If you have missed my small preview on the game, please click here. Apex is a new upcoming casual MMO shooter developed by Symmetric Space, and the title will be published by MMO giant Nexon Corp, which has just acquired Ndoors and GameHi. Apex got its fair share of criticism early on, with many gamers and websites labeling the game as a “copycat” version of both Team Fortress 2 and Battlefield Heroes. In a brief interview with a foreign gaming website, Symmetric Space’s Wu Dongyi tries to explain the similarities to the gaming world.
Please give us a short introduction on the game, Apex.
For a start, Apex is a casual MMO shooter. My team had been looking to develop an online FPS game, one which is easily playable for everyone. Apex was then developed. Although the game has a TPS feel to it, on closer look, players will realize its not actually FPS or TPS.
Why make a “casual” online shooter?
Most FPS and TPS on the market is only catered for players who are really skilled, and not to mentioned the high graphical requirements. Through Apex, we are trying to lower the barrier for people who are not exactly skilled or trained to try the shooter genre out. The shooter market is already quite saturated, we had to be different to gain a share of the pie too.
What features are there to guide new players?
Equipments will appear randomly on the battlefields, making the game more fun. There will be a few other features to help players work as a team, which we call the Team Care System.
Which is the most unique feature of Apex?
The straight camera view. While it has its restrictions, a fixed straight camera view for every player will make the game less of a hassle in terms of controlling. Another feature is the Players VS NPCs scenario, and as you can tell, players will team up to go against AI NPCs.
The big question. Apex has been bombarded with accusations of copying other games.
To be honest, we are very sorry for being dragged into this issue. We never copied anything from any game. Obviously, our team had played alot of games, and we try to get all the good points together and add in our own. Yes, even if the designs look similar for the characters, environment and maps, we did not copy anything.
One reason might be the use of the Source engine for Apex. Actually, we modified the Source engine alot using our own codes. The final product is as what you see, and I can’t be sure if we should be happy or sad when people compare Apex with other games. We hope players will try the game out first.
How many players can one battle hold in Apex?
In the beginning, the capacity we planned was 100 Vs 100. However, the system is not fully developed, so the limit for now will be at 10 Vs 10. PvE maps will be available in the Closed Beta too.
