Battle Royale games have been extremely popular in 2017 and the trend has continued to this year. PUBG (PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUND) is undoubtedly the king of Battle Royale games at this moment. Due to genre’s popularity, many developers have decided to bring out more of Battle Royale games such as H1Z1, the Culling, and Fortnite Battle Royale. In fact, Fortnite has been released to the market for a while as Fortnite Save The World. Please note that you will be charged US$ 60 for downloading Fortnite Save The World but Epic, the developer, announced that the game will be available free-to-play game within this year. Until now, you can enjoy playing the spin-off, free-to-play Fortnite game in Battle Royale mode.
Gameplay
Like other Battle Royale games, you are one of hundred participants and your mission is to become the last survivor of the game. You start the game by jumping out of the Battle Bus without any weapon. Once landed, you should acquire a weapon as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will be the first one to be taken out of the game. Fornite Battle Royale provides the crafting component which allows you to build defensive walls. You can also construct sniper forts to lift you up to target your enemies from the top. You can collect crafting materials by demolishing buildings or other objects in the area map. To make a game more challenging, the developer decided to use the mechanic called the storm eye which will eventually narrow down the playable area to force each participant to move closer. Anyone who doesn’t move to a designated area or get hit by the storm eye will be eliminated from the game.
To survive the game, you need to strategically manage inventories at hand and weapons should be your first priority. There are a variety of weapons to choose from pistol to rocket launcher. Short gun and sniper rifle are among weapons you should always carry with you. Don’t forget to bring some medicines. They are proved to be very useful when you get hit by enemies. Ammos are relatively hard to find. Try to take as many ammo as you can when you have a chance to do so. It is advisable to plan your move ahead so that you will not run out of bullets when you need them most.
Performance
Like PUBG, graphics and texture rendering of Fortnite Battle Royale are powered by Unreal Engine4 but Epic game opted to render an animation-like graphic rather than high-resolution, real-life graphic as of PUBG. The minimum PC specification for Fortnite Battle Royale is Intel Core i3 2.4 GHz with Intel HD400 graphic card. For optimization, the recommended PC specification is Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7870 equivalent DX11 GPU with 2GB VRAM. The CPU should be at least Intel Core i5 2.4 GHz. Most serious PC gamers may go for Intel Core i7.
Players from Asian countries may experience some lagging during playing the game because there is no direct server in Asia right now. Currently, only 3 servers in America, Europe, and Oceania are available. With a proper high-speed internet connection (50/20) and graphics setting, Asian players can enjoy the game via the server in Oceania. Just watch out for some PING reaction time and responsive delay.
Bottom Line
Despite a unique gameplay and superb graphics rendering, I found out that the game has offered less replay value, especially in a single mode. Furthermore, the game didn’t allow me to customize any characters. On the top of that, you get no reward or trophies for beating the game. Hopefully, the developer will come up with a new update in the future. With an increasing number of players in Asia, it would be nice if Asia-zone server will be added to the list.
Pros
- It is a free-to-play game.
- Requires less PC specification to play the game. The Core i5 2.4 GHz is powerful enough to run the game with lagging time.
- Excellent BGM.
- Unique crafting system makes the game more attractive and challenging.
Cons
- No reward system.
