Thats right. Yet another stinkpiece on Apex Legends. But, this one is going to be a bit different. If you want a review of the game, check my man’s blog here. Or if you want something a bit more detailed, check this one out.
But before we get into Apex, lets get into the state of modern gaming in general a bit.
I went on a drunken rant about this not too long ago, but modern gaming has really shifted away from anything that could be called having fun. Instead, gaming is now a bit more like playing pickup basketball at your neighborhood court. You are going to get yelled at. People will yell at you about how you suck. Talk about how you shouldn’t even play, etc.
But, I digress. At one point, multiplayer games were restricted to the people you were right next to. And you may be the worst among your friends, but it was always fun trying to cheese people and what not.
However, much like everything else, the internet has made things worse. Now, video games are designed specifically to focus on complex mechanics and shit thats just impossible for you to do yourself without devoting a billion hours to the games. You have to have the most precise reaction time in the world, and if you dont, well I guess your fucking trash and suicide is your only recourse.
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Ill get straight to the point. I am not good at video games. I never was and never will be. But I love them. Its a cruel thing. In my early gaming career, it didnt matter. There was always fun to be had. Finding a way to beat a boss without the internet was an achievement in itself.
None of that matters anymore. You have to be king of the sweats to be worth anything in life now. And every video game tailors their design to the sweats. Everything is designed to be 100% focus, 100% of the time. For you to even be good, you have to devote your entire life to the game…
And now I explain why Apex Legends doesnt burn me out the way League of Legends, Fortnite, Overwatch, PUBG, and CSGO do.
1. There is no meta.
Video games today are made to where fundamental aspects of the game change everytime there is a patch. Especially for anything character/champion based, where you choose a character with a specific set of skills. Based on the patch, individual characters may be the best or the worst. A character that every single professional team picked one patch, may completely go to the dumpster the next patch.
And people will fucking scream at you if you dont. Look at when Dunkey picks something not in the meta.
Do you know what its like to want to play a specific character because you think its cool or you like the abilities or whatever? Nope. Fuck that. An army of 12 year olds will tell you that you are retard, and if your team loses, its automatically your fault and you should kill yourself.
Respawn did the super intelligent thing and toned down and smoothed out all the legends superpowers. Every single one is good in some respect, and even more important than that, no one will fucking yell at you for picking the “wrong” champion. There is no ultimate team comp, there is no YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT OR YOU WILL DIE champion. Every composition is completely viable and has its strengths
Same is true for the guns too. The game has a pile of guns, and while there are some that are stronger than others and one that is just trash, you can pretty much pick any gun you like, get good at it, and have it be viable against any other gun. Pretty much any combo works and feels great.
Respawn managed to make its balance perfect. Playing Fortnite, you have to have the guns that are meta or you will be fucked over by them. This feels so easy to play.
2. Transitions are so smooth in this game
Ok, lets go to one of the major things that pisses me off about Fortnite. Spawn Island. Every game, everyone starts off in this neutral location and sits there till everyone can load in. Then you get in the thing that brings you to the main part of the game. Its tedious and boring. And after wasting 2-4 min of your life on this, you can easily land and die immediately.
This game you die, and you can be back at the title screen to queue in, in as little as 5 seconds. In a worst case scenario, lets say you get super unlucky and you just land on top fo someone with a shotgun and they one shot you. Total turn around time from picking a champion, to dropping, to dying, to being back at the title screen to queue in can be as quick as 30 seconds.
That is fucking unreal. No jerking off on an island. No need to go masterbate a tree for 50 hours to get materials. You are in, and out again so fast that you dont even have time to worry about dying.
Which brings me to my next point…..
3. RNGesus is as kind as he can be in this game
If you arent familiar with this, Random Number Generation dominates todays games. Especially in battle royales. Wherever you land could have the best loot in the game or nothing but mozambiques for you to survive with. However, most of the time with this game, the RNG is very kind. Any spot you pick to land, you can generally find a gun you like, some armor, and heals before you really need to fight.
Its really an achievement in this type of game that gear is plentiful like this.
Dont get me wrong, there will be times where you can get completely fucked over by the lack of gear, but the fact that its so rare makes the experience that more enjoyable.
4. You dont have to talk to people to be effective
I hate people. This is a fact.
So, having a team based game you would think is not up my alley. And this is true. A game like Overwatch where everyone is yelling at you all the time is completely unenjoyable to play. But the ping system in this game is so smooth. One fucking button. You can ping items, locations, enemies. Know exactly where your team saw them, converge on points. Its seemless. Jim sterling (in the links at the very top) went on and on about this, but its true.
It makes the game much easier to play. Much much easier to win.
5. The game time is fast
A big problem with PUBG and League for me is how fucking long the games can be. I dont want to spend an hour playing one game. Fortnite started down this road, but I think Apex mastered it. The game is pretty much over within four, 4 minute turns. Thats amazing. Its quick. The map is just right. You have alot of diversity in locations to be at, while at the same time, being able to get across the map fairly quickly. Also, they put transport balloons every so often to make it even easier to get across the map.
It makes it much more enjoyable not to have to hump a million miles to get from point a to point b.
Ill close with this thought. I am aware of the temporary nature of things. This can go away. Respawn could get pressure to change any or every single one of these points to try to maximize revenue. I get that. But for now, we have something amazing. And I am going to enjoy every minute of it. Its so goddamn fun to play. And I am going to play as much of it as I can.
That is all.