Is Apex Legends Good?

Updated:

01 May 2023

Legends

One of the most important aspects of Apex Legends has to be its characters, which are titled Legends in the game. When it comes to having the best experience in Apex, the main thing to think about is which legend you will play. It's super important to the gameplay as it will dictate what role you have on your team and how you can interact in a match.

As of writing this article, there is currently a diverse cast of 23 Legends that are divided into five classes. We have five assault Legends, six skirmisher Legends, 4 Recon Legends, 4 support Legends and finally 4 controller Legends.

Now you might be asking, why are all these characters separated into different groups? Well, that's because every legend has its abilities which are then separated into these few classes.

Crazy, I know.

Let's take a look at someone like Bangalore for example, one of the faces of the game. Bangalore can place down smoke with her tactical ability. She also has a passive that gives her a speed boost once shot. Next, Bangalore has her ultimate, a Rolling Thunder that once placed down moves towards the direction it was aimed at.

Then finally because she is an assault legend, she has the assault passive which allows her to carry extra ammo per slot in her backpack and also open special loot bins around the map. This makes Bangalore an amazing character to just run around the map and direct your team. She can enter a fight on her own and get out relatively safely due to her passive and her tactical ability. If you're looking for a run-and-gun-type legend, then Bangalore is your main gal.

But maybe that's not for you, maybe you want a different type of legend. Maybe you want to find out where people are on the map and guide your team that way. Then a Recon character might just be for you. In this class, there are characters like Crypto who uses a drone to scan characters around him, and then there's someone like Vantage who has a sniper rifle and can see what shield’s enemies have.

The recon class also can scan beacons around the map to see where players are. There's so much information with these Legends and it's amazing for any player who loves to direct their team. Sitting back and supporting is the best way to play these Legends and is great for that sort of player.

Just to quickly wrap up the other few classes, we have the skirmisher who can look at what's in care packages. Support who can craft teammate's respawn banners once they have died out. And finally, controller Legends can scan beacons around the map to see where the next ring will be. Every legend fits into these subtypes, but every legend themselves also has different abilities.

From someone like Wraith who can go invulnerable for a short amount of time, to Rampart who can place cover and also use a minigun to destroy her enemies. Picking a legend is so important when it comes to playing Apex as it dictates exactly what you will be doing in a match.

Yeah, there's the randomness of picking up different guns and having different attachments, but the one thing you can consistently have is your legend and their abilities. That's why different meta setups are depending on what Legends you run.

Maybe you'll have a team with a Wraith, Vantage and the Caustic. Therefore you'll be able to push different fights, watch enemies from a distance and also lockdown a building with ease.

But then you might have a different setup with Catalyst, Seer and Valk. This says it will allow you to shoot enemies through catalyst ultimate because of Seer’s ability and also get out of sticky situations with Valk’s Ultimate.

There are so many different combos and it makes Apex Legends super unique.

Speaking of uniqueness, that gets to our next important aspect of the game.

Uniqueness (How it compares with other FPS games)

Apex Legends is unique when it comes to the current fps market. Battle Royale has of course taken over the entire gaming space over the last five or six years. Just in that space alone, there are games such as Call of Duty Warzone, PUBG, Fortnite and of course Apex itself. Ever since Apex launched it has been in constant competition with all of these different games, but somehow it stayed up top.

Yeah, Fortnite has blown everyone out of the water with its constant player base and consistent updates, but nothing feels as fresh as Apex Legends. Even a few years in, Apex Legends consistently updates its player base with brand-new features that keep it feeling fresh.

Just look at the recent legend updates which separated all of the characters are different groups, but completely changed the way the game plays. It made characters such as Bangalore way better as she is easily able to get the attachment she needs for her abilities to work better, and it also allowed Pathfinder to become the most picked legend in the game. It completely changed everything and kept things fresh.

But that's not the only thing that makes Apex Legends stand out from the competition. The movement is easily the biggest part of Apex Legends and what drives the community to consistently keep playing. The gunplay might be fantastic, the guns themselves might be easy to deal with and the legend variety is amazing, but the movement is where it's at. Even at a basic level, Apex Legends has very smooth movement for your average player.

You can run, you can walk you can slide and you can jump. It all feels pretty fluid, when you start getting deeper into the game everything opens up. Because of the engine that Apex Legends is on, and the groundwork it built from the Titanfall 2 engine, Apex Legends has many movement techniques that make the game so unique.

