I’ve Changed My Mind About Fortnite

It’s not dogshite…

If you cast your minds back to February of 2019, I published my thoughts on ‘Apex Legends’ blog, which at the time, really impressed me. The gaming market is bursting from the seams with Battle Royal games, and ‘Apex Legends’ showed to be rather unique in its approach to shooty-shooty gameplay. That was before it became incredibly stagnant and started introducing subtle pay-to-win mechanics, which is why I never did a follow review.

The reason why I mentioned this is because began that blog with the following:

Since 2017, there have been two giants in the genre I have mostly avoided playing. They are of course, ‘PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS’ (or the equally vexatious abbreviation, ‘PUBG’) and the more colourful, irritating, cringe-fest that is of course ‘Fortnite’.

I say ‘mostly avoided’, as I did delve into ‘Fortnite’ as it got quite a lot of attention at the time and I was rather curious to see what all the hoo-ha was about. I can see the general appeal of these types of games, as they take the original multiplayer deathmatch idea (which I feel is totally irrelevant to the kids who play games today), but with more players and larger maps (or ‘map’ in the case of ‘Fortnite’). This may sound great, but that actually becomes a problem, as you would then have two players at the other end of the map, waiting for the other to make a stupid move. That is why after every so often, a big ring of death shrinks the map, choking the remaining players to their inevitable death. I think it is fair to say that is the battle royale genre in a nutshell.

My disliking of ‘Fortnite’ is split into three equally cancerous parts:

Some of the players I have encountered during my 5 hour session were shouting down their headsets some utterly vile language. The first instance of this was some early teen (if I were to be generous about his age bracket) shouting every profanity under the sun when he lost in a team match, his favourite of those words was apparently ‘nigger’ (I believe ‘PUBG’ has just a shameful fanbase if my ‘PUBG’ playing friends are being truthful). Some of the memes around ‘Fortnite’ make me frown with embarrassment and disappointment, a face that resembles a child’s drawing of a cabbage.

Fortnite’s battle royal mode is very clearly a knockoff version of ‘PUBG’. It may have evolved constantly throughout its release, but on that initial release, it is very clearly a free clone.

I am shit with guns in all sense of the sentence, which is perhaps the most biased of these reasons. I was playing it a few days after it came out, and I was being slapped about like the scrub I truly am. Hand me ‘Bloodborne’ and I will (probably) win a pvp (player versus player) duel. Hand me Kirby in ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ and I will destroy you. Give me a gun…and I will probably lose…badly. With each game, I have to work out if I have to hold the fire button or press it constantly to make it fire bullets, by which point I have died and been looted of my gear by some French kid teabagging me (yes, you twats still do that, I know you are!). That is of course if I manage to find some weapons and gear upon jumping out of the floating bus with my constantly randomised character who is either a male with a chin larger than The Crimson Chin or a woman with large breasts and a more obnoxious bum than Niki Minaj. — Daniel Mayfair, 2019

In short, I was not very keen with its fanbase or the game in any shape or form.

The new Fortnite map.

And despite this, I was a victim of Epic Games’ recent (at the time of typing) and interesting marketing ploy, which was the advertising the shutting down of their servers for maintenance and steaming some CGI black hole through the weekend. Then the following Monday, Fortnite was up again, practically brand new. There is a new map, new items and new skins for players to have fun with as they descend from the battle bus and fight to be the last individual standing. It was a clever way of advertising their game’s new content. Epic Games’ did very little with it, They let their fanbase and the general populace run riot with spreading the theories of Fortnite shutting down and getting people to watch their black hole. I never watched it, but I hear that the viewers were in the thousands on Twitch.

I didn’t think I would ever be enticed to play the game, but what got me to eventually try it out again was the fact friends and colleges of mine who had previously hated the game, were now finding the game really fun and enjoyable now. So, I naturally had to try this game once more, and see if I too would find it enjoyable. Whilst some may find this review to be an outdated and old piece of hack, I thought it would only be fair to play the game for a few weeks, so I could really get to grips with it. Who knows, there may be readers out there who may be debating amongst themselves. Hopefully, I can help you out.

‘Fortnite’ has not changed in its cartoony aesthetic, which I believe has contributed to its widespread appeal. It is inviting for all sorts of players, and it cannot easily scare unaware parents. It looks very gamey and unrealistic, with deaths resulting in the character being warped off of the map, rather than blood, sweat and tears catapulted in every imaginable direction. In addition to this, it runs at a consistent 60FPS on all consoles, which is always appreciated by dedicated players. That said, I have no idea if it performs on mobiles...

The way the game is introduced to the player is significantly different from what it had been up to that point. A cinematic is played, showcasing the various skins the player can obtain by purchasing (with real money) the battle pass to unlock for your avatar, weapons etc. It ends with the infamous battle bus, with some sort of party going on, before a default/basic skinned avatar leaps out and parachutes onto the new map, which where the gameplay begins. There’s no in-game tutorial, so you have to quickly learn what to do, or be eliminated.

