Apex Legends has absolutely dominated the world of gaming since its release date of February 4th. The game is a fresh new thing for the market of battle royale game and has already surpassed Fortnite for the top spot on Twitch. While both games are battle royale gene, there are quite a few differences between the two games. So why don’t we make a small comparison between two products of Epic Games and Respawn Entertainment? Please keep in mind that this comparison is only valid for the time being since Apex Legends is not even one month old yet, so changes and updates for the game will definitely be released by Respawn Entertainment.
Art Direction
Without a doubt, this is the first factor gamers who have played both games will realize. When you look at Apex Legends, you still know it’s animated with a sense of cartoonish charm in its character models. However, it is sure that Fortnite is much more illustrious than Apex Legends.
If you have played Titanfall by Respawn Entertainment, you will find yourself in a much similar world when you play Apex Legends and the world when you play Titanfall. The buildings look like they are from a mystical sci-fi future. Though there is still a splash of artistic stylization that leans toward a cartoon-like environment, it still feels like the world is meant to be “real.”
On the other hand, Fortnite will bring a much more animated experience in term of displaying. Playing Fortnite, all the characters, the structures, the weapons, and the skins will make you feel like you are in some kind of a circus. This game is really a freestyle graphics game where crazy ideas for graphics of a game can happen here in Fortnite.
The art direction in both 2 games are great in their own way and this is definitely the aims of 2 developers to make a unique trademark for their games.
Building Vs Abilities
We can say that the building mechanic in Fortnite is one of the core factors leading Fortnite to today success. It is legendary. Before Fortnite, there had been no official game that can combine shooting and building inside it (except some small modded Minecraft type games). And then we have Fortnite. Even more, the outstanding smoothness of the building mechanic in Fortnite sometimes makes us forget that this is the official game where building and shooting are in one same place.
In the old style shooting games, if someone shoots you in an open area, you only have 2 options: clutching and quickly running to a safe place, or trying to shoot back. But in Fortnite, you can build a fortress in front of them to block the bullets. If you have ever watched two high-level Fortnite players in an intense build off, you’ll know it’s like watching Chess Masters locked in a heated struggle.
The developer of Apex Legends, on the other hand, avoid building anything in their game so that Apex Legends won't just merely be a copy of Fortnite (of course you can still build up traps and small obstacles in Apex Legends, but not a fortress). There are different characters in Apex Legends, and each of them has different skills (one passive skill and 2 active skills). This feature is really like Overwatch.
But in Overwatch, each character has their own type of weapon, and it is fixed for each character. In Apex Legends, players still have to pick up guns and other resources, just like Fortnite. This creates many types of playstyles, even for one character only. This feature has been the main difference in the gameplay for Apex Legends, in comparison with both Fortnite and Overwatch.
Respawn Entertainment is really good at covering all kinds of gamers’ playstyle in just a small number of characters and weapons. Currently, there are eight characters only in Apex Legends, but there are tankers, healers, damage dealers … in the game already. If you have played League of Legends (LoL) and you are a fan of champion Kaisa, you will find character Wraith very much alike Kaisa. Both are damage dealers for their teams, have the abilities to self-cover and reposition to a safer location in combat. And both have ultimate skills to fast travel across the map. If you are into Kaisa while you play LoL, you should definitely try Wraith when you play Apex Legends.
Always Squads Vs Riding Solo
The playing mode for both games is different. Apex Legends only have squad playing feature in the game, and each team will feature three players. It means if you are a lone player, the system will match you with 2 strange other players before you guys enter a match. And, of course, if you have a team of 3 already, hit it on the game now. Inevitably, this decision by Respawn Entertainment has received quite a lot of questions from the community. There has been no official answer regarding this issue from Respawn Entertainment, but on his Twitter, Mr. Vince Zampella – CEO of Respawn Entertainment – have jokingly answer that there will be a solo mode in the game.
Although no players can play alone in the game, the variation in the abilities of the characters in Apex Legends enables players to be much more team-orientated. Launching the game with squad playing mode only may be a good move, in term of marketing for the game. If a player really enjoys the game, he/she will likely invite friends to join with them in the game, especially when he/she is too tired of playing with total strangers. Nothing better than enjoying a good game with your friends from real life.
In Fortnite, however, there are solo and squad mode. This might be better since Fortnite is a less teammate-spirited game. However, having 2 modes means if a lone player trying to find a squad to play, chances are that he/she is really team-oriented for that upcoming match.
Conclusion
Both Apex and Fortnite are incredibly fun and unique experiences, even if they exist within the same battle royale genre. Since the explosion of games like Fortnite and PUBG, the battle royale genre has been milked extremely hard by game developers with same old content. Apex feels like a genuine attempt at making something fun and unique instead of a forcing cash game (although it is published by EA so we still have to keep our guard up).
Fortnite has impacted society in such a way that we probably will not forget the game any time soon (and Epic Games will do everything in their power not to let that happen). Something important to remember when discussing these games is that we are allowed to enjoy any game we wish to, and no one says you can only enjoy one game at a time. When gaming companies compete on making more and more qualified products, it is us – the customers – who benefit the most.