Fortnite: Battle Royale
Ah, we couldn’t have a publication about gaming and not talk about the most popular game of the year: Fortnite: Battle Royale. I’m going to assume you’ve heard of this game. If not, I think you’ve been living under a rock for the past 2 years. This game has done wonders for the gaming industry and the eSports industry. It is truly a historic game in the history of gaming.
You see, Fortnite is a very different version of the Battle Royale genre then we’ve seen before. It is not realistic. There are no close ranged melee weapons. It is completely different due to it’s complex building system and it’s cartoony art. This game took the world by storm in the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. Due to it’s massive number of content creators, many world records were broken. One of these was the most amount of viewers watching a player stream Fortnite on the popular streaming platform Twitch. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins played with popular musician Drake, for a viewing of over 650,000+ people.
You can play Fortnite on your computer, PS4, Xbox, Switch, IOS and Android. The game features cross-play, which allows you to play with other people that may be using a different gaming platform. The game has also had many different partnerships with different companies, including Samsung for exclusive bundles to unlock rare cosmetic items. An example of this is the partnership with Samsung. If you were to purchase a Galaxy Note 9 and play 3 matches of Fortnite on the device, you would receive the exclusive Galaxy bundle. This includes a skin, a pickaxe, and back bling and a glider. Each company did a nice job of working together, allowing Samsung and Fortnite fans to purchase something combining each company.
I mentioned in the earlier paragraph that Fortnite has a building system. You can build ramps, walls, pyramids and floors. You can also place down utility items such as traps, launchpads, and more. Each of these different pieces has it’s own uses. This adds a whole new skillset to the game. You must master building in Fortnite if you want to be successful. Building allows for you to build cover for yourself and allow you to reach areas you may otherwise not be able to access by building ramps and such. But, this brings up a question. Where do you get the materials to build? In Fortnite, there are 3 material types: wood, brick, and metal. Wood has the least amount of health and it the easiest to break, but when you first build it, it has the most amount of starting health. Brick is a nice balance between wood and metal. It is easier to find than metal, and has more hitpoints (health) than wood. Metal is the hardest material to collect, but has the most amount of hitpoints. You can collect said materials by breaking trees, bushes, cars, stone, walls of houses, and more.
The looting system is very unique in Fortnite. There are 5 main tiers of weapons: Common, uncommon, rare, epic and legendary. Now, don’t get confused. Not every weapon in Fortnite has all 5 tiers. But, you should know that a common assault rifle is worse than a rare assault rifle. The higher tier weapons you have, the more accurate they are, the more damage they do, and the faster their reload time is. There are also many different types of weapons. You have assault rifles, burst assault rifles, infantry rifles, heavy sniper rifles, suppressed sniper rifles, hunting rifles, heavy shotguns, pump shotguns, tactical shotguns, and many, MANY more different types, each having their own uniqueness, advantages AND disadvantages. There are also explosive weapons that you can find. Most loot in the game is located in cities and fortifications. You can find them on the ground, in chests, in supply drops, and in vending machines. Wait a second, did I just say vending machines? Yes, I did. You can find vending machines that have a different rarity throughout the map. Each has 3 different options for a weapon or utility item. But be careful, you can only receive ONE item per machine. Now you understand the looting system, lets talk about playing the game itself.
In the pre-game screen, you will have the option to queue up in a solo, duo, squad, LTM (limited time mode), or creative mode. Solo mode is if you want to go at it alone in the battle. Duo’s are where you can bring along one friend and fight for that victory royale. Squads is by far the most hectic gamemode. Give a stab at the game with 3–4 friends and see if you can make it to the top! Don’t have any friends online? Don’t worry! Just queue up and make sure you “fill” option is on, and you will be teamed up with other people looking for a team. In the LTM modes, these are limited time modes based on the original game but with a twist! An example of this is 50v50. Two teams of 50 battle it out to see which team has what it takes to conquer the battle field! A newer LTM is called the floor is lava. Lava slowly rises from the low points of the map, devouring everything in it’s path! Get to the high ground to escape your doom, and don’t touch the lava for else! Creative mode is just a fun mode to mess around with your friends and have fun. When you spawn into a game, you will jump out of a “bus” and skydive down toward your desired location. Jump down, loot up, and fight your way to the top!
Now, I hope you have some of the knowledge on how to be successful in Fortnite! Hopefully, reading this article gave you some insight on how to play the game, and hopefully you will be able to get your first win! There is a part of this game for everybody, and I hope you can find it.