Now, whilst new players of ‘Fortnite’ have never had a comprehensive tutorial, it has not thrown players into the deep quite like this. You were able to navigate the menus before jumping into the game, to get some idea of how to build and shoot things. Honestly, I was terrified. I was not comfortable with shooters, and I expected to die instantly. The controls were the standard L2 to zoom, R2 to pew-pew. Pushing the Left stick whilst moving makes you run, X to jump, Square to reload. The changing of weapons initially threw me, and I knew I would very rarely make the structures that ‘Fortnite’ is known for. I personally think they exist for the dickheads most players would call ‘Campers’

As I made my descent, I had to conjure up a plan to stick around for as long as I could. I came up with an action plan, one that I have rigidly stuck too since:

1. Don’t land at the bigger, popular landing sites. Everyone does this, tripping over each other’s feet to grab any loot that they could find. If I do have to land with loads of other people, I will proceed with caution, having to sneak as my default movement setting.
2. I would only take on fights that I was certain I could win, which usually means being a sneaky-douchebag, hiding in places or attack those on a lower altitude.
3. I would prioritise getting into the safe zone/ring once the game notifies me where the new safe zone/ring is once I have collected some

Much to my surprise, this worked. I was the penultimate participant! On my first game of ‘Fortnite’ in two years! If you don’t believe me, I was pathetically sad enough to record it and have uploaded my blunders up on YouTube for you.

Now the one thing that muddied the rush in my gut as I was up against the other last player was the fact that all the other players on the first round of ‘Fortnite Chapter 2’ were bots. In addition, there are also the occasional bots in ‘proper’ matches of ‘Fortnite’, which I feel a bit off about. One of the selling points of ‘Fortnite’ is the idea that you are facing off against 99 other players. Human players. Now with this new knowledge in mind, I can’t help but feel a little bit cheated. Being as popular as it is, I would have thought there would always be 100 people to fill one of many servers. That said, I am not expert in those fields, so I won’t make any statements there.

After the closest thing the game will present as a tutorial, you are shown another cinematic, showcasing the game’s new mechanics and modes, few of which I was interested in.

There was something incredibly exciting about that first match, a feeling I tried to duplicate, potentially exceed with each match. I wanted to be in the final 10 players every time, and I desperately wanted to win a game, be the best of 100 players in a session. I had an ego to scratch, and potentially some sort of addiction to beat off.

I would slowly learn the controls and configure slight changes to the ones I didn’t like. For example, by default, only tapping the L2 would zoom in with your gun of choice, with another tap allowing you to zoom out. It made more sense to me to change it so holding and releasing L2 would zoom in and out respectively, and adjusted the sensitivity of the camera so I had a better chance of getting in that vital first (and every other) shot.

Now whilst I can’t comment on all the new changes, as I have not been playing as long as some other ‘Fortnite’ players, one change I know is new in Chapter 2 is 3D Audio, which is best employed with headphones.

As the name would imply, 3D Audio allows players to hear the sound design from all angles, rather than left and right for stereo, left, right behind and in front for surround. This is especially useful if you are in one of the many abandoned houses and you are looking for one of the chests that have weapons, ammo and healing items (which sounds a synthy C), or exploring the nuclear power plant and hear footsteps above and to the right of you. The number of times I have managed to sneak/run away or get the upper hand on my opponents because I could pinpoint where they were and how far away from me they were so I could get that kill, even if I had the basic common weapon (common deals the least amount of damage, then uncommon, rare, legendary, then exotic, each type colour-coded grey, green, blue, purple and orange). having the 3D Audio fed that survivor's instinct I spoke of earlier, as I snuck around the towns, buildings and other enclosed areas, making as little noise as I could, to find forgotten loot or to sneak up on someone for a kill.

The map (accessed with the TouchPad on PS4) is not colourful upon launch. It is greyed out, forcing players to discover the world and its landmarks for themselves, which grants them a bit of EXP (experience points) for doing so. It would be this feature that contributed to my style of playing the game, as I found lot’s of fun exploring the map, making mental notes of good hiding places, and where loot chests and ammo crates would be. Granted, I didn’t get many kills with this method, but I would regularly be in the top 10 consistently, getting that buzz I spoke of, session after session.

Another new feature, or toy to be more precise, is the addition of water and boats. Players can swim and shoot at each other in the water. For navigation, player’s sprints become a front crawl, with perfectly timed jumps makes you character leap in and out of the water, making it a fast getaway if you find yourself in the middle of a shoot out between 10 players, or if the storm/ring is closing in on you. If you are outside of the safe zone (ie, in the storm), you begin to lose health.

