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If your kids play Fortnite, there is a big chance that they have already heard about its new rival – Apex Legend – the latest player in the battle royale, first-person shooting match genre. Although it targets the older audience, it is good fun to play might be the new gaming craze for the next few years.
It has raised a lot of eyebrows after a famous YouTube influencer, Ninja, won the first official match tournament – breaking the record for the greatest number of views on the streaming platform, Twitch. The game developers, Respawn Entertainment, show that Apex Legend had gained at least 25 million players in their first week of release on the market; then 50 million in its first month.
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What is Apex Legend, and how does it work?
This game is set in Titanfall – a place that a lot of players from Respawn’s other games will be very familiar with. It is a free-to-play game, and because of that, it depends on microtransactions and loot boxes to make money. Players are dropped from airships in groups of three in the King’s Canyon – Apex Legends’ world.
While in King’s Canyon, players have to scavenge for resources and try to eliminate the other 19 groups to win the match. The player will control their avatar, not like other battle royale games, in a first-person and focuses on strategy. Players can choose their avatar from one of eight fixture characters – each with their own unique and specialized skill set. It makes the gameplay a lot more exciting and nuanced.
What do players need to be aware of?
It has a cartoonish charm. It is what the genre is known for, but Apex Legends have a more serious tone compared to its competitors. At first glance, it looks pretty similar to its competitor Fortnite, but unlike Fortnite, it has a Pan European Game Information 16 rating.
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There is a lot of emphasis on gunplay (Fornite has a more building mechanic), and when players get shot, a cloud of blood will surround them. While it is not very gory compared to other first-person games, you may want to check out its gameplay on YouTube or Twitch before deciding if you are happy with your kids playing Apex Legends – especially if they are 16 or under.
Apex Legends is a fast-paced game, designed so that every round is never more than 20 to 30 minutes – something that is very useful to know if you are thinking about the time limit you want your child to play video games. For example, if you allow the kids two hours of match time, they would be able to finish more or less four rounds.
The problem with a 20 to 30-minute match format is that it is very tempting to do more rounds. It is designed to encourage gamers to binge play, so make sure to keep it in mind if your kid struggles to stop. The last thing to keep an eye on is that Apex Legends is a free-to-play game that makes a lot of money from small transactions – it means smaller payments for different in-game item purchases.
Gamers can buy Apex Coins using real money, which they can use to buy an Apex Pack. These packs are loot boxes that contain skins, banners and weapon camouflage players use to customize their match avatars. Developers have been criticized on the Internet for charging too much for their items which usually cost around $10 to $20 each.
Parent Zone is also concerned about the way the loot box teaches gamers gambling. Players can use in-game skins as gambling wagers on unregulated websites. Not only that, but private hacks can also be a huge issue when playing this game. Hacks or cheats are almost everywhere, and players can access them on different websites.
How can people keep their children safe?
Internet gaming is usually a safe and fun activity for the kids to enjoy. But like other activities, there is some risk, including playing with strangers, financial risks and in-game chat. Apex Legends, like other online and mass player game, carries these problems and dangers.
To avoid these problems, parents can disable communications like voice chats when the kids are playing and make use of its ping system. It is an alternative form of communication that involves the player providing commands by clicking the buttons.