GameTech: Apex at the very top of Battle Royale games

Ronan Jennings explains why Apex Legends may actually be the Battle Royale genre’s best moment

How do you know when an apex has been reached? Sometimes, you can only know when you look backwards, as the decline begins. While Fortnite is clearly the peak moment for Battle Royale popularity, Apex Legends may actually be the genre’s best moment.

Just like the teleporting Wraith, one of the game’s characters, Apex Legends appeared out of nowhere a few weeks ago, releasing without fanfare as a free-to-play battle royale set in the Titanfall universe. It didn’t take long for over 25 million players to catch wind, with the servers flooded with people hoping this was a breath of fresh air in a quickly saturating market.

They weren’t disappointed. Apex Legends is the most fun this reviewer has had in a Battle Royale game by some distance, combining features from a multitude of other titles into a fun, squad-based fight for survival.

Apex Legends is indeed team-based for now. That means you start in a group of three, with no option to play in solo mode, like the other popular titles in the battle royale genre. At first, this may seem like a limitation, but it soon becomes clear that the game was built from the ground up to accommodate teamwork and unity.

For now, there are eight characters, or legends, to choose at loadout. They include a soldier, tracker, toxicity expert, shield deployment tank, combat medic, hologram trickster, scout and the aforementioned teleporting Wraith. Each legend has a special ability that can deploy and regenerate after cooldowns, such as placing a poison trap or a healing drone, and they also have ‘super moves’ that can only be used as you build the relevant meter. Only one character per team can be chosen, meaning you have to complement each other’s choices to achieve the best balance and the greatest chance of winning.

In that sense, Apex Legends borrows a little from Overwatch and Team Fortress, especially as the character designs feel somewhat like a cross between those two universes, but once your squad lands in the combat zone, the game plays out like most other battle royales. The zone starts to shrink, pushing players closer and closer together, until only one team survives.

Where Apex Legends really shines, apart from the obvious evolutions above, is with the little touches. You can mark guns, locations and enemies for your teammates with a simple click of a button, making non-voice communication easy and intuitive. Movement, taken from the Titanfall games, is swift and energetic, allowing players to sprint and slide to beautiful effect. The weapons and gear are all very satisfying to look at and use.

For a free-to-play game, EA seems to have released a real gem in Apex Legends. In time, we make look back and realise it was the moment the genre peaked.

New Zelda awakens

Many people would agree that the Legend of Zelda peaked with Breath of the Wild, largely considered one of the best games ever upon its release two years ago. Nintendo’s Zelda follow-up may not have been what fans were expecting, but it’s still an exciting one.

Nintendo have announced they are releasing a complete remake of Link’s Awakening on the Nintendo Switch this year. The original was the first Zelda to appear on a handheld system when it was released on the Gameboy back in 1993. It was later released on the Gameboy colour in 1998.

As usual with a new Zelda, the graphical style is already causing some debate, with the world of Link’s Awakening looking like something out of a toy shop, with a plastic sheen effect and nearly stop-motion style. We think it looks great for a handheld remake. Well worth a peak – sorry, peek.

Tarnishing your game

Finally, if you’re looking for the opposite of an apex, then look no further than Fallout 76, which continues to tarnish the good name of both Bethesda and the Fallout series itself. Having released in an unfinished and buggy state, accompanied by broken promises and shoddy merchandise, the latest mishap has seen a player ‘teleport’ into a restricted part of the game by accident. Fearing that he would be banned as a result, the player quickly filed a support claim and posted screenshots, which may protect him from the, well, fallout.