Metro Exodus is a diamond in the rough here in terms of its gameplay and story, with the other releases this week falling agonizingly flat in one area or the other. While Apex Legends is being universally lauded for its impressive blend of frenzy and strategy, as well as for its revolutionary ping system that makes teamplay easier and more integral than in any shooter before it, February has brought little else in the way of gameplay innovation. Crackdown 3 is a fairly mindless power fantasy sandbox, which is great for players seeking that experience, but disappointing to others due to how few additions it brings to the table when compared with the 12-year-old initial entry into the ser

Apex Legends' game map also includes an emphasis on verticality. There are zip lines in and around the map and its hot spots, and there are balloon launching points that players can zip up to and jet away to other parts of the map. One of the playable characters can even deploy their own zip lines for the squad. These systems work well with the nicely flowing control scheme and animations of Apex Legends where players can slide down hills or mantle up to high ledges. If you see something, there's usually a way to get there, except for some of the cliff and mountain tops which are out of bounds. Did we mention that top player Legends will be displayed in-game on banners and there's bonus XP for taking out kill lead

Utilize the Revive Ability - If a friend gets put put to pasture by an enemy, it's possible for a teammate to pick up the deceased user's banner and revive them at a respawn station. Be ready to equip them though, as they'll rejoin the fight without a single wea

Functionally more of an SMG than a pistol, this compact, fully automatic handgun packs a lot of punch into a neat little package. But is it truly enough punch to justify taking up one of your weapon sl

Apex Legends has a balanced and satisfying spread of weapons, providing more than enough options to keep things fun and varied, but without going overboard and overwhelming us with sheer volume. The gunplay itself is slick, smooth and fast-paced, being more than a little reminiscent of Titanfall ’s enjoyable shooting mechan

Why was Apex Legends able to rest on its laurels this week while Respawn works on future content? The simplest answer can actually be found in what was likely perceived by EA to be its greatest weakness: it's near-total lack of pre-release marketing. Leaked only a day prior to launch, Apex Legends set the internet abuzz with the immediate promise of an all-new and well-polished experience that players could get their hands on for the tantalizing price of "free." Meanwhile, Crackdown 3 has suffered from a grueling, years-long embarrassment for Xbox Games Studios that began when it was revealed all the way back at E3 2014, greatly reducing the impact of the exclusive's largely overlooked February 15 release d

Wraith - Jumping between dimensions makes Wraith one of the trickiest opponents to go up against. She is also able to open up rifts for her teammates, but be careful as other players can go through them as w

Slide (A Lot!) - One of the best ways to quickly traverse an area is to slide (using crouch) down hills - as sliding on a descent is limitless... and super fast - or across an area. It can be key to winning a firefight and the match its

Much like the Hemlok AR, this SMG fires in controlled bursts, but puts out five rounds instead of three. It's incredibly difficult to manage without modifications, as the accuracy isn't great to begin with. Compounding it with an awkward burst setting doesn't do it any fav

**Apex Legends ** may not be the Titanfall 3 some fans were hoping for from developer Respawn Entertainment but it's the best battle royale game on the market. Respawn and publisher Electronic Arts' surprise release is instead a spinoff of the Titanfall series but barely resembles the mech-heavy, wall-running g

Similarly, Far Cry New Dawn feels like an over-familiar and over-priced expansion to last year's Far Cry 5 , a series that has slowly settled into creative stagnation since Far Cry 3 's retooling of the series formula. Jump Force , while not entirely fair to compare with a list of shooters, plays like a fairly straightforward 3D fighting SLG game story guide beneath its enticing facade of playing as Shonen Jump's most iconic characters and doesn't do anything radical that hasn't already been seen in the fighting game genre time and time bef

Players love to execute each other. It's a nice way to rub your victory in their faces, and it looks cool to boot. But there's a time and a place for executions, and the middle of a gunfight is not one of them. You're better off shooting a downed enemy, because performing an execution leaves you wide open for attack. Plus, the animation is slow, so you're only wasting precious time by showing off. Save the execution for the last pla