There are things such as super gliding which allows a player to mantle on something and slide off of it at rapid speeds. We have the usual wall bounce like in most movement games, and we have tap strafing which allows a player to instantly change their momentum in a different direction.

Though to many these movement techniques might be seen as exploiting the engine, it's what keeps the players constantly playing. The main clips you see on the Internet aren't just straight beams from guns or amazing aim, it's the insane movement that some of these phenomenal players can pull off. It makes the game so unique and there's no other game like it.

Another thing that Apex Legends has is its characters. We've had hero shooters for a while now, from things like Team Fortress 2 to of course the ever-popular Overwatch. Apex Legends didn't change too much when it originally launched, but as time has gone on and as these Legends have changed, it’s broken into its own space in the market.

It's not your traditional hero shooter, as each of these characters has very specific goals in mind. Because of how the maps work, each legend has its advantage in different situations.

In one situation Octane might be the best as you can run away from a fight and take your team into one with his ultimate. Then in a different situation, you might need to lockdown a building, so someone like Watson would be perfect.

The thing is, it's not like you can exactly plan all of these situations like in Overwatch and Team Fortress 2. In those games, the maps play out the same in every single match. Competitive teams make it so simple that all you have to do is remember what the characters can do and play off of that. The thing that makes Apex Legends so unique is the fact that it's completely random.

Being a Battle Royale adds in randomised elements such as loot, guns and of course cooldowns on different abilities. There are different loot items in the game that decrease your cooldown on your ultimate in your tactical ability meaning that you always need to be on edge when you're fighting a different team.

Because of how diverse every legend is when compared to each other, anything could happen on any part of the map. You might come across a building with a Watson trapping every door, or you might find a Rampart sitting on a door ready to blast your face away with her minigun. There are so many different options in every single fight and it really keeps the game fresh and consistently allows it to stand out from the competition.

It makes Apex Legends one of the best fps right now and easily the best Battle Royale out of the bunch.

Combat

Another reason why Apex Legends is so good is the combat. Though some aspects of Apex might be like your usual shooter, the vast majority of its components are just better than every other game you can play. Just its normal shooting mechanics are so perfectly tuned that it's hard to go back to other shooters. If you just played a few matches of Call of Duty and move straight over to Apex, Apex is just better in every aspect. The fine-tuning of your movement, the recoil control of every gun, and how combat flows, in general, are just amazing.

There are so many aspects to combat that it's really hard to encapsulate them. There are of course the Legends that you pick, the guns that you end up finding around the map, and the various attachments that you have on those. You have access to grenades, that come in a myriad of different forms.

From a frag grenade that explodes like a normal grenade, an arc star that is a sort of Semtex-type device, and of course your usual thermite. The thing is, each of these grenades can be used in different aspects. Because Apex revolves around buildings a lot of the time, grenades are fantastic for flushing people out of them. They can also be used to take down doors, force people to move away from reviving, and overall just change the space in a fight.

Speaking of space, that's the main part of combat that makes Apex Legends what it is. No matter what legend you are playing and no matter what gun you are using taking space is the main thing you need to do. Yeah, you might have the best aim in the world, but if you can't control the flow of combat then you're not going to win. This is why certain Legends excel when it comes to taking space and why Legends such as Catalyst are currently the meta.

Catalyst can place a wall and completely change the direction of combat around her. She can divide up teams, make teams move a different way and overall just control the way fights are going to play out. Then there are characters like Wattson, who can take space away from the opponent and make them second guess where they're going to move. Because of the fences, she can place down, they need to decide to go around the fences or take the time to destroy them to go in a certain direction.

Space is one of the biggest parts of Apex Legends combat and it just makes it one of the best. In every single gunfight, there's always a way to take space and it truly makes the combat unique. Even rushing characters such as Wraith, Bangalore and Octane can take space with their mere presence. Just being in a certain spot, holding down a building or standing near a rock dictate where enemies are going to go.

But if we're going to talk about combat, then we need to get into the weapon systems of the game.

Weapons

Though Apex Legends might be a hero shooter and a Battle Royale at heart, weapons are the driving factor of it. When you land in Apex Legends match comment the first thing you need to look for is a weapon and that will dictate how your game plays out. Yeah, you might be good with every weapon in the game, but most people are not and have a few that they specifically love. The thing about Apex Legends though, is that every weapon is good in its own right just depending on the situation.

Just like most shooters, Apex Legends has divided its weapons into several categories. Being a Battle Royale though, means they need to segregate them even further. This is where the ammo system comes into play.

