Ping Pong

APEX LEGENDS is the best version of battle royale so far, a cooperative shooter that reinvigorates the genre and reinvents how we communicate in games.

- James Davenport

We press H to pay respects now. My good friend JohnnyBadNews, who I’ve never met, just let me know they found a level-three scope for my Longbow DMR. The selflessness—they found it in a dead player’s inventory, noted that I was using a Longbow, and let me know it was there—all without saying a word. I pick it up and a prompt appears on my screen, “Press H to thank JohnnyBadNews.” My index finger hits that H with the firm yet gentle assurance of a hug. I think we all now know what the H stands for.

I shouldn’t be feeling this nice. Apex Legends is a lot like most battle royale games. You drop from the sky onto an island, sweep the floor for weapons and gear, and scramble to stay inside a series of ever shrinking circles pressing 60 people towards inevitable conflict. But Apex Legends is also the product of the genre’s failures so far, a patient and refined response that makes for the most accessible, uncompromising battle royale experience yet.

DRAWING OF THE THREE

Apex Legends is set in the Titanfall universe, but plays nothing like it— every gun has ballistics, titans are gone, and so is wall-running. The guns feel responsive and peppy, and taking distance and drop into account in the same split-second formerly used just to take aim makes me feel like a mathematical savant when shots connect.

Almost every gun has a unique personality, but the main thing is there’s something for everyone: Semi-automatic rifles, automatic rifles, LMGs, and SMGs. Weapon stats are improved by finding and equipping attachments scattered all over the map, which is where I thought Apex Legends would lose me. Inventory management is still the worst part of battle royale, but