Online game "Fortnite"

Fortnite was conceived by Epic Games (the creators of Unreal Tournament series Gears of War) back in 2011 as a kind of experiment, in which, it seems, not even the developers believed for a while. And as a result today it is almost the most popular and profitable game in the world - recently it was announced that Fortnite brought Epic Games 5,5 billion dollars of profit over two years. It is played by more than 200 million people around the world, including sports, music and movie stars. So it's also a phenomenon, a cultural phenomenon: Fortnite is written and filmed in the mainstream media, and teenagers who break into courtrooms between Epic and Apple shout into the cameras, "Bring back Fortnite freedom!", demanding the game's return to Apple's mobile service. What is this phenomenon, what are the main modes, what's the threshold of entry for newcomers, and most importantly, how much fun is Fortnite really? We'll tell you about it in detail.

Fortnite is a vibrant cartoon game where gamers not only fight, but also build. Today it is broken up into three big not even modes, but three actually separate games. The first is "Fortnite: Fight the Storm", where there is a story and players team up to survive and explore the world together. The second is the competitive "Battle Royale", where players already fight each other in an all-versus-all or three-player squads against other three-player squads. Finally, there is the "Creative Mode" where gamers can create their own entertainment to suit all tastes and genres, share them with the community, join together and play together. And all this unfolds on one large map, which, incidentally, is periodically changed, expanded and updated.

Fortnite is free to play. You simply download the client, install it, enter and start your adventures. As you achieve success and complete tasks/tasks ("Help your allies eliminate 10 enemies", "Play 10 matches with a friend", "Dealt 1000 damage to opponents" and so on and so forth), you earn experience and increase your account level, and this opens up new skins and items for your character (such as a cool umbrella that you will use instead of a parachute).

Of course there is an option to spend your hard-earned money by investing it in the local currency - V-Bucks, which, however, can also be earned in the usual way, just playing Fortnite - for example, for completing story missions and for getting new levels of the account.

With V-Bucks you can buy cooler skins (and they are all categorized by rarity, from ordinary to legendary and even mythical), access to Fortnite: Fight the Storm mode (yes, it recently cost a fortune in V-Bucks), and a combat pass.

How does a battle pass work? Fortnite is divided into seasons (now on its 16th), each of which lasts for 10 weