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Reviews 71% Audience Score 100+ Ratings Working for the FBI's Deep Cover Operations division, Martin Odum can transform himself into a different person -- whether it's an assignment as a Serbian...
- 2. Chemistry
Buy Legends — Season 1, Episode 2 on Fandango at Home, Prime...
- 3. Lords of War
Buy Legends — Season 1, Episode 3 on Fandango at Home, Prime...
- 1. Pilot
Buy Legends — Season 1, Episode 1 on Fandango at Home, Prime...
- 7. Quicksand
Buy Legends — Season 1, Episode 7 on Fandango at Home, Prime...
- 8. Iconoclast
Buy Legends — Season 1, Episode 8 on Fandango at Home, Prime...
- 6. Gauntlet
Martin takes Kyle Dobson into custody in the aftermath of a...
- 2. Chemistry
7/10. pretty good show starring Sean Bean. "Legends" is the story of a man, Martin Odom (Sean Bean) who goes undercover for the FBI's Division of Covert Operations, a division that investigates terrorism. To go undercover, he takes on a "legend," which is a completely new character.
- (13K)
- 2014-08-13
- Action, Crime, Drama
- 60
Working for the FBI's Deep Cover Operations division, Martin Odum can transform himself into a different person -- whether it's an assignment as a Serbian extremist, a corrupt Chicago police...
- Sean Bean
- TV-14
- 2
- Respawn's battle royale continues to innovate and impress.
- Every Playable Legend in Apex Legends
- Skill Or Be Skilled
- Apex Legends on Nintendo Switch
- Keeping Things Fresh
- Microtransaction Reaction
- Do you buy cosmetic items with real money in free-to-play games?
- Verdict
- Apex Legends Review
- More Reviews by Stella Chung
By Stella Chung
Updated: Nov 3, 2022 8:48 pm
Posted: Mar 15, 2021 9:49 pm
[Editor's Note: With Apex Legends' recent release on Switch, we’ve taken a fresh look at the whole game in 2021. This review replaces our original from 2019, and you can find our new Switch-specific impressions below. Read more on IGN's re-review policy.]
Apex Legends is the only battle royale where I can launch myself up into the sky and dodge bullets in the air while throwing a mini black hole at an enemy squad as my teammate simultaneously rains a hellfire of mortars down upon them. Since its release in 2019, Apex has continued to grow and evolve in exciting ways, adding both more content and fresh new ideas to a genre that too frequently feels derivative. The fast-paced matches never fail to get my heart racing as I jump, slide, and dodge bullets while hip-firing a sniper rifle to win a 1v1 duel and revive my teammates. Mobility, versatility, and teamwork combine for a thrilling and rewarding feeling that I haven’t experienced from any other battle royale.
While the structure here is familiar – drop into a large map, pick up randomly scattered loot, and fight inside an ever-closing circle to be the last team standing – it’s the 16 playable characters (called Legends) themselves that keep Apex from feeling like your run-of-the-mill battle royale shooter. Where traditionally you start a battle royale as a blank slate and have your role defined solely by the gear you luck into, here each has their own set of special abilities and strengths that you can choose from to fit your personal playstyle. I especially love how different Legends can interact and work with each other on a three-person team to get more out of those powers than they could alone. For example, if someone on your team is playing as Caustic or Bangalore and tossing smoke bombs around, choosing Bloodhound for their ability to see through the smoke and highlight nearby enemies will be a natural fit.
And even though some Legends do feel stronger than others in certain situations, I like that who would win in a toe-to-toe shootout isn’t always going to be what determines your victory. The abilities can be used to amplify your own knowledge of where enemies are with Bloodhound or being able to get a height advantage with Horizon. But Apex relies on your personal skill more than the specific moves of your Legend, particularly when compared to a hero shooter like Overwatch where abilities really matter while building a good team composition with restrictive roles to be filled.
Each Legend also has a backstory built off of the same world from developer Respawn’s Titanfall series. Apex takes place 30 years after the events of Titanfall 2 and further expands that already compelling universe through a continuous story that progresses with each major event. While you may not see much of it in the middle of a match, it’s still told well through comics and cinematic shorts that include in-world explanations for how the Apex Games you’re fighting in came to be, how each of the Legends found their way into them, how they are affiliated with each other, and even how they all interact outside of the Games. There’s great creativity and lore being explored here, and considering the Titanfall games never really got their due it’s exciting to see Respawn continue their universe through Apex.
I really appreciate the fact that if you get into a fight with an enemy who has a fully kitted-out weapon and you have a gun with no attachments, you still have a chance to win the encounter based on skill alone. In Ubisoft’s battle royale Hyper Scape, part of the problem with the gunplay was the fact that unless you had a level five weapon, you couldn’t really put up enough of a fight to come out alive or even truly damage your enemy no matter how good your aim was. Fortnite does a better job of rewarding skill over gun rarity, but the level of a gun is still a significant factor. In contrast, all of Apex’s weapons are viable without the best attachments, which makes it really stand out as a game of skill.
Apex has a wide arsenal of extremely satisfying futuristic weapons (some directly taken from Titanfall) that test your aim more than your luck. If you’re into long-range fighting, there’s a varied collection of sniper rifles that run the gamut from lighter burst shots to slow but heavy-hitting slugs, or if you prefer to get up close you can choose from an array of SMGs and shotguns. Every other season a new weapon is added, increasing the assortment of guns to choose from. Gun attachments allow you to further personalize a weapon to your preference in how it handles rather than straightforward damage increases, making how you use that weapon more important than what’s bolted onto it.
Using your weapon well is more important than what's bolted onto it.
“
A battle royale should be about testing your skills of survival, and adapting to changes both in and out of a match is a huge part of that. Each season update, which changes things up every few months, comes with weapon adjustments that keep the gunplay everchanging. For example, in Season 6, the SMG R-99 was removed from the ground loot pool and put inside special loot packages that randomly drop during matches, while the previous drop weapon the Devotion was brought back into the ground loot pool. This change was implemented after the Volt, a new energy SMG, was introduced for the season, encouraging previous R-99 main users to use the Volt in its place. In the currently running Season 8, the Mastiff shotgun is the strongest close range weapon that most players are using, with a midseason update giving it a slight fire rate nerf in an attempt to keep the weapon viable but less dominant. While these consistent updates can occasionally be frustrating when it feels like I’ve just gotten the hang of the previous season’s strongest weapon combinations, I do appreciate that the changes and balance tweaks help keep one weapon from being stronger than the rest for too long and generally make each gun a good choice in fights.
Apex’s armor system stands apart from other games too, pushing a fairly simple concept far forward with the introduction of Evo Shields (a super cute name for its evolving shield tiers). With the exception of the Gold shield that heals you for double the amount with smaller heal items, there are four tiers of shields. Only the first three can be found during a match, and after that, you must “level up” your shield to the next tier by dealing damage to enemies. What I really like about this system is that dealing 100 damage while you have no shield at all will even automatically earn you the lowest tier, so if you don’t find something right away you’re still encouraged to fight through the initial drop.
While playing on PC is the best place to try creative movement combinations due to the freedom keyboard and mouse controls give, the controls on consoles are still pretty fluid and everything looks good and performs well across the board on Xbox One, PS4, Series X, and PS5. The only exception to that would be the new Nintendo Switch port, which surprisingly performs well enough at 30 frames per second but heavily sacrifices graphics for performance. It’s not completely terrible but everything seems a bit fuzzy, making enemies harder to see beyond a medium to long-range distance, especially when you’re playing on a bigger screen and not handheld mode. This puts Switch players in a heavy disadvantage from other console and PC players which isn’t completely ideal for a competitive game like Apex.
While it’s incredible that Apex can run on the Switch, it’s important to note that the Switch’s version of Apex has a locked field of view at 70, most likely to keep graphics low for performance. Handheld mode makes the graphics more bearable since everything is compressed to the smaller 720p screen but the controls are much more difficult to handle in handheld. The Pro Controller does make things much easier to manage but it starts you off with motion controls turned on, which doesn’t make a lot of sense for a game like Apex. (You can turn them off manually.) If you’re traveling or want to play away from your desk, say maybe in bed, Apex on the Switch is certainly playable, but I wouldn’t trust it to safeguard my score in ranked play.
In my 800 hours of playtime, Apex has never stopped being fun, no matter if I’m playing competitively or casually. However, you can’t play a game that long without noticing some recurring problems. Annoying audio bugs have been prevalent for quite a few seasons, with missing footstep cues from enemies being the biggest culprit. Usually, that system works beautifully, and I’m able to hear enemies walking across a specific platform above or below me – but way too often, my squad has been taken by surprise when an enemy team approaches without the usual heads up.
With its Titanfall roots, it makes sense that Apex has the best movement in any battle royale I’ve played. While you can’t wall run, the plethora of other running, sliding, and climbing mechanics it does have can be combined to make moving around the map feel magnificent. The slide move in particular is the smoothest I’ve felt in any game (other than Titanfall itself), and being able to slide down an entire mountainside without losing momentum before jumping at the end to continue running is one of the best feelings in all of Apex. Respawn’s FPS movement systems are still unmatched.
Respawn’s FPS movement systems are still unmatched.
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There are currently three maps in Apex that make the rounds each season: Kings Canyon, World's Edge, and Olympus. Each map almost encourages a specific playstyle due to the landscape and size difference. Kings Canyon was the first map that Apex launched with and has had numerous location changes over the seasons, but it remains the smallest map out...
