CHENNAI : To follow up on my claim from a few weeks back of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds being ‘the best’, it is now necessary to compare it with its primary rival — Fortnite. Playing Fortnite has emboldened my adoration for PUBG (and not just because I lose terribly at Fortnite). Fortnite recently came out for the iOS, and its popularity has only increased with an Android release in the offing. Which makes it my moral obligation to give readers the facts (not entirely unbiased, because I would rather you play PUBG).
Fortnite has its high points, it has a battle-royale mode with a constantly shrinking arena due to a force-field. Fortnite’s graphics are a lot more accentuated and cartoonish — giving us an initial impression of it being of a higher quality due to its smoothness. Imagine if there was a version of Harry Potter made by Disney — now that’s what Fortnite is to PUBG. PUBG is the uncut, hardcore and dark version of a battle royale. Fortnite is hardcore too… but in a different way.
Destructible Environment: You are dropped onto the relatively small-sized map with a huge axe weapon. Unlike in PUBG, everything you see around you can be smashed — the sturdy looking truck standing next to you? Yes. The walls of that well-built house? Yes. The huge stone boulder that you thought would be good cover from gun-shots? You bet. The smashed stuff adds on to your inventory of brick, wood and metal — of which you can have how many ever you want! You can carry multiple guns and ammo and not worry about procuring the equivalent of a level 3 backpack in PUBG.
Building Platforms: Now this is the biggest highlight and drawback of Fortnite. This feature uses the inventory of material to immediately materialise walls or platforms to climb/protect from an enemy. You can even break into dance to celebrate victory. By focusing on this “fun” feature, the game loses out with unfocused and shaky gun aims, and makes this game a war of ‘who builds the most creative and sturdy shelter and jumps and runs in the right direction’ than a game of careful, slow and stealthy strategy that I’d have liked it to be.