Apex Legends is a terrific battle royale game, but it’s always been pretty limiting compared to the competition. In pretty much every other game in the genre, from PUBG to Blackout to Fortnite, there are lots of different ways to play, whether that’s squads or duos or solos or even big team modes.
For the first time since its launch earlier this year, Apex Legends finally gives players a choice about how to play. You can still team up with two other players for squad play, or you can play in a limited-time solos mode that corresponds with the Iron Crown event.
This has been one of my biggest gripes with the game since it launched. I like playing squads, but you don’t always have someone to play with and a lot of times randoms can be less than ideal teammates (though sometimes they’re fantastic). I haven’t really played much Apex in the past few months, but when Solos launched earlier this week I dove in headfirst (which is to say I’ve played a dozen or so matches in the past couple days—and I’m itching to play more, time permitting).
Good grief, but I was rusty. I still am rusty, though I’m getting better. My best placement this week has been #2, and my best was three kills with a fifth place finish. A lot of the players I’m up against have been playing the game consistently since launch, and they’re much better than I am. They’re stiff competition, to say the least. But now that I can play in solos, I feel like I can keep working on my game, experimenting with heroes and locations I might not explore in a squad.
I feel like maybe I can “git gud” as they say. Or at least better than I’ve been.
It’s liberating, and I’m sure I’ll be more confident when I return to squad play. Of course, I’m hoping against hope that both squads and solos will remain permanent fixtures because they both offer something different. And even though the game is designed around squads and using your characters’ super powers to aid your teammates, it works just fine in solos as well.
I still think a “Pilot Mode” that stripped away powers and made every character the same outside of visuals wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I don’t think it’s necessary either. The game works great in solos or squads regardless. Powers aren’t tailored to solo play, but they can still get the job done.
In fact, Respawn should tinker with 4-person squads and duos as well. I’d also love to see them create non-battle royale modes and maps like Domination and TDM on smaller-scale maps, using the same characters and powers. There’s so much potential here for a really cool game that isn’t just a battle royale. I think the popularity of Fortnite’s Team Rumble mode (which isn’t battle royale in the slightest) just goes to show that these types of games can branch out and appeal to wider audiences without sacrificing their core gameplay experience.
Speaking of Fortnite, I have a bad habit in Apex Legends right now that I need to curb. I keep thinking I can build. Enemy starts shooting at me, I instinctively want to build a box or a ramp. I did the same thing last time I played PUBG. I landed on a roof and immediately wanted to use my (nonexistent) pickaxe to break through to the room below. I guess I play too much Fortnite.
But hey, now that there’s solos mode in Apex Legends, I’m happily playing more of that instead!
Make it permanent, Respawn. You have nothing to lose . . . .