Apex Legends has multiple different ammo types. We have light weapons, heavy weapons, energy weapons, shotguns and snipers. Depending on the season as well, a bow might be on the ground meaning that arrows take up an Ammo slot in the floor loot. Apex does have a separation between assault rifles, SMGs and shotguns etc, but the main thing has always been the ammo types.

You have to play around with what Ammo you have and what Ammo you can get. Some of the most powerful weapons in the game used light ammo meaning that most people are going to use the ammo and most people are going to carry it on their person. That means that in a gunfight you might not have much light ammo, but once you beat people they most likely will drop some.

Heavy weapons are the second most used type in the game, meaning that heavy is generally common but you might not come across it as much as light. There's also the balance between your teammates, as it's probably a bad idea for you all to be running double light unless you have a character such as Loba.

Loba completely changes the weapon and gun system in Apex Legends as ammo is no longer a problem. Just put down her ultimate ability and you can find all the ammo and guns you need in a certain area. Though each team member is only allowed to grab two items, they can take as much ammo as they desire. Loba makes the game so much easier when it comes to looting, which is why she's one of the most used characters in the game.

Weapons are pivotal to every gunfight in Apex Legends because attachments are where it's at. You might land on a weapon such as an R-99, or a Peacekeeper but that's not going to last you until the end of the game. Yeah, they might be good in your first few fights, but you need an attachment to keep going. In recent years, Apex Legends has changed its shield system. Gone are the days of you landing with no shield and having to search for a basic one. In older Apex Legends seasons, you had to find different upgrades of Shields as you couldn't upgrade them normally.

Evo shields were later introduced, which allow players to upgrade their Shield’s health through damage. This allows them to go from the base white to blue to purple, and up to red. Gold Shields are also listed around the map, but they are more for quick healing than actual upgrading as they do not have the EVO mechanic.

Because of the way the shield system works, you need magazines on your guns to be able to damage people more, you will also need quicker reload speeds and quicker fire rate. This is where items such as magazines come in, stocks for reload speeds, shotgun bolts for firing speed etc.

There's so much when it comes to the weapons in Apex Legends and it's what makes the game good. You are always on the lookout for an upgraded attachment or maybe even swapping your weapon out completely. There are barely any weapons in Apex Legends that you wouldn't want to pick up, as they all depend on what situation you find yourself in. From using a shotgun in close quarters to sitting at the back of the map with the charge rifle, it just depends on the player and the situation you are placed in.

Because of the ever-flowing nature of Apex Legends, different weapons work in different situations and it keeps the game fresh. In one game you might be constantly in close-range fights meaning you'll be picking up SMGs and shotguns, but in another match, you might be forced to sit further back using an assault rifle or a sniper rifle. Yeah everybody has their preferred guns, but each gun is good in its situation and it makes Apex what it is.

Speaking of what makes Apex what it is, the next thing to discuss is one of the most controversial aspects of the game.

The Matchmaking

Matchmaking is easily one of the most controversial aspects of Apex Legends but still makes the game good. Just like any other modern-day shooter, skill-based matchmaking is in place. We know some people don't like it, but it's gotta be there. It's not like everybody is bad at games anymore, we've had the pandemic everybody knows what they're doing.

People have put thousands of hours into these games and know them like the back of their hand, and it's way more common than you might think for them to be some of the better players in the world. The percentage of good players to bad plays is completely changed over the last few years, so skill-based matchmaking is there to try to keep it as fair as possible.

They think about Apex Legends though is that skill-based matchmaking is kind of all over the place. It has its own ranked system, just like many other games as well. From the early stages of rookie up to Apex Predator, that's how the game ranks you in skill. You have to play the ranked lobbies, and slowly build up your skill over time to get the highest rank of Apex Predator. The thing is, being one of the highest ranks in the game means that you were in the top percentile of players. There aren't as many as you might think, which is why matchmaking sometimes gets messed up.

To try and keep the queue times quickest possible, Apex Legends uses skill-based matchmaking to its limits. It's going to try and place people in your lobby who are around your skill level but doesn't make it a complete priority. You and your friends might be platinum rank, but you might come up against a few Apex predators or maybe even rookies in the same lobby.

The vast majority of the time it's all over the place, but it's why people complain about the game. You might just want to have a chill game after a long day at work and get put up against some of the better players in the world. It's kind of crazy, but it keeps the game fresh in its own way.

You don't want to be sat there for 10 minutes waiting for a game, you'd rather just get in a match and give it your best shot. It's a Battle Royale, that's just kind of how it works right?

