There are eight playable characters (called "Legends") in Apex Legends at launch, and each squad member must choose differently. Two of the starting eight Legends must be unlocked through earning in-game currency or spending real-world money. Apex Legends embraces a totally free-to-play model on its platforms (Origin on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox O

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

But of course, being limited to two selections at a time, you’re inevitably going to have to make some tough calls as you’re ravenously vacuuming loot into your backpack. So which ones do you take into battle, and which ones get left in the dust? Knowing the answers to this question ahead of time can mean the difference between victory and def

That situation is likely salvageable due to the otherwise full-priced game's instant addition to the subscription-based Xbox Game Pass service, but missteps taken by Metro Exodus publisher Deep Silver have all but overshadowed the launch of the fantastic post-apocalyptic experience when they made the boldly abrupt decision to snub Steam and limit the game's PC release to the Epic Games Store . It's unknown how deeply this last-minute choice made from the top-down has affected Metro Exodus ' sales, but it generated enough online backlash among outraged PC players to drown out any positive news about the g

Another unique element to Apex Legends is the ability to revive downed allies. Like other battle royale titles, a player is downed before being killed off and they can hold a shield item in their inventory to prevent players from shooting them to finish them off. Enemies can however, get up close an employ a lethal execution animation (these are also battler royale fists). But even then, players can recover the tags of their downed ally and bring them to a revive point where they can then re-enter the match via a dropship, but without any of their loot. These layers upon layers add so much to the dynamic of the usual die and go back to the menu style of more punishing battle royale experien

But it's not just about improving what already works from the battle royale genre since Apex Legends adds many all-new features too. Matches are fast and usually completed in less than 20 minutes. At the beginning of a given match there's a dropship players jump from, like any other battle royale, but in this one players jump together as a squad and one player is designated the "Jumpmaster" to keep them together. Players can manually separate from the pack of course, but it's a smart change to enforce the idea that Apex Legends is a truly a squad-based game. There currently are no solo or duo mo

Eradicating duplicates is just one of the for-the-player quality of life improvements Apex Legends offers. When starting a match, there's virtually no load time, nor is there a lobby waiting area. Players get into matches almost immediately. During gameplay players can mark and highlight enemies, loot, or any point of interest on the map (a version of the marking system from Rainbow Six Siege mixed with enemy marking from Battlefield ) for very welcome in-game intel sharing/communication. When picking up mods and armor, items are automatically equipped where they should be instantaneously and there's already ammo in the weapon. Every thing a player would want or imagine should happen with fundamental game mechanics, simply does in Apex Legends and it just goes to show how other shooters and battle royale games are missing out on some key featu

Of course, that's impossible to truly ascertain from our experience so far with Anthem 's early hours , meaning players will have to wait and see if they will be undergoing the gauntlet of tedium that constitutes for the genre's standard end-SLG game collectibles. However, it will undoubtedly be nigh impossible for Anthem to be able to suitably compete with a free-to-play battle royale like Apex Legends when it comes to keeping players interested with a steady flow of content. For those in the industry seeking to recreate Apex Legends ' sleeper success, or at least successfully leech away some of its massive player base, there are a couple of lessons to be learned from this week's cramped mix of launches. First, consider the option that prolonged marketing and over-exposure might actually serve to hurt games; while not all games can capture the attention of millions overnight, producer's should at the very least take steps to avoid Crackdown 3 's five-year gap between announcement and release. Second, and most importantly, developers should innovate where others have not within their genre, even if it doesn't amount to reinventing the wh