Title: Fortnite Battle Royale

Genre: Battle Royale, TPS

ESRB: T

Developer: Epic Games

Platforms: PC, Xbox 1, PS4

Release Date: September 26, 2017

Our Rating: A+

Fortnite Battle Royale (FBR) is the new battle royale game from Epic Games, known for Unreal Tournament and the Unreal Engine. FBR is a semi-continuation of the co-op campaign game “Fortnite,” but it is now multiplayer and free. The combined Fortnite and Fortnite Battle Royale games now have over seven million unique players, thanks to the explosion of new players from the new BR addition.

“It’s really entertaining, and the building gives it a whole new level of gameplay,” sophomore Brian Mena said.

The game had stirred up some controversy by being the second popular battle royale game to be released in the span of a year, the other being PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), the PC exclusive battle royale developed by PlayerUnkown. PUBG has more than 15 million unique players, and has been one of the most played games of 2017, according to Steam. The controversy stems from the fact that Epic Games not only makes games, but also the Unreal Engine, the game engine on which Fortnite and PUBG both run. PUBG game developers expressed fear now that the company that makes the backbone of their game is also a direct competitor. They were worried that the Unreal Engine could be made to benefit Fortnite over PUBG, giving it an advantage in overall performance and therefore gameplay. However, FBR developers have denied such allegations. In reality, both FBR and PUBG are fantastic games, but it just so happens that FBR was made by the company that made one of the most popular game engines on the market. This shouldn’t subtract from anyone’s experience in either game; rather, it should add to it. FBR is the first game of its kind to be made by Epic Games, which means the Unreal Engine may be updated to better support large amounts of people per server, a bonus to both FBR and PUBG.

“I pirate most of the games I play, but this was free, so it was nice to be able to easily get a game for once,” sophomore Justin Vazquez said.

However, this isn’t to say that Fortnite isn’t extremely fun. The original Fortnite featured a unique building system in which players could harvest materials and then build structures to hide in or to get to places faster. The same holds true for FBR. All 100 players begin each round in the “battlebus” which flies over the playable map, and players then choose when to jump out. From there, they land with only a pickaxe that can be used to harvest materials or destroy already erected structures, as well as being able to be used as an ineffective weapon against other players. From then on, the main objective of the game is to survive, which sounds easy at first, but becomes harder when you realize only 1% of  of the players in each game can win. The best way to survive is often eliminating other players, which can be done using a variety of weapons that can be found laying across the map or in chests randomly located throughout the map.

As the map is very large, trying to find other players could turn it into a large game of hide-and-go-seek. So, the wily developers devised a solution. As time goes by, the playable area decreases over time until it is a small circle in which the remaining players duke it out. If you leave the playable area or it shrinks faster than you can run to the next area, you will take damage (little at first, but large amounts closer to the end).  This allows the earlier stages of the game to be focused more on scavenging, and later stages on eliminating other players.

In conclusion, Fortnite Battle Royale is a wonderfully fun game, with its cartoonish graphics and innovative building aspect. The simplicity and balance of the game are a welcome sight in the era of modern gaming, making it a blast to play at any time of day.