Apex Legends has tried over the years to fix its matchmaking and honestly, they've done a good job. It's not the easiest thing to do, but matchmaking is what keeps the game flowing and what gets people into lobbies.

The general balance in a few hours of playing is pretty decent, as you should play against people of your same skill level most of the time. You might come up against the odd, better player, but that's just how the game works. You aren't going to win every game, and you aren't going to steamroll every lobby that's not how these games play out.

It's a very controversial aspect of Apex Legends, but another aspect that might be brought into question is the pay-to-win aspects of the game.

Is Apex Pay 2 Win?

One of the biggest controversies of modern-day gaming is the idea of pay-to-win. This was a term that was once only delegated to mobile games many years ago. However, as micro transactions of been intertwined with modern gaming, the idea of certain games being paid to win has been brought into question.

The main way shooters have this is due to gun skins or even character skins. Because Apex Legends is a free-to-play game, the way Respawn makes money is by selling skins to their player base. You can either buy Apex packs and roll the dice, or put specific amounts of currency on to buy items in the store. Over the years of Apex, there have been hundreds of skins put into the game and most of them have been fine.

There have been no actual pay-to-win character skins, unlike games like Call of Duty Warzone where you have a fully blacked-out character that can hide in the corners. Apex has never been like that, but gun skin does where things get brought up. Though Apex Legends is a game about looting at its heart, iron sights are still super important.

When you land in a game of Apex, the first gun you pick up most likely will not have a sight attached to it. This means that you are forced to use the iron sights of the gun to get your first few kills or get around the map. Certain guns in the game have nice and clean iron sights on their base models, but others such as the Wingman, R-99 and the Flatline have dreadful ones. This is where the idea of pay-to-win comes into play.

At launch, Apex Legends had a few craftable skins for these three weapons. They completely changed the model of the iron sights and made them way more usable. Though they were available to most players, if you didn't put any money into the game it would take you hours upon hours to be able to unlock them.

It's not something you could just do out of the blue, you had to work towards crafting these weapon skins. Because of how great these weapons skins were, everybody was using them and if a new skin came out and didn't have these I insight they would be tossed to the side.

Now, this isn't exactly pay-to-win, as you aren't paying anything to get these skins in most situations. Respawn themselves have also tried to mitigate the idea of pay-to-win by changing these sites universally.

They made the base sites of most of the guns much clearer, so you didn't have to be forced to use these certain skins. It's still a huge aspect of the game, but Apex Legends is nowhere near as pay-to-win as many other modern games. You can use whatever skin you like, and honestly, it's just there during the insight stages of a match. As soon as you get a sight you should be fine.

Replayability

Most people nowadays tend to play games that they can replay as much as possible. Story-based games are slowly being phased out, even if they do still have a huge fanbase. However, most of the biggest games in the world nowadays are ones that you can play for hours on end and consistently replay. Apex Legends, being free to play is an extremely replayable game and something you could play for days upon days without ever getting bored.

The main thing that helps it here is the Battle Royale genre the game is based on. No two matches are the same, in every lobby is going to be different. The entire match will play out depending on where you land, what guns you land on and how many people want near you. There is also the ring that dictates how the lobby is going to flow throughout the map, which again changes how each match plays out. Three playability is there just for the aspect but the Apex Legends devs made it much deeper.

There is a level system in Apex Legends which allows you to unlock certain things in the game. The main thing here is Apex packs. Loot boxes are in full force in Apex Legends but it's not as bad as in the early days of Overwatch. You get them very often, every few levels. Though not every pack is going to be good, there's a lot to work towards in terms of levels. Though the game itself might be the main thing people replay it for, one of the biggest aspects is the idea of Heirlooms.

An Heirloom is an extremely rare item placed inside an Apex loot box. These items have such a rare chance that even players who have been playing the game since launch don't even have them. Respawn have placed a clause surrounding Apex Packs though as if you do not get one in 499 packs, your 500 pack is guaranteed to be an Heirloom. This is one of the main reasons people replay the game as they want to get an Heirloom for a specific character.

Many of the game’s characters currently have their own Heirloom, which comes with unique animations and voice lines. An Heirloom is used in the game when you put your gun away, which is one of the main aspects of Apex Legends. If you don't know already, putting your gun away means you run faster, allowing you to get into a gunfight or just run away quicker. This is why aliens are so sought after as most of your time in Apex will be holding one. They are all really interesting and are well worth the time invested.