Apex Legends works based on what has become a fairly standard free-to-play Battle Pass model. With each new season comes a new Battle Pass, exclusive rewards, a new Legend, and new limited-time game modes. The basic Battle Pass costs 950 Apex Coins, which rounds up to about $9.50 and gives you access to many of those cosmetic rewards as you play. Alternatively, the Premium Battle Pass costs 2,800 Apex Coins (around $28) and instantly unlocks three rare character skins and a Legendary weapon skin, as well as the rewards for the first 25 Battle Pass levels for that season. This might sound like a lot of money, but you definitely don’t need to purchase the Battle Pass since it doesn’t do anything to enhance your chances of winning a match. It’s just a little extra something if you feel like getting some additional cosmetics for leveling up during a season.
The pricing can run a bit steep, though, especially with the special Collection Events where there are 24 cosmetic items you can purchase either by buying the event loot boxes or buying the items directly. The cheapest Apex Coin pack is 1,000 Coins for $9.99 and each lootbox is 700 Apex Coins, offering one random event item and two standard (non-event) items in return. During these events, individual skins can range from 1,000 Apex Coins for Epic items to 1,800 Apex Coins for Legendary ones. However, if you buy a Battle Pass and level it up completely before the season ends you will actually earn enough Apex Coins to pay for the next season’s Battle Pass outright.
Alternatively, you can craft the items you want by using Crafting Metals, which are only obtainable through opening loot boxes that you can buy or earn through leveling, or by earning Battle Pass levels. The Crafting Metals required are pretty substantial for Epic and Legendary items, so technically you can still get your desired skins without spending any money, but it’s a bit of a grind. The Legendary skins are the main draw of the Collection Events, and they can usually only be purchased during that time. A few of the past event skins have come back as recolors for a limited time purchase but that’s a pretty rare occurrence, so if you really like a skin in an event you have a small amount of time to consider purchasing it. If you actually end up buying all of the event’s items, you can purchase that event’s Heirloom item, which is a special melee skin that gives Legends a special item to hold when they don’t have a weapon equipped. Again, this doesn’t actually do anything to increase your melee damage or your ability to win, but twirling Wraith’s Heirloom Kunai and stabbing enemies with it is a pretty fun addition to my cosmetics list.
You’ll also have to unlock new Legends, with only six available at the start for free: Pathfinder, Bloodhound, Gibraltar, Bangalore, Lifeline, and Wraith. Unlike cosmetic items, you use an in-game currency called Legend Tokens to unlock Legends for free, which are earned simply by playing matches and leveling up. Alternatively, you can buy the Legends outright by spending 750 Apex Coins ($7.50 USD) per Legend. But it doesn’t take long to earn the in-game Legend Tokens to spend on Legends you’re most interested in, and to that end Apex still plays well as a completely free-to-play game, with a slow trickle of extra items and loot boxes to build up your cosmetic collection without spending a dime.
Yes, regularly
Sometimes, but not often
No, never
Alongside its permanent game modes that have teams of two or three, the addition of various limited-time modes added to Apex with different events have also kept it from feeling stagnant or boring. A particular favorite of mine is the recurring seasonal mode called Winter Express in which your squad and two other teams have to hold control of a train that stops at various stations around the World’s Edge map. In it, each Legend has a specific loadout that only that character can use, so you have to choose the best character and gun loadout you feel comfortable with before diving into a chaotic close-quarters skirmish to hold a point. Participating in limited-time events like this is optional for those who just want to play a normal battle royale, but I really like the fact that Respawn is constantly adding and testing new ideas that aren’t quite so focused on the battle royale genre specifically, but rather just the multiplayer aspect around it.
Back in Season 2 Apex introduced a ranked game mode, which is a bit of a unique idea for the genre. I had my doubts about how well it could work since there are so many factors to gauging success in a match beyond the single team that manages to win. For example, randomized loot drops means even the most skilled players can sometimes just get unlucky, which is an exciting part of a given game but makes comparing a ranking across them trickier. Additionally, the relatively open World’s Edge changes team strategy and allows for more rotations than the more frequent, clustered fights on Kings Canyon, while Olympus, operates as a hybrid of the two. Ranked play switches between two maps for each half of a season, so the competitive meta is always changing.
Apex's ranked mode has actually become my favorite way to play.
Apex Legends has become my go-to game when I want something fun and competitive. Being able to squad up with friends and try out different combinations of Legend abilities in the hunt for that satisfying Champion win screen is the perfect mix of thrilling and approachable. The consistent updates keep the gunplay from ever feeling repetitive and bor...
EDITORS' CHOICE
Review scoring
amazing
Apex Legends' mix of exciting characters, excellent gunplay, and unmatched FPS movement keep it a consistently fresh thrill.
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