The Fortnite Pandemic

09/21/2018

Ah, Fortnite. With over 125 million downloads, Fortnite's popularity is undeniable. To give you some context for that figure, the population of Mexico is roughly 128 million. That's a lot of players. But why is Fortnite so popular? And does the actual game, at its core, really live up to those numbers? I am going to grade Fortnite on a scale of 1-10 in 5 categories: gameplay, graphics, management, player base and replay ability. Please note two things: this article is primarily about Fortnite Battle Royale and unless I specify otherwise, when I say Fortnite I am referring to Fortnite, Battle Royale, and, secondly as the other "big" Battle Royale game, Fortnite will be compared to PUBG a lot in this review.

First up: gameplay. Fortnite is a 100 player, PvP Battle Royale game. You start by jumping out of a bus that travels over a fixed map on a different route every game. Once you land, you are tasked with locating/harvesting weapons, shields, gadgets, vehicles and resources that you will then use to survive. Last man standing wins, and an approaching storm forces players together over time. Unlike other Battle Royale games such as PUBG, building plays a huge role in Fortnite. Resources can be harvested from the surroundings, and these resources are used to build walls, floors, ramps and roofs to protect you from your enemies. This makes the skill set in Fortnite slightly different than in other BR games, as generally a good builder will win against a better shot. Fortnite's small map means that there is far more action than other BR games, which is a huge advantage over PUBG. Where PUBG is slow and tactical, Fortnite is fast-paced and arcade-like. Weapons in Fortnite are relatively balanced, although as with any big game there is always an ever changing meta, or widely accepted strategy. As for the gunplay, it's smooth and simple, making for a game that is exceedingly easy to get into but exceedingly difficult to master. I'm going to give it a 7/10 on gameplay. It's good, smooth, not clunky but not anything that stands out as exceptionally well designed or revolutionary.

Fortnite has a very iconic aesthetic to it, with bright green grass, a purple sky, and cartoonish characters that are a far cry from PUBG's militaristic, realistic look. These graphics are a huge part of what makes Fortnite so iconic. This aesthetic was adopted from the PvE version of Fortnite, Save the World, and despite its simplicity it is a beautiful backdrop for a game that continues to sell simple and smooth by making them interesting. I personally love Fortnite's cartoonish aesthetic and I'm giving it an 8/10 for pretty much the exact same reasons as my rating for gameplay, but due to the fact that this cartoonish style is less used than a Battle Royale game mode I gave it that one extra point for originality.

Next is management, and this category encapsulates Epic Games' (the developers of Fortnite) updates and attention to the game as well as their marketing. Obviously a huge game like Fortnite is going to have investment from the developers, but even early on in the games life, before it hit the monstrous levels of popularity that it has now, EG, made their investment in Fortnite clear, with constant updates providing stability fixes and new content. EG does a great job of keeping new content flowing, with new updates every week. While these updates don't add as much content as some other games' main updates, the fact that Epic Games is churning out new content every week is simply phenomenal, and something that doesn't appear to slow down anytime soon. From a business perspective, EG is doing an amazing job, which is shown by the $300 million dollars a month that has been estimated to be EG's profit (EG has not released figures on the topic of profit). The truly amazing thing about this, however, is that despite the stunning amount of cash flowing into EG's studios, they continue to be loyal and receptive to their playerbase. While many people could argue that the constant flow of new skins and other cosmetic items appearing in the game are designed to take advantage of the players, this is on a fairly sane level when you consider that Fortnite is free and therefore micro-transactions are the only way for Epic Games to make money. In addition, Fortnite implements a Battle Pass system where every few months they start a new season. Each season contains exclusive skins that can be obtained by buying the Battle Pass and then playing the game. This allows Players to access a fairly expansive set of skins while only paying $10 every couple of months (which, compared to many similar Season Pass systems is quite reasonable). The final thing I want to touch on is that Fortnite Battle Royale, which was released before the whole "loot crate" thing became a big controversy, has never implemented a loot crate system. While they are by no means my favorite company, I think Epic Games has done a wonderful job of toeing the line between making money and appeasing their playerbase. Because of this, I have given Fortnite a 9/10 in this category.

Playerbases can make or break a game, especially on Xbox. Xbox is advertised as a family gaming system, and this, combined with the comparatively low cost against a computer, results in a lot more children and teenagers playing Xbox than playing on a computer. This, combined with the fact that children and teenagers get mad a lot easier than adults, makes for some extremely toxic playerbases, with Call of Duty Modern Warfare on the Xbox 360 instantly coming to mind. This problem rears its head again in Fortnite, due to its age-spanning playerbase, although the problem isn't nearly as bad as CODMW. The main reason that this isn't as bad is that Fortnite's audio chat system only allows audio conversations between players that are playing together, who are generally friends. This, along with Xbox' archaic text chat system, means that you won't get too many toxic exchanges. That said, avoidance of a toxic playerbase is due less to the actual playerbase and due more to the design of Fortnite and Xbox, so I'm giving Fortnite a 4/10 on this category.

Finally, longevity. I decided to give this its own category, instead of including it in gameplay, because while gameplay is the primary deciding factor in longevity, a game can have interesting and enjoyable gameplay but terrible replay ability (Destiny 2 and Halo 5 come to mind). I have mixed feelings on this. As I said earlier, EG releases regular updates that implement new weapons and gadgets, which means that if you get bored and stop playing for a month and come back, there will be new content to play around with. In addition, Fortnite has a series of limited time special gamemodes that add new ways to play such as 50v50, Heist, and Sniper Shootout. That said, because the "meta" only changes slowly every few months, and the map doesn't change, I'm giving Fortnite a 5/10 for longevity.

Now for my average score for Fortnite and final thoughts. I weighted the first two categories, gameplay and graphics, as I feel that they are the most important categories in a PvP game. With that in mind, I'm giving Fortnite a 7/10 overall. I think the core gameplay is solid, I like how EG has made what is really a very simple game into a monetary and popularity masterpiece, and I think EG does a brilliant job of walking the fine line between money and playerbase. I do not think, however, that Fortnite lives up to the hype, and while it may be a commercial masterpiece, it is not a gaming masterpiece.