share our opinions on a daily basis as we progress through the game. This gives you an in-depth look at whether or not we are enjoying the game, as well as a dynamic score throughout the experience from beginning to [hopefully] end, updated daily.
2/4/2019
Long story short, Apex Legends was announced yesterday, revealed today, and released minutes later. If any game deserved a rolling review, it would be this one. I played for about 5 hours tonight managing to get all the way up to level 8 before calling it quits for the night. You can watch my struggles with the game on Mixer.
When I first heard about this new game I had the same reaction as most. Really? Another battle royale game? But I watched a few trailers, then a stream on Mixer, and I knew I had to give this one a try. There are quite a few unique gameplay mechanics that make this game a little bit more than your run of the mill Fortnite clone(which is itself a PUBG ripoff). To start with you have 8 different characters(six to start and two unlockable) each with different special abilities. Kind of like classes in an RPG, you have a healer, tank, tracker, and several other classes that can change the outcome of a battle with the press of a button. The other mechanic that stood out compared to other battle royale games, you can respawn teammates. Now, it’s not as simple as a slow revive like you may have become accustomed to in various online shooters. Here you have to recover your teammates player card and then deliver it to the nearest unused respawn station, which leaves you uncovered for 8 seconds, and you must survive until they’re spawned in.
Everything else in this game is basically a 60 player Last Squad Standing with 20 teams of 3 players each. The game is built on the same engine as Titanfall and uses much of the same assets so things like running and shooting feel great. Though wall running and the Titans have been removed from this game, you can still climb over objects and even use open doors to climb up to the roof of a building.
The game also features a rather healthy selection of customizable options for each character that can be earned through playing the game and earning Apex Packs, or by purchasing digital currency from the store. All of these items are cosmetic and do not give any player advantage to those who pay for these items and/or packs. Some of the items you can earn include customizable banners, banner frames, character and weapon skins, intro and kill animations/quotes and random types of currency to craft/unlock these items or other characters. Getting to the next level in order to obtain your next Apex Pack became rather addicting all by itself.
The gameplay is nearly flawless but that doesn’t mean this game is perfect. Early on kills were hard to come by so the fact this game does not track knock-downs appeared to be a glaring mistake in my eyes. I was also surprised to find out that each character’s kill count is tracked separately. So if you don’t get first pick and someone else takes your favorite character(s) you may be forced to look like a noob in the intro screen with zero kills even though you’re a level 15. I also was forced to leave a match early when my teammates refused to recover my card so I could not respawn. Though I had a kill and lasted nearly 10 minutes into the match, I was awarded zero points in every category except kills. It was as if I forfeited my earnings because my asshole teammates ran away and left me for dead.
I think so far this game is pretty fun and I’m eager to play it with some friends in the near future. I played most of the night solo with randos which really held the game back. If I could play this with my crew I think I’d enjoy it even more. I’m reluctant to give this too high of a score so I’m going to start with an 80 out of 100 and see if the game improves. I think it has a chance to gain a good 5 points or more as I get more experience with it. Currently, I am eager to get some more time with the game tomorrow and maybe see if I can get a friend or two to join me.
xsuicidesn0wmanx – 2/09/19
Finally got to play with a few friends tonight and had a blast. Gone was the frustration of having to deal with two idiots at the same time. While I don’t think everyone I play with is of lesser intelligence, they sure don’t act like it. I’ve started to get used to respawning my teammates. Everyone seems to rush into a fight and fire their weapon before they’re in any kind of range to do any damage. Most fights end up in a 1 on 3 battle, then the other teammate rushes in and also gets completely destroyed, and then I’m forced to save the day all while they come back weaponless.
There are also a few minor things that have been annoying me. First, there seem to be WAY too many of those shotgun pistols lying around the map. This is easily the worst gun in the game, it’s quite literally useless in a fight. I’d rather melee someone 3 times(which will knock them down) than shoot them 3 times point blank with this weapon(which barely scratches them). There are also times where an enemy seems to knock you down as if you have no armor on, regardless of whether you have a common piece of armor or legendary, two shots and you’re dead. But the thing that frustrates me the most, the game doesn’t count knockdowns as a stat. Right now I’m probably averaging 3-4 knocks per game, but some matches I’ll end up with 0-1 kills even tho I’ll have 300-400 damage dealt. It makes me feel like all my effort was for nothing. Like the whole match was a gigantic waste of time.
