Shoot it, Stab it or Fix it! We’ve got trouble!
Announced way back in 2011, Epic Game’s Fortnite rose from the ashes of development hell and is now finally in early access over six years later. After about 70 hours of game time, as cliché, as it sounds – Fortnite is a game of equally epic proportions. I was trying my very best to think of a fort related pun, but my resources have run dry…
Oh good, my terrible attempt at humour hasn’t driven you away! What is Fortnite? Fortnite is a free-to-play cooperative sandbox survival game. Whether you’re a lone survivor or teaming with up to three others, players are required scavenge items, build and/or fortify structures, craft weapons and ammunition all whilst fighting off hordes of zombies and other unfortunate monsters known as “Husks”. Without warning, storms of apocalyptic magnitude (pop-pop) wipe out 98% of earth’s population, leaving you, the commander, no choice but to gather the gang and save the remainder of mankind.
Fortnite’s campaign is fully cooperative and broken down into several missions of ever increasing difficulty. You’ll usually find yourself rescuing survivors, finding clues on what caused the storms, looking for new technology and building fortifications using walls, flooring and traps to protect a specific objective on the map for an allotted amount of time – it is a lot more exciting than it sounds, and if you’re a fan of building and survival games – think Left 4 Dead meets Orks Must Die?
Since we are comparing games; Fortnite’s measure of crafting, combat and resource harvest is pretty spot on – especially since the task of grinding resources in other games is usually a pretty boring one. Resource management should be one of your main focus points because having an appropriate amount of basic wood, metal and bricks at all times to build and upgrade is important. If you’re like me and often caught short when the Husks attack… then you’ve been warned. Thankfully resource management whilst teamed up with Daniel for the last 70odd hours was a piece of cake – this was due to the ability of drop trading, an absolute godsend when it came to crafting everything from building pieces to ammunition – note to Epic; possible integration of a trading system?
Fortnite’s exceptional class/hero system is split into four main classes and about 40+ subclasses, each with their own look, abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Constructors (my favourite), Ninjas, Outlanders and Soldiers. Constructors are masters with building tools however they have the slowest movement speed of all – this is a great defensive class with the ability to build quickly and upgrade structures far beyond other classes. The Ninja is an excellent melee warrior, faster than most of the other classes but less of a macho beefcake than the constructor – this class if for players that like to focus on fast attacks and a master of offence. The Outlander is a lone wolf that explores levels and gathers a mass of materials for their team. In my experience, however, I rarely saw any of those resources – so take one for the team, be an Outlander and share the resource love! The Soldier class is fairly self-explanatory. If it looks like it can be used as a weapon, the soldier will find a way. Your run of the mill, DPS focused, husk killing… with a rocket launcher.
Fortnite possibly has the biggest skill tree I have seen so far in my 27 years of video games – I’m sure it’s even bigger than the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X, but it’s spread over 4 pages on the UI. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but once I started putting skill points on the board and learning what everything did – it got a bit easier. The games pacing/progression is a bit slower than you might be used to. Contrary to what I said earlier, there will be a point where you’ll have to grind missions to level up a bit as the game gets harder once you leave the first area. The so-called-grind is worth it as it pays off with better loot and there are plenty of side quests to burn through.
The game goes free-to-play in 2018, but you can purchase the game now and play in the early access phase. There are a few different bundles you can buy, some of which give you extra copies of the game to pass to friends and extra unique characters/loot to start you off. The game does feature a microtransaction system, that in my opinion, is done right. It’s not in your face and there are no prompts telling you HAVE to buy them. Microtransactions come in the form of “V-Bucks” and are used to purchase “Loot Llama’s”. The llamas can be earned in game by completing quests and other tasks, but if you’re looking for an early boost, the option is there.
