If you’ve been watching GamesForAllTube lately you’ll have seen I’ve been playing one game quite a lot. Apex Legends is a brand new battle royale shooting game (similar to Fortnite) that many youth will be talking about, I’ve already seen lots of posts on Facebook groups I follow saying it’s all their youth group wanted to talk about this past week.
In the game you choose from 1 of 8 different characters to be, each with different abilities. Then as a team of 3 you fly down onto the map with no equipment and have to scavenge for weapons, armour, health packs etc, and compete to be the last team standing.
You can get knocked down and have a shirt period of time for an ally to revive you, but if they don’t make it they then have a further couple of minutes to recover your data and get to a respawn point with you.
As with all battle royale games as time progresses the playable area of the map shrinks, in this case every 3.5 minutes, to ensure people don’t have to go around the whole map to find the last survivors.
What differentiates this game from the others out there is the unique characters. First of all it’s the most diverse cast I’ve seen in a game since overwatch. There are only 2 obviously white characters, and there’s 2 black female characters! This shouldn’t seem surprising but it really is, sadly video games are still dominated by predominantly white and male heroes so it’s refreshing to see equal representation.
Secondly each character has their own set of 3 skills that make them unique and represent what they are gifted in. For instance Gibraltar automatically generates a shield when he aims his gun, can throw down a protective dome every 30 seconds and his ultimate ability calls a mortar strike on an area. Whereas Wraith has a voice in her head that gives hints when enemies are nearby, can go temporarily invisible to run away or can make 2 linked portals for fast travel between 2 areas.
My favourite is Lifeline who automatically shields allies whilst recovering them, has a heal drone and can call in a care package with rare equipment in. Very support based.
Finally it has a very well thought out and useful ‘ping’ system. When you see something useful for your teammates or spot an enemy you can press a button to instantly highlight it to the rest of your team, and they will know what you’ve seen. Obviously having voice chat with your friends is the best but this allows you to play better with strangers without having to talk to them.
Parental warnings
I wouldn’t necessarily encourage this game to those under 15, based solely on the fact that any hit causes bloodshed and when you are near a downed enemy you can enter a short cutscene to do a finishing move on them, some of which are funny like Gibraltar sitting on them, whilst others are more violent. It is up to you as a parent to decide if it is suitable.
Everything in the game is currently accessible without having to spend a penny, however it is much faster if you can spend money. So make sure you have control over how your console handles money (check out my parental controls post to make sure you have) otherwise you may find yourself considerably poorer.
It is also an online game, and requires teams of 3 to play. Make sure you keep track of who your child is talking to on it. With the parental controls enabled you can make it that they can only talk to people on their friends list and that no one can be added to it without your permission first. Again see the post linked in the above paragraph.
Questions to explore character
1) Which of the characters do you enjoy playing the most? How come?
2) Do you like that the characters are all different genders and races? How does that make you feel?
3) Why do you think your favourite character decided to enter the tournament?
4) All the characters are Apex Legends, the best of the best at what they do, what things do you feel you are good at?
Links to Scripture
To me the obvious place to link is the fact that each character has their own particular abilities, the things they excel at. We’re told in 1 Corinthians about how the Holy Spirit gives us gifts we excel at.
And now, brothers, I want to write about the special abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each of you, for I don’t want any misunderstanding about them.Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are his. The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.
To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; someone else may be especially good at studying and teaching, and this is his gift from the same Spirit. He gives special faith to another, and to someone else the power to heal the sick. He gives power for doing miracles to some, and to others power to prophesy and preach. He gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through those who claim to be giving God’s messages—or whether it is really the Spirit of God who is speaking. Still another person is able to speak in languages he never learned; and others, who do not know the language either, are given power to understand what he is saying.
It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have.
Now here is what I am trying to say: All of you together are the one body of Christ, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.
Here is a list of some of the parts he has placed in his Church, which is his body:
Apostles,
Prophets—those who preach God’s Word,
Teachers,
Those who do miracles,
Those who have the gift of healing;
Those who can help others,
Those who can get others to work together,
Those who speak in languages they have never learned.
Is everyone an apostle? Of course not. Is everyone a preacher? No. Are all teachers? Does everyone have the power to do miracles?
Can everyone heal the sick? Of course not. Does God give all of us the ability to speak in languages we’ve never learned? Can just anyone understand and translate what those are saying who have that gift of foreign speech?
No, but try your best to have the more important of these gifts.
– 1 Corinthians 12:1,4-11,27-31
The holy spirit gives each of us different abilities that we can use to help spread the Good News with. Don’t be jealous of others who have a different ability to you, encourage them with it. And don’t worry if you can’t think of what your ability is yet. It takes time to figure it out, why not talk with your minister or someone on the pastoral team to see if they can help you explore them?
Where to buy
It’s a free to play game that you can find I. The Xbox store, Playstation store and Origins on the PC.