Venturing into Fortnite
“Oh shit, he just blew you uppp!”
Unfortunately, I heard this phrase a lot when I played Fortnite, the co-op sandbox survival video game from Epic Games. Zeb and Gabe, two of my neighbors who are much more experienced than me in the world of video games, introduced me to Fortnite. They told me that Fortnite was kind of like the Hunger Games, where you have to kill everyone else and survive in order to win. I found that Fortnite was confusing and a little hard to grasp, but I love the challenge of the game.
To start the game, your character jumps out of blimp and careens towards an island. Other players also parachute to the ground and land in different areas with different amounts of resources. In Fortnite, all players must get inside the circle in order to stay alive and the circle is constantly shrinking. To win the, game you have to be the last man standing. I never won Fortnite, and I never even managed to kill another player, but I did get 12th place one time by hiding in a bush for the majority of the game. I was often killed by other players who seemed to just come out of nowhere and end me with one shot, a couple of times I died because I didn’t make it inside the circle in time.
I do not have a lot of experience playing video games and I found it challenging to even move my character around in the game. When I was playing Fortnite I found myself staring at either the ground or they sky or running off cliffs and into rocks. I could not figure out how to cohesively move my thumbsticks so I could run and look at the same time. I also constantly had to look down at my hands on the controller to remember which buttons I needed to press to jump or build something or shoot at someone. I was repeatedly told that my movements were too jerky and sudden. I also never would have known what I was doing or where I should go if Zeb and Gabe weren’t directing me around the game. I probably would’ve just sat inside a house the whole time and done nothing. This game is not built for novices, however I still enjoyed playing it.
Fortnite manages to create an alternate world in a way that I had only previously experienced in movies and books. It was unique however because I could interact with this landscape and control a character within this world. Playing Fortnite I felt like I had a lot more control to do what I wanted in this made up world. I could do more than observe a story, I could interact with it.
I enjoyed Fortnite because it was such an intense challenge. I wanted to dominate the game and win. I never managed to, but I wanted to. With some time I’m sure I could figure out how to better navigate the video game. The thrill of a challenge is so addicting, and I definitely want to play Fortnite again and explore what other video games are out there.
