Two of gaming’s largest Battle Royale juggernauts areCall of Duty: WarzoneandApex Legends.Call of Dutyhas mastered first-person combat with frantic gunfights and an addictive progression system whileApex Legendstakes much ofTitanfall 2’sgameplay and mashed it into the Battle Royale genre.
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Both games are fantastic and worth playing, but many enjoy these games for different reasons. Some can’t go back to other shooters after experiencingApex Legend’ssuperb movement, while many stick withWarzonethanks to its massive sandbox that allows for thousands of strategies each game. Whether someone is anApexorWarzonefan, here are five thingsApexLegendsdoes better thanWarzonealongside five thingsWarzonedoes better thanApex Legends.
10Warzone Does Better: Inventory
Inventories are notoriously bad in virtually every Battle Royale title, butCall of Duty: Warzoneis a great expectation to this. It lacks a traditional inventory system and is much better for it.
Players can view their total ammunition, money, and their currently equipped weapons. There is no grid system players must manage mid-game, which makes looting players much faster and more fluid.Warzone’sinventory removes the unneeded bloatfrom other gameswhile not compromising on core features such as sharing ammo or cash.
9Apex Does Better: Encouraging Teamwork
Battle Royale games try to encourage teamwork in multiple ways.Warzonedoes this with the use of Contracts and purchasing killstreaks.Apex Legendsdoes this with Legendsor playable characters.
Each Legend comes with a passive, a main ability, and an ultimate. It might not be revolutionary, but the way these characters are balanced allows for great synergies between teams that communicate. This gets even better with the game’s fantastic ping system, giving a visual and audio queue from that character on whatever they pinged.Respawn Entertainmenthas found a way to have players with no microphones be able to communicate as quickly and efficiently as those with microphones. All of these elements work together to promote an environment where teamwork is not only encouraged but also easy to do.
8Warzone Does Better: Lives
Second chances are a hard thing to balance in a BR game. They can remove some of the frustration of an unfair death, but they also ruin part of the tension that BR games are known for.Call of Duty: Warzonefound a fantastic solution for this with the Gulag.
Players that die are given one last chance to fight for their freedom in a 1 versus 1 duel. Failure will force the rest of the team to purchase them back, but winning grants that player another chance. It’s a great system that preserves the tension of BR gameswhile addressing the monotony of dyingto something out of the team’s control.
7Apex Does Better: Map Design
As fun as it is to drive or fly across Verdansk inWarzone, it has nothing onApex Legend’sKing’s Canyon or World’s Edge. These maps are a fantastic blend between open zones with long sightlines and enclosed environments with a surprising amount of movement options.
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Ziplines and vertical playspaces help make these maps feel much more action-packed than they otherwise would be.Warzone’smap, in contrast, highly encourages camping at the center of the circle since traversing open environments is suicide.
6Warzone Does Better: Sandbox Elements
No other Battle Royale game allows players to call in airstrikes, use pre-made loadouts, orstrap C4 onto a droneand wipe an enemy squad with it. Indeed,Call of Duty: Warzonehas one of the most dynamic player sandboxes out of any multiplayer shooter.
Apex Legendsis much more focused on gunplay and looting compared toWarzone’sfocus on using as many tools as possible to win, ranging from ramming people with trucks or calling down an airstrike on rooftop campers.
5Apex Does Better: Movement
Taking parts ofTitanfall 2’smasterful movement system,Apex Legendshas the best feeling movement in any Battle Royale game. Players can do anything from sliding past opponents or usingPathfinder’s grappling hookto slingshot themselves across the map.
Traversing barren locations becomes as fun as the gunplay itself, and the movement sets an additional skill ceiling forApexplayers to reach.
4Warzone Does Better: Loadouts
While looting is a core aspect of any Battle Royale game,Call of Duty: Warzoneshows that removing much of a BR game’s RNG can be a great boon for the game.
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Playersscavenge for gunsand ammo as with most games in the genre, only this game allows for groups to purchase Loadout Drops. These crates grant Create-A-Class loadouts to anyone who interacts with it, complete with weapon attachments and perks. This adds an early to mid-game goal everyone is chasing and removes most of the frustrating luck and RNGthat comes with the genre.
3Apex Does Better: Focus On Looting
On the other hand, many Battle Royale enthusiasts argue thatWarzone’sloadout system morphs the game into a 1-life Ground War match instead of a proper Battle Royale.
It’s easy to see why when looking at other games.Apex Legendsputs much more emphasis on finding powerful guns and attachments. Nearly every gun inApexis good in the right hands and with the right attachments. Weapon attachments go on the weapon proper and can be held onto for later. Players must scavenge for healing items, ammo, and weapons instead of purchasing them like inWarzone. This results in more tense gunfights and encourages players to fight each other for the enemy’s loot.
2Warzone Does Better: Variety
Call of Duty: Warzoneisn’t strictly a Battle Royale game. It is an extension ofModern Warfare’smultiplayer component in the most literal sense. Battle Royale might play like most titles such asApex Legends, but many forget about its other mode Plunder.
Plunder takes the frantic gameplay ofModern Warfareand injects it into a massive 150-man match. This mode is a great alternative to the monotonyWarzone’sBattle Royale mode can sometimes evoke. Combined with frequent playlist changes that add or alter game modes, there is always something new and interesting to do inCall of Duty: Warzone.
1Apex Does Better: Gunfights
Shooters live or die off their core gameplay loop. Clunky gunplay can kill a shooter’s appeal, which is why the combat rhythm in Battle Royale games is so important.
Call of Duty: Warzonehas a pretty good combat loop, but it can’t match the gunplay present inApex Legends. Punchy weapons and fluid movement blend together to create a ballet of death when squads decide to face each other. Time-to-kill values are low to offset the movement capabilities of players, which makes the skill ceiling much higher thanWarzones. Players can see themselves get better at the game by landing more headshots and using the environment better. Again,Warzonehas this as well but not to the degreeApex Legendsdoes.
