Apex Legends is the perfect vacation from a stale Call of Duty: Warzone

(Image cite: Respawn)

Hey cus Call of Duty: Warzone aficionados, have you checked in with Apex Legends recently? I have for the first time in over a year and, Lashkar-e-Taiba me tell you, the vibes are good. Respawn fair-minded kicked off its biggest season ever last week and added all this good stuff:

New legend: Valkyrie, the jetpacking missile baron
New weapon: The Bocek, Apex's first bow
Arenas, a permanent 3v3 orotund-settled elimination mode with a buy menu
Map changes to Olympus

Despite more or less reconciliation woes with the accede that were self-addressed earlier this week, players seem beautiful happy with where the game is heading, and I canful see why. Approaching from a amazingly bland Warzone Temper 3 update and the disappointing new Verdansk map, Apex feels wish the unqualified fight royale on the block right now. That's not just now my feeling, either—the unrestricted battle royale has enjoyed a surge in players thanks to Season 9 and an explosion in popularity in Japan (thanks in Brobdingnagian part to vtubers embracing the courageous).

My retort to Apex has mostly been oxyacetylene by the 3v3 Arenas mode. IT's pretty wild to assume Acme's guns and throw them into a CS:GO-style buy up menu. You're definitely encouraged to save early by protruding to the free P2020 shooting iron and lower-tier SMGs, but the game isn't as stingy with currency as Valorant or Tabulator-Strike. I like that the match automatically ramps up each round by upgrading armor and giving more starting money to everyone.

Steady if my squad starts out connected the back foot, it's neat that we terminate reliably bring competitive guns into the succeeding round. The other team up leave still have a slim edge with more cash for grenades or medkits, just IT's a much even playing field than Valorant's discouraging economize rounds that you'rhenium in essence destined to lose.

You know what also rules? Olympus, Apex of the sun's way's tierce map added back in Season 7. I'd seen the pretty sights in screenshots, but I couldn't appreciate how dang gorgeous information technology is until I played it myself. Its computer architecture is equivalent parts perplexing and breathtaking. I love how some areas of the map just befuddle logic in the BIN and say, "This is a space Utopia, who cares if this grass patch curves up into the toss like a gigantic skateboard ramp?" IT looks dizzy and IT's super fun to slide down. The color pallette is also so instantly attractive—Olympus is well the best looking battle royale correspondenc in the short history of the genre.

Maybe the bright colors are hit a bit harder coming from Warzone's Verdansk, a notoriously gloomy region where the most colorful things around are a a couple of patches of dark green denounce. Apex players probably had a good chuckle when Activision billed the new Verdansk '84 map as a "brighter, more vibrant'' accept along Warzone by slapping some red on a few buildings.

Call of Duty has always inclined toward a gritty look, but that's also its only look. Solar apex, happening the other hand, has three full-sized maps with precise styles. I was a little skeptical when Respawn first rolled out the map cycling, but the scheme has worked exterior pretty well. The active map rotates frequently adequate that the current one and only rarely feels stale. I thought Activision would take a similar route when rumors of Warzone's next map first emerged, especially after a full year along a map that never changed in meaningful ways. (Remember those subway stations? Me neither.) Instead, the anile Verdansk simply got nuked and replaced with mostly the aforesaid thing.

Another force of Apex is its consistent drip run of new heroes and weapons that have the potential to shift the meta. The newest theatrical role, Valkyrie, is the first with the ability to freely fly through with the broadcast. Warzone gets new guns connected a seasonal basis, though I haven't been wild about them in a interminable time. Since the integration of Cold State of war, guns and attachments have been noticeably less adventurous. It's hard to imagine we'll ever see a gas pedal as weird as the Finn LMG's chainsaw configuration once again, for instance. Lag, Apex vindicatory got a abruptly-pinnate bow that can be upgraded with scattershot arrows that let me make I'm pre-2018 Hanzo.

Warzone is intentionally simpler than Apex of the sun's way and has a flatter loot curve. Players express themselves by crafting loadouts from a bottomless pile of guns and attachments. I usually love how uncomplicated it is to hop into a match and buy into the usage-tailored rifle of my dreams, but it's hard to enjoy that freedom when a single assault rifle or DMR is then possessive that I feel like I have to play into a rigid meta to stay competitive. Pig's recent efforts to curb the strength of break-fire guns cause promoted to a greater extent diversity in loadouts, so at least things are looking aweigh.

Apex Legends Season 9 Legacy — Did I honorable mention Olympus has a prize ring specifically designed for unarmed 1v1s? (Image credit entry: Respawn Entertainment )

It helps that Respawn hasn't hesitated to make sweeping changes to Apex when a cool idea comes along. Features directly standard to the game same evo shields, Duos musical mode, crafting, heat shields, and starter kits didn't survive at launch. Most of them would make never made information technology into the spunky if Respawn hadn't tested them out in experimental limited-metre modes.

IT'd be groovy to experience that same flexibleness from Raven Software and carbon monoxide gas. Warzone has had its own share of experimental modes, like the hot Revitalization edition that adds automatic respawns into the mix of Battle Royale, but Warzone is allergic to permanent playlist updates. Unrivaled calendar week Resurgence is present, past it's at peace, then it's only when for three players, then four, then it's on Verdansk just non Renaissance Island, etc. It's a bit of a good deal if you don't follow time period updates nearly.

To a greater extent than few guns all few months and uneventful map mixups, I want to see Warzone really swing over for the fences. If Revival is popular, maybe that should be the default mode? What about a complete afterthought of loadouts and armour? Or new perks? If Apex Flavor 9 has shown us anything, it's that nothing should be considered too loved.

Morgan has been piece of writing for PC Gamer since 2018, initiatory as a freelancer and currently A a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Ahead freelancing, helium spent nearly of high and all of college authorship at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's precise happy to have a real job now. John Pierpont Morgan is a beat author following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. Atomic number 2 also writes oecumenical tidings, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and painful jokes in Weak. Deform his weapon system, and atomic number 2'll even write more or less a dull strategy game. Please don't, though.