What Reviewers Are Saying About 'Apex Legends,' the New Game From Electronic Arts -- Barrons.com
7:59 am ET March 3, 2019 (Dow Jones) Print
By David Marino-Nachison
(summary, requires teams, so headsets needed. But the mic isn't needed as it is in Fortnite)
What kind of game can take on Fortnite, the battle royale sensation that shook the videogame industry in 2018? Maybe another battle royale sensation -- this time, from Electronic Arts (EA)
Tae Kim covered the unexpected launch of Apex Legends for Barron's, noting the excitement it generated while cautioning against overenthusiasm. Some analysts see it as a potentially meaningful source of revenue for EA, though perhaps not until next year.
Still, reviewers have been largely positive about the game, calling it a welcome addition to an inescapable genre of shooting game.
"It's a fantastic riff on the genre and the freshest take on an already-established subset of games we've seen in quite some time," wrote Brittany Vincent in Esquire. "While Apex Legends has the same fundamentals as other battle royales, it's just different enough to feel unique instead of derivative. And that's perfect for Fortnite veterans who've grown weary of Tomato Town or Loot Llamas or that relentless Technicolor aesthetic."
-- Destructoid's Dan Roemer offered a useful primer of Apex Legends, which pits 20 teams of three players, each of whom must be a different "Legend" -- roughly, a character with its own set of abilities -- against each other.
"In my time with Apex, I managed to squeeze in numerous matches with every legend on the roster, whether I'm bamboozling enemies with holograms as Mirage or slipping in and out of reality itself with Wraith, " Roemer wrote. "Every legend has a notable use or function within a squad and experimenting with a variety of squad selections tended to always result in an interesting combination of abilities that could potentially change up strategies from match-to-match."
-- That might seem like inflexibility -- but it works, wrote Gamereactor's Mike Holmes.
"Beyond the far-future sci-fi setting, the thing that really sets Apex apart is the structure of the matches," he wrote. "The games are exclusively (at least at the time of writing) for three-player teams and there are no options for solo play, duos, or teams larger than three. But, as the old saying goes, three is the magic number, and this hard limit ensures that each encounter is far more tactical than your typical last player standing shooter."
-- It matters which Legend you pick, writes Game Revolution's Paul Tamburro, but not too much.
"I found it easy to overlook my characters' abilities when firing my gun was routinely the easier option, and some of the ultimates are largely forgettable, such as Mirage's ability to have five holograms of himself idly stand around in a circle," he wrote. "But their underwhelming abilities aside, the Legends themselves are a memorable and diverse bunch, offering a little something for everyone including the presence of two LGBTQ+ characters."
-- Teamwork is important, writes Polygon's Khee Hoon Chan, but it's not too difficult to pull off.
"Apex Legends' robust ping system allows squad members to communicate with startling ease and clarity," he wrote. " At its core, it's a single button I can tap to let everyone know what I'm up to. It renders voice chat with internet strangers largely unnecessary. Want to suggest a location to land on from the dropship? Just point to that area and ping it. Wish to tell your teammates about a nifty weapon upgrade you spotted among the desert dunes? Just aim your crosshair on the attachment and ping it. Want to suggest camping in a nearby bunker? Just ping it."
-- Over at GameSpot, Phil Hornshaw praised what might be called the game's "playability."
"Moment-to-moment," he wrote, "what's remarkable about Apex Legends is that it just works. Battle royale is a bit of an obtuse genre with a lot of moving parts; in most games, you find weapons, gun attachments, armor, healing items, and more. You'll spend lots of time digging in menus to manage inventory. Apex streamlines all of that with user interface tweaks that make it possible to instantly identify what you need and ignore the things you don't."
-- How will this free game make money? Screen Rant's Rob Keyes explains: "The game's monetization model involves selling premium currency that can be spent on (very expensive) premium character and weapon skins, and the game's loot boxes (called Apex Packs). The Apex Packs contain everything from skins, to emotes, lines of dialogue for characters, and scrap that can be used to craft cosmetics not yet acquired.
"The best part of this take on the Overwatch loot formula is that there are no duplicates, and the rarity levels of everything are outlined on the official Apex Legends website," Keyes wrote. "In the future, there will be battle passes for seasons (taking from the Fortnite and Rainbow Six Siege playbook) that last three months where limited time cosmetics can be earned or purchased."
-- The game was a surprise arrival, a move Business Insider's Ben Gilbert said EA pulled off deftly.
"It's a huge risk -- or at least it feels like a huge risk -- to launch a game without a carefully planned marketing campaign," Gilbert wrote. "Instead, EA worked with a large group of influencers who had a chance to play the game one week before launch. When 'Apex' was announced on February 4, a cluster of influencers also flooded the web with their own #ApexPartner-labeled content. Moreover, many of those influencers kept covering the game after launch because their fans demanded more."
-- GamesRadar found the game remarkable for a new, free-to-play, amusement.
Perhaps most baffling of all is how on earth Apex Legends is a free to play game," its review read. "With almost two years of development time at a AAA studio made up of industry veterans, without even launching in early access, it is a miracle that Apex Legends is free-to-play. Everything about the game feels like the des have dedicated most of their time play testing, and the result is an immaculate battle royale that should only get better as the months roll on."
