i'm hesitantly calling this one my favorite current online shooter, although i have a lot of reservations that come and go as the game itself changes. i've been playing for about a year and a half now which much less than many of you, so keep that in mind. also, because of how often fortnite changes, my review might reference a few gameplay elements which're outdated by the time you're reading it. additionally, most of my gameplay is in the 'no build' mode, so i'm not gonna mention the building aspect of the game despite how important that was (and still is, to an extent).
fortnite takes some of my favorite aspects of other successful online shooters - the 100 man battle royale format, the wide open hunger games style map and looting, and layers upon that simple but satisfying gunplay and gadgetry. the core loop of fortnite involves parachuting onto the map, landing in an appropriate location, finding your first weapon, and then it morphs into a different sort of loop, where the rest of the match involves slowly scouring the map for more loot while edging inwards to avoid the encroaching Storm. most of the combat feels situational, compared to games that're more map-oriented like counterstrike or overwatch. you can learn the map, but specific geographical features rarely factor into my thought process while fighting opponents. rather, you're free to approach any given situation from a number of angles and consider tons of different factors - how to position yourself, what gun to use when, how you can apply your special weapons and grenades (such as a katana with a dash attack, or a throwable shield) to best gain an edge. fights are very fast-paced and frantic, it can be overwhelming at times but once you get into a groove it starts activating some sort of primal guerilla warfare minded portion of my brain and it clicks verrry well.
updates are very frequent in fortnite, coming every few months or so and bringing entirely new weapons, items, vehicles, locations, a lot of shit. the beauty of fortnite is that it's decided it can have it all, you can play it like a serious competitive FPS game or a kid friendly party game (notice how they never use the word 'kill' in the game itself), it can explore different types of movement and combat and different paces however it wants, cuz in a few months it'll all be different anyways. you see that philosophy a lot in the marketing and cross-promotions too, they basically just add whatever the fuck pop cultural figure or cartoon character they can get the rights to, and i think as a result of both of these things it's like, the biggest game in the world. not since pokemon have i been able to walk up to my 10 year old cousin, my 20 year old neighbor, and my 40 year old uncle and talk to all of them about the same game. funny games bring us together
this is an off-the-dome rambly style review so i'll unfortunately be ending it on a negative note cuz that's what came to mind last. i think the biggest flaw in fortnite's core gameplay is that it's soooo loot dependent. i've noticed through watching my own games & the gameplay of others that a really large portion of losses come down to a simple difference in equipment complimented by slightly bad positioning. if you get into an encounter with an opponent who's using significantly higher quality weapons than you (i shouldve mentioned that weapons have degrees of quality associated with various colors, you know how video game loot work i guess) you're boned like, 75% of the time, even if your aim is ok and you get the jump on them first. this is especially bad with certain weapons, like this current season's (chapter 4 season 2) cobra dmr, which can absolutely shred opponents at the higher qualities using its really high fire rate & long range, really annoying. this could probably be remedied a lot just by making rare weapons more rare, i've noticed that you can also get a lot of these weapons within seconds of landing which is absurd. again though, because fortnite changes so much, stuff like that never feels like a big deal for long. you just hit Ready and drop in again
i will add to the end of this that fortnite as a company (and much of the monetization and core parts of the game itself, really) is clearly trying to manipulate children out of their parents money, but to be honest i'm sitting here half asleep & stoned at like 4 pm on a tuesday afternoon and i have nothing to say about it. dont spend money on the game i guess
fortnite takes some of my favorite aspects of other successful online shooters - the 100 man battle royale format, the wide open hunger games style map and looting, and layers upon that simple but satisfying gunplay and gadgetry. the core loop of fortnite involves parachuting onto the map, landing in an appropriate location, finding your first weapon, and then it morphs into a different sort of loop, where the rest of the match involves slowly scouring the map for more loot while edging inwards to avoid the encroaching Storm. most of the combat feels situational, compared to games that're more map-oriented like counterstrike or overwatch. you can learn the map, but specific geographical features rarely factor into my thought process while fighting opponents. rather, you're free to approach any given situation from a number of angles and consider tons of different factors - how to position yourself, what gun to use when, how you can apply your special weapons and grenades (such as a katana with a dash attack, or a throwable shield) to best gain an edge. fights are very fast-paced and frantic, it can be overwhelming at times but once you get into a groove it starts activating some sort of primal guerilla warfare minded portion of my brain and it clicks verrry well.
updates are very frequent in fortnite, coming every few months or so and bringing entirely new weapons, items, vehicles, locations, a lot of shit. the beauty of fortnite is that it's decided it can have it all, you can play it like a serious competitive FPS game or a kid friendly party game (notice how they never use the word 'kill' in the game itself), it can explore different types of movement and combat and different paces however it wants, cuz in a few months it'll all be different anyways. you see that philosophy a lot in the marketing and cross-promotions too, they basically just add whatever the fuck pop cultural figure or cartoon character they can get the rights to, and i think as a result of both of these things it's like, the biggest game in the world. not since pokemon have i been able to walk up to my 10 year old cousin, my 20 year old neighbor, and my 40 year old uncle and talk to all of them about the same game. funny games bring us together
this is an off-the-dome rambly style review so i'll unfortunately be ending it on a negative note cuz that's what came to mind last. i think the biggest flaw in fortnite's core gameplay is that it's soooo loot dependent. i've noticed through watching my own games & the gameplay of others that a really large portion of losses come down to a simple difference in equipment complimented by slightly bad positioning. if you get into an encounter with an opponent who's using significantly higher quality weapons than you (i shouldve mentioned that weapons have degrees of quality associated with various colors, you know how video game loot work i guess) you're boned like, 75% of the time, even if your aim is ok and you get the jump on them first. this is especially bad with certain weapons, like this current season's (chapter 4 season 2) cobra dmr, which can absolutely shred opponents at the higher qualities using its really high fire rate & long range, really annoying. this could probably be remedied a lot just by making rare weapons more rare, i've noticed that you can also get a lot of these weapons within seconds of landing which is absurd. again though, because fortnite changes so much, stuff like that never feels like a big deal for long. you just hit Ready and drop in again
i will add to the end of this that fortnite as a company (and much of the monetization and core parts of the game itself, really) is clearly trying to manipulate children out of their parents money, but to be honest i'm sitting here half asleep & stoned at like 4 pm on a tuesday afternoon and i have nothing to say about it. dont spend money on the game i guess