Now that Apex Legends Mobile is finally going to be a thing, that means practising to become a Legend is easier than ever when you can do it on the go. Sometimes, though, like when you’re home, you might want to play the mobile version on your PC and not the original game, since it’s got no cross-progression after all. That means you want an emulator. Which one are you going to pick out of the many available out there? In that case, NoxPlayer’s touting itself to be THE perfect Android emulator.

WHAT IS NOXPLAYER?

Much like the others of its kind, NoxPlayer is an Android emulator with which you can use to play mobile games on PC. There’s plenty to like about having an emulator to play your mobile games:

• Keyboard and mouse control for more precision, hotkey options
• Larger screen for better viewing experience
• Performance and space not limited by your phone’s hardware
• No battery or heat issues to worry about

For those who need it, NoxPlayer also supports all versions of Android engines – 5.1, 7.1, and 9 in 32- and 64-bit – for that flexibility, and compatible with both X86 / AMD. Besides emulation, you get an array of handy features, such as macros, recording, multi-instances to run multiple windows simultaneously, and more that you can expect in the future. But what can it offer for Apex Legends Mobile?

FIT FOR LEGENDS

OPTIMIZED KEYBIND PRESET, WITH CUSTOMIZATION

If I want to be playing a mobile shooter through an emulator on my PC, then obviously the first thing I’d want is to map the actions on the screen to my keyboard and mouse. Handily enough for someone as bumbling as me, NoxPlayer has what it calls an “optimized keyset”, with the relevant menus, toggles and what-have-you all preset. Conveniently enough, there’s a toggle to switch in and out of  the simply-named “shooting mode” which will basically make it work like any other shooter game.

I think I’ll just need more practice with the keys. For the rest of you, you’re free to rebind any of the keys – or add your own – according to what you’re most comfortable with. If you’re wondering about the key mapping showing up when streaming or recording, there’s no need to worry. They don’t show up in Window Capture (OBS), and you can also adjust the opacity of the key mapping for yourself. I might even be able to appear more competent!

PLAYABLE ON ALL ANDROID VERSIONS

NoxPlayer promises the game to work on all the Android engines it supports, recommending Android 7 32-bit for the best performance. This is meant to be friendlier on lower-end PCs, while giving the option to more powerful machines to run it on more demanding settings. Sounds fair enough.

BETTER PERFORMANCE, HIGH FRAMERATE SUPPORT

The emulator has performance settings where I can allow it to use more of my computer’s processing power to help the game run better. A better running game will definitely help me be less of a load on my teammates, one would hope. If you’re feeling extra spicy, the Gaming tab lets you enable High FPS mode for up to 120 FPS, which NoxPlayer does note is best reserved for higher-end PCs.

JOINING THE FUN

Well, if all that sounds great to you, you can download NoxPlayer and start playing.

If you’re in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia, it’s just a matter of signing in to your Google account, opening the Tools folder on the homescreen, and opening the Play Store. Search for Apex Legends Mobile and install.

If you’re NOT in any of those regions, then you will need to get a VPN. To make sure it works, you’ll need to check your account settings.

Scroll down to Settings -> General -> Account and Device Preferences. If the VPN works, the country you changed it to should be seen here. You can also try to assign a country to the account you’re using from this section. As an example, I set my location to the United States. Accordingly, the game gives me an error.

If you want another instance, simply hit the Multi Drive button on the right, and click “Add Emulator” and select your version of choice.

With these options, using NoxPlayer for Apex Legends Mobile seems pretty convenient. I can use it to play any other game I like too, so hey, why not?