Apex Legends

The Good
I've mainly played the battle royale mode of this game, and compared to other battle royale games I've played, I really enjoy the diversity of playable characters in the game, both in terms of backstory, appearance and abilities! Each legend brings something unique to the squad, which me and my friends often like to play around with. I'm particularly partial to the most recent guy, Ballistic, who can be played quite aggressively while strengthening allies, though I always return to Loba, who can assist allies and herself in getting sought-after loot.

I enjoy the map diversity of the game, even though they're in limited rotations. Some of the maps feel like they have areas that are well-suited for just about any of the characters available in the game, while other maps seem to lend itself to specific types of guns. It's often fun to strategize which paths are optimal when racing from the fiery wall shrinking the playable area, while also recalling what areas often have most loot.

The game has a battle pass, which is something I'm often hesitant towards, but I find it to be one of the less offensive ones I've encountered. It has 100+10 levels, where if you complete the battle pass, you get enough currency to purchase the next battle pass and then some. You are presented with daily and weekly challenges (plus event challenges, should an event be active) that might encourage using legends and weapons you are not too familiar with, which I enjoy. While the daily challenges change, well, daily, the weekly challenges stay active until the end of a season (the battle pass duration), and you receive new challenges weekly. As someone who isn't particularly great at first person shooter games, there are challenges that are more accomplishable for me, as well!

I briefly mentioned the diversity of characters, and this also extends to queer themes. This is particularly exciting for me, as Respawn has not shied away from including clearly queer characters in their game. Upon the game's release, Gibraltar, one of the legends available at release, was confirmed to be gay, and in a recent season, Catalyst, a trans woman, was added to the roster. There are other LGBT+ characters in the roster, as well, which are explored in the game's lore and some voice lines. This is something that I see as a positive aspect of the game.

The Bad
As with most online multiplayer games, you end up getting presented with occasional, but long periods of gameplay balancing you might find dubious. There are times where characters I particularly enjoy playing are quite weak compared to other legends. With each new seasonal patch, there are often changes to the map pool and even some map layouts that might be undesirable, as well.

There seems to be some sort of audio or connectivity (netcode?) issue with the game. Sometimes, gunshots, steps, and other noises that are quite close can not be heard, which might surprise you when you've been downed/eliminated after seemingly being shot once, when in reality you've been shot seventeen times by three different guns carried by two different enemies.

Events in the game, when combined with the ever-encroaching presence of battle passes and events in other online games, last shorter than desired, often giving quite little time to actually experience the event, unless you focus primarily on the game's event before anything else. The character skins, weapon skins, and other items available for purchase during events (and in general) do feel a bit extortionate at times, so I tend to avoid purchasing them.

Recently they've attempted to rework some aspects of the game, namely the legend Revenant and the sniper weapon Charge Rifle. I am hesitant about the major changes done to these, but I am not too experienced with either to make a valid judgment.

The Bottom Line
While I have some gripes with gameplay balancing and audio issues, Apex Legends is currently my favourite battle royale first-person shooter game. It allows for very different playstyles through character selection, weapons of choice, and map location. The battle pass offers an alright experience, though the store for character and weapon skins is quite expensive. I enjoy the representation of LGBT+ characters both through voice lines and external lore.