Apex Legends Mobile has been released in selected countries for a regional soft launch and I am lucky enough to reside in one of the countries.
Having been a fan of Respawn Entertainment's battle royale hero shooter, Apex Legends, for some time now I was somewhat interested to see what Apex Legends Mobile will bring to the table. Coming from a country like Malaysia where mobile gaming and esports are seen as the norm, one will eventually get sucked into that space. Unfortunately, it's very hard for mobile counterparts to even scratch the surface of what can be done on the PC version.
PUBG Mobile, Fortnite Battle Royale, and Call of Duty: Mobile are just some of the popular battle royale mobile games that are out at the moment. Having tried all of the games mentioned to a certain extent, I was somewhat excited about what Apex Legends Mobile had to offer. And after countless, agonising months of waiting for Apex Legends Mobile to drop, it finally did and luckily enough, Malaysia just so happens to be one of the countries on the list.
I've experienced a lot over these past few weeks glued to my smartphone for hours on end, and there are plenty of things to love and hate about the game. Some parts of the game are good and some are bad. But to put it into perspective, it does provide a very different experience.
The Good
From a PC point of view, Apex Legends is known for arguably three things: its gunplay, movement mechanics (like climbing and sliding), as well as its non-verbal communications feature, otherwise known as its 'ping system'. All this can be found in Apex Legends Mobile as well, to some degree. Having played every day for the past few weeks, I've almost gotten to grips with how the gunplay works, given some more tweaking in the settings if needed. But overall, I am slowly getting used to the hip-firing and ADS system within Apex Legends Mobile.
After playing close to, give or take, 100 games, the mixture of going from hip-fire to ADS while in a heated fight is one of the best things I can admit about this game. While it isn't the same experience when you're playing on PC, it does give a good run for its money, especially when you're used to playing mobile games. The different fire modes, from holding down to aim and releasing to fire to tapping to fire makes it easier to simplify your playstyle.
Throw in sliding and gliding mixed with its gunplay, Apex Legends Mobile aims to please the same fans while gaining new ones. For the most part, the movement within the game is smooth and easy to get to grasp. When done properly, you'll be able to leap from building to building, cross over certain landscape ranges and slide your way through without losing any momentum. You can also tap strafe in this game when done correctly. Even throwing ordinances is a skill on its own as each has its timing, flight path, and trajectory.
The Bad
While I understand that the game is probably still in its beta and will eventually go through changes before its global launch, there are some things that I wish they would've fixed even before this closed regional launch. For one, the UI within the game still feels slow to respond sometimes, especially when you're stuck in a sticky situation. Holstering and drawing your weapons can be a pain, especially when it doesn't respond or takes its own sweet time to do so.
I've been caught in situations where I've died without getting the chance to fight back because the game doesn't register when I'm trying to draw my weapons. Another is the movement when aiming down on your sights, which can feel clunky and slow during gunfights. Scaling walls, tall boxes and ledges are movements that make the game unique on PC, but on the mobile front, not so much. I've been caught stuck on a ledge or even on a railing because my character just doesn't seem to be able to jump over like normal.
Another thing that irks me to no end about Apex Legends Mobile is that there aren't any Replicators or Material bins around the game. With a huge element of the game already out of the way, this makes looting a lot harder, especially when you've got greedy teammates who want everything for themselves (more on that later!) Without Replicators, the ability to craft Shield Batteries, Med Kits, or even more ammo and shield upgrades are now out the window.
The Beautiful
One of the greatest features to be added is the game's footstep tracker, which comes out in a circular omnidirectional sphere for you to determine an enemy's whereabouts. Of course, if you can determine your enemies' movements, so can they so this becomes an exciting cat-and-mouse game of who gets the jump first. This is a good step up from the PC version's footstep audio, which is insanely buggy at best. While that requires greater intuition, instinct, and near-perfect hearing, Apex Legends Mobile makes the entire process much easier.
Another useful feature that Respawn has added to Apex Legends Mobile are the perks that come with each legend. These perks will come into play when you drop into a game and can help to further elevate your playstyle, albeit unconventionally. There are also perks for your finishers, which somehow sets its very own meta in the game that is different from the PC version. For example, a finisher kill can restore all shields plus an additional 100 Evo points to upgrade. Another perk restores all shields while also refilling ammo.
One other feature that I thought was great was being able to play strictly in the third person. This opens a whole new avenue of gameplay, giving you a different perspective of what it's like as opposed to the standard first-person point of view. Of course, lobbies are separated into either FPP or TPP to avoid any unfair advantages.
The Ugly
While this is subjective to each player's unique matchmaking, I find that more often than not, I get teammates who not only refuse to communicate. Not only that, I've gotten many random teammates that will drop on their own to loot, end up getting killed, and leave the game straight away. This creates a numerical disadvantage from the get-go, making the game much harder than it already is. Unlike PC players who, even if toxic, know the basics of teamwork and such like sharing ammo and shield charge drops or even attachments to certain guns that will give a slight advantage; this is unheard of in Apex Legends Mobile as everybody is in it for themselves.
One of the few similarities I can point out between mobile and PC players are those who play Octane exclusively, oy vey. A legend whose tactical ability grants him increased movement speed, this is the type of player who will Stim across the area to loot every single area only to die in the first team fight. Speaking of tactical abilities, it does seem that many don't seem to either understand how they work or just flat out refuse to use them at all. To get to the crux of what I'm trying to say is this: if you're going to solo queue games on Apex Legends Mobile, be sure your sanity is intact. If not, find friends to play with you; it'll be a lot more bearable that way.
Conclusion
For a game that is very much like the PC version, Apex Legends Mobile has its very own experience that is unique to its own. If you're familiar with how Apex Legends work, I can guarantee that you'll up the mobile variant with ease. With the game is still region-locked for now, it's only a matter of time before it goes global for the rest of the world to take part.
