I’d been hearing about Fortnite for some time now. Given that my time for console gaming is exceptionally limited I’d been largely ignoring it.
That was until it was announced that it was being put out as a mobile app by invite only. Figuring I’d be very low on the list for an invite I signed up only to receive my invite later that same day.
I’d played a lot of Halo as a multiplayer game in LAN parties then later Halo 2 online. The age of these games give you an indication of how old my multiplayer shooter experience is.
Fortnite on mobile is a very fun experience. The controls are much better than I would have thought though I would really like to give this game a shot with a traditional controller. I know a mouse/keyboard combination is probably even better but I’m a controller guy (i.e. not a serious gamer).
I’ve figured out the basic gist of the game but there’s still a lot I’m in the dark about. I’m sure a lot of things I’m confused about could easily be settled by watching a tutorial video but what fun would that be?
If there’s a way to customize your character I’m not smart enough to figure it out. Oddly it seems to just give me a randomly generated character with each new game.
When you’re done in the lobby you are thrown into some sort of strange melee where everyone is jumping around and hitting each other but no one seems to die. At first I thought this was the game and couldn’t figure out why nothing was happening.
After that you’re transported to a blue bus floating above an island on a balloon. After a while you’re able to jump out of the bus and skydive to the island below.
Your default weapon is a pick axe which you can use to break apart almost anything and get bits of steel, wood, or presumably other materials. There is undoubtedly something you can do with these materials but that is beyond me at this point.
You can also find weapons which you can then use to attack other players. There are names hovering in the air giving you the names of other players. After a bit I started hunting down these players and emptying all my ammunition into them. It turns out these are members of your own team. Luckily you can’t seem to kill them, you just watch as they stand there looking at you wondering why you are so bad at his game.
There’s also some storm that is always imminent. In one of my games I survived long enough to see the storm in action. I still don’t know what purpose the storm serves or why it happens but I’m sure it must be fairly significant to game play.
In one game so far I was able to hole up in a mine and actually take down several enemy players who do not have their names displayed and are much harder to spot.
In yet another game I stumbled upon a llama pinata, something that I know is an extremely rare item in the game. I was excited even though I didn’t know hat 75% of the items did and I knew I’d be dead within a minute anyway.
With all of this being said I’m having a lot of fun playing this game. I’m thinking I will eventually do some research to answer my questions and, most likely, make me much better at this game.
My teammates will likely appreciate this.