The game does have it’s moments, however. At one point tonight I decided to use one of the balloon launchers to attempt to rescue a teammate who had been knocked down. Our wonderful 3rd(a rando) bailed on us at the start of a match and my buddy was ambushed by another team during the confusion as we tried to salvage the match. I used the balloon to launch myself over the top of the base where he got knocked and landed within a few feet of where he had died. I quickly picked up his player card and rushed out of there before anyone even knew I had been there. It’s the little, unexpected things like that which I find that make this game even more special than your run of the mill battle royale.
When you get to play this with your buddies, even if it’s just one friend plus one rando, the game is really fun. As a team, this is a 95/100 if ever I saw one. If you’re running solo with two randos this is no better than an 82/100.
xsuicidesn0wmanx – 2/10/19
Played by myself again until the end of the night. For the most part, my feelings about playing with randos vs playing with a friend were solidified. I was able to get close with a few of the randos, but never able to pull out a victory against another team that communicated better. We did manage to get a win when we finally had 3 people on a mic, but towards the end of the night when we were all close to turning the system off for the night.
I had played most of the previous two nights as Bloodhound but for tonight I decided to Switch to Lifeline. Like many people, I loved the idea of a character that could track our enemies. But as I played more I felt like my tracking ability was doing more to alert the enemy to our position than actually helping us locate enemies. Bloodhounds ability is best used when you already know a team has seen you and you’re trying to locate them. At least with Lifeline, I could drop a healing pod to heal myself and others in between fights. Not to mention the care package full of neato burrito goodies you can call every couple of minutes
Control-wise this game is damn near flawless. It’s every bit Titanfall meets Overwatch and when played with friends is a near flawless experience. I still feel this game is a 95/100 when you play with your friends, but without any form of communication, I’m still solidly stuck on 82/100.
xsuicidesn0wmanx – 2/11/19
Another night running the solo act. I felt like switching it up and started to run as Bangalore and at least for tonight, that was a good choice. Me and my team of random miscreants managed to top 3 five or six times tonight. The highlight was both the craziest and most frustrating part of the night. I dropped into a firefight with a total noob, might have been his second match ever. He ends up jump master and drops us on top of one of the mountain sections between the main areas. Not even 30 seconds in and this fight is already a lost cause. The more experienced player who jumped with us was dead and left the battle within 2 minutes. The noob then decided to go AFK for 7 minutes before abandoning ship himself. Meanwhile, all I have been able to scavenge is the ultra craptacular shotgun pistol.
Well, I’m one good match away from leveling up so I’m not about to run out there and die in a blaze of lackluster glory. So I hide underneath a bridge. From this point, I keep an eye on the action from a higher position while one by one every team slowly takes each other out. Everyone seems to be content to rush into the middle and duke it out so I backtrack towards the back of the ring and eventually find a supply bin with an r-99 assault rifle and a wingman heavy pistol and some decent armor. Somehow I manage to sneak past everyone through the circle shrinking two more times to get into the final circle with a decent amount of ammo and health.
As I sit underneath a platform I watch the other two teams fight each other. One player goes down, only one other team left, I can’t pray that they all commit suicide so I decide to ambush the other team. As soon as they go to pick up their downed teammate I pounce and knock down the second member of their team. It’s 1v1 now and I have an advantage, I have Bangalore. I run out, the enemy shoots wildly at me. I fire a smoke grenade at them and essentially blind them of my tactics. I sneak around the side and climb up behind them, taking them out from behind.
Sadly this was the highlight of my night, and the game so far. The cold truth is people are far too selfish to play a team game without having some kind of investment in their teammates. I’ve had players choose not to pick up my player card to respawn me even though it was safe and they had plenty of time. I’ve had others pick up the card, drop it at the respawn station, only to loot all three supply bins leaving nothing for me to use when I drop back in the fight.
Final Word:
As of tonight, I am a level 24 with around 100 kills. I find this game exhilarating yet frustrating. Forcing you to play as a team shows how brilliant the game can be, but being able to rely on just about anyone else leaves me feeling somewhat ill. While I’d love to rate this a 95/100 based on my incredible yet limited experience with my friends the majority of the time I spent playing was by myself teamed up with a bunch of randos.
Respawn has built a solid game with plenty of uniqueness to differentiate itself from other major battle royale titles like PUBG, Blackout and Fortnite. The core is solid and can be a blast. With planned updates that feature new characters and hopefully a new map or two this game has the potential to be that 95/100 every time you pick it up. But as of right now I am more frustrated than anything else. As it stands today, this is an 81/100 for me. I still believe this is the best battle royale game out right now. The game has room to improve and will improthere are there’s a few things that need to be addressed before this game can dethrone Blackout and Fornite.