If you fancy going a little bit faster, it is possible to drive one of the boats, which has three seats for additional players to hop on and control a turret in one and shoot with their standard weapon with the other. Not ideal in the standard 100 player moshpit, but a barrel of laughs in multiplayer. In single-player, you will probably be in the driver’s seat, driving/sailing the boat, firing rockets that deal lot’s of damage to other boats and players. You can also drive/sail the boat through the land, at the cost of some of the boat’s HP. If you are truly stuck in finding new weapons, you are able to find fishing rods to fish for weapons and edible fish, which restore health. I did this once in one particularly unlucky session, where I was so far from civilisation, I could not scavenge lost items or explore some houses to find some loot of my own.

With all of these aquatic features, the game does not hold your hand in trying to work out what to do. The boat controls and fishing mechanic are shown by the controls on the side of the screen, but other than that, the player is left to their own devices to learn the mechanics on their own, integrating it into their playstyle, if they so wish.

From my various sources, I believe the level progression I believe that it has changed a bit since it’s launch. Players obtain really generous amounts of EXP for completing objectives, such as discovering X number of places on the map, opening 7 ammo crates in one session, or using three different weapons in a game, which I believe is rather encouraging for players to keep playing and keep trying. EXP is also earnt for killing other players and just surviving, which meant that players like me, were still able to level up and feel that they are making good progress. ‘Apex Legends’ only awards EXP for kills, successful shots (whatever that is supposed to mean) and winning a game, which is one of many factors that stopped me from playing the game.

The way items, loading screens, emotes and dances, weapon, character skins and any other form of character customisation that I may have missed are all unlocked is by purchasing the Battle Pass, a topic I was not prepared to ignore. I could not allow myself to not discuss anything with the mere whiff of microtransaction!

How this, and similar, Battle Passes work is that once you have gained enough EXP, you level up. Each level earns you an award, but can only be permanently claimed by earning the Battle Pass, which can only be purchased with in-game currency (which are V-Bucks in ‘Fortnite’), which can only be claimed by the new player by purchasing a minimum of £8. As this is a free-to-play, online multiplayer game and I was beginning to have fun with this game and my new-found playstyle, I spent the required amount and got my Battle Pass, which at that point earnt me my first two skins, which was some girl in pink, and a fisherman. Being a male, and wanting to be identified as such, I chose to equip the male skin, as I was not keen on ‘Fortnite’ change my gender and race every game. Doing this also gave me something else to work on, which was the weird goo-dripping, humanoid figure, which I find weirdly adorable. This of course added to the need of wanting to be the better player in each session, to out survive them all, which in turn, added to one’s confidence. I would obtain the goo-guy, and spend another £8 for more V-Bucks, as I wanted to progress up the Battle Pass a bit faster and show my appreciation to the devs…who really don’t need my money at this point…

No review of mine would not be perfect without some negative remarks/criticisms, some I have peppered into the above already. First comes straight off the previous paragraph, which I’m am to blame as much as Epic Games. The way that Battle Passes work makes the game far more addictive than I was already finding it. I am not the most responsible person with money, but it rather easy to see how some people will happily spend hundreds upon hundreds of real-world money to obtain skins and characters to assert their unique look on the ‘Fortnite’ world. And given that the game is really marketed towards children and young teenagers, one would be right to be a little bit concerned in that regard. It does not help that there are many YouTubers/Twitch Streamers who make hours of content of mocking players with default skins, which puts a whole load of pressure on children to use mummy’s debit card to be with the rest of the cool kids.

Peer pressure aside, one is able to hear an annoying hum, like the sort you might hear at a bad concert. The word I’m looking for is ‘feedback’, the note it produces usually being an F#. This tone usually occurs just after matches during loading screens, as that is where it is most quiet after the matches themselves (neither have any music). I am not sure whether this is an issue with just me, or PS4 users, or the game as a whole, but it is a rather annoying, emersion breaking experience nonetheless.

Coda

It pains me to admit that ‘Fortnite’ has grown on me these last few weeks. But rather than mope over this predicament, I shall say that this has been a rather interesting learning experience in patience and learning that I may have been playing ‘Fortnite’ wrong. It is a subject I touched upon in my ‘Defence in Dark Souls II’ blog, in that the developers build a game that guides a player how best to approach their game, beyond any tutorial pop-up. The approach that ‘Fortnite’ takes is to allow the player to learn the ropes themselves, to find a playstyle that best suits them, whether it is making fortified treehouses to protect yourself from incoming fire, or hide in a chimney as you snipe your way to victory. It is fairly easy, and straightforward, for anyone to be competent at this successful Battle Royal game.

And if you at all interested, I did eventually win that first game (I have won 2 others since), and I wish to leave that here, in case you fancy seeing it.

What are your thoughts on ‘Fortnite?’ Do reckon yourself to be a master or a blubbering idiot like me?

Let’s start a conversation, people!