‘Fortnite’ – Where The Battle Begins

You may have heard of ‘Fortnite’ for the past few weeks. We certainly have. And spurring our interest, we had to find out what the gist of this multi-player game was.

At first, you’d probably think it’s a colourful children’s game with loads of characters and a catchy storyline. But it’s nothing of the sort.

You’re parachuted from a party bus into a sandbox disguised as cities on islands and you’re forced to play against hundreds of people around you – each with the intent to kill on sight and rise to the top as the best. Much like a ‘Big Brother’ strategy where you team up with others to eliminate the strongest targets and later battle each other, you’ll need guts, wits and the ability to always stay 10 steps ahead, otherwise it’s curtains for you.

‘Fortnite’ was developed by Epic Games and People Can Fly, and released for free on platforms such as Windows, Mac, Playstation 4, Xbox One and iOS this year. It has created a gaming frenzy and over 40 million people have downloaded the game since January, which proves that gaming has no signs of slowing down any time soon. While the game may be free, it can be costly if you’re looking to upgrade your character with awesome gear and cool moves, and according to Quartz, it could add up to almost N$800. So do watch your spending!

The storyline of the game goes something like this: About 98% of the population has disappeared and the atmosphere has changed – random chaotic storms have dropped zombies to the ground and the living were nearly erased because of it. Survivors managed to protect themselves with the help of ‘storm shields’, which created hubs to house survivors. Brave warriors from these hubs have to go out and find resources to sustain the people and help the earth return to its former state.

Which is you, of course. Mind you, this is the main quest – but if you’re up for a game of survival with other players around the world, the ‘Save The World’ mode is just for you.

Other cool things you can do is build and trap the enemy, chop wood and create as many structures as you want to protect yourself. You might find that one of the most effective strategies when fighting an enemy is to keep jumping so that they can’t get a clear shot.

But as IGN says: “You’re basically on your own.” So we’d recommend that you watch a couple of reviews before you get into the game, or you could just wing it if you don’t have the time.

Local player Josh Hansen says the game is fun, challenging and continually evolving. “Personally, the most frustrating part is more internet related as we don’t have local servers. I’m normally running on a ping of between 226 milliseconds on a good day and 250 milliseconds on a bad day, whereas other challengers in the game will have dramatically less ping.”

And it gets even more irritating when you get knocked out due to having a lower ping, Hansen mentioned.

“As for the game itself, it has a few glitches. Sometimes you can’t build in certain places, because the game simply doesn’t want you to, but it adds to the fun because you become creative, especially when under heavy fire from more than one direction,” he added.

Hansen said a typical game lasts about 20 minutes, and he’s one of the few who have lasted that long, but “sometimes I am knocked as soon as I land on the map. It’s a fun gamble”.

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