You can buy an Heirloom by putting 500 packs into the game or just getting lucky through purchases, but for the vast majority of players, time is how you get them. It's why people replay the game, other than the gameplay of course.

Skins also play an important part in terms of Replayability.

Skins

just like any modern game, skins are extremely important to the overall gameplay of players. People don't want to be running around with a basic gun that has no cool animations or anything unique to me at all. They want skin that looks cool and something that shows off how much money they've put into the game. Skins are what bring money into free-to-play games in the first place as well, which is why the Apex devs put a lot of time into their skins.

Each character comes with a myriad of skins when they are launched and over time through collection events and thematic events Respawn adds more. Though these don't exactly have gameplay changes to them, they just make you feel nice you know? Players just want to look cool in the game and want to pimp out their favourite character. Just look at Wraith, one of the most-played Legends in the entire game. She has so many skins to choose from and it shows how unique a player is depending on what they are wearing.

Heirlooms also come into play here as three characters currently have Heirloom skins. These are Wraith, Bloodhound and Bangalore. These are the same rarity as an Heirloom and can be purchased through Heirloom shards that you can pull in an Apex pack.

These skins are extremely different to the normal ones as they have their moving parts, they change over time and even come with their finisher. Skins are extremely important to keep the game alive, but also to player retention. If somebody is trying to work towards one of the iron sight pedal win skins, then they're gonna keep playing. It also just makes Apex a better game, as there's always something to work towards.

The vast majority of skins in the game can be crafted, or eventually, go to the normal loophole of Apex packs. This means that players can consistently play the game to try and reach one of the skins. Though it would be better if Apex added more ways to get skins for free, there is still enough to keep players coming back. It's one of the greater aspects of Apex Legends, and that is honestly why it’s loved so much.

How often is new content added?

To keep the player base coming back and to make sure the game keeps running, respond consistently and add new content to the game. There have been some dry spells over the years, but content comes every three or four months at least. This is due to the season-based system that Apex Legends uses. Every three to four months,

Apex Legends introduces a brand new season. Up until now, each season has come with at least one brand-new legend and possibly a new gun. This keeps the game fresh, changed the map rotation and even introduces new maps now and then. It's a great system, but that's not all there is. Inside each of these seasons is a battle pass which adds new skins and content, new map changes which spice up the overall gameplay, and of course balance changes.

Balance changes are one of the main things that keep Apex being good, as they tweak some of the better weapons in the game to bring them down a little bit and bring some of the worst weapons up to par. The matter of epics Legends is constantly changing, as Legends are also tweaked around in these seasons. Just look at one of the most recent patches, which made Pathfinder one of the best Legends in the game. He was already relatively decent but has now become the most pick legend during the season. He's at an all-time high, and that was due to one of these balance slates.

Apex Legends also consistently adds new game modes for players to hop into. Over the years they have used these limited-time modes to test different mechanics out and give their player base more to play. They added things such as team death matches, control and gun run. Though for a while these were limited-time events, as of the most recent season they are now baked into the core gameplay of Apex Legends. They are here to stay, and that just makes the game even better than it was before.

Though content might not be as consistently added as in other games, when Apex does add content it's usually good. A lot of the content added might be skins, collection events and Heirlooms, but at the end of the day, it's new things for the players who want them. It keeps the game fresh and makes people want to keep playing. Apex is also known for its content cycle which makes it much better than many other games.

Finally, Fun Factor

The final thing to talk about is the idea of a fun factor in Apex Legends. Fun is of course subjective, but Apex Legends ticks a lot of people’s boxes. It has some of the best gunplay in the industry due to coming from Titanfall 2, some of the best movement that allows players to consistently improve and show off and of course some of the best cosmetics in the industry. Every aspect of Apex Legends is fun in some shape or form, but it might change depending on the player. Some players love the game for its awesome maps and legend availability, whilst others love the movement and the gunplay.

Certain players want to try to become the best they can and Apex Legends provides that, but it also allows your more casual players to this hop on and plays with friends. It's fun in every aspect, which makes Apex Legends one of the best games in the modern day. No matter what type of player you are, Apex Legends has some sort of fun for you.

It's also a game you don't have to play every single day. Yeah, you might fall in terms of skill level, but because of the content cycle in the way Apex Legends works, you can hop back in whenever you want. Out of all of the modern-day Battle Royales, we say Apex Legends is the most casual to just hop on and play. It might get sweaty at certain parts due to amazing players in your lobbies, but just queue and get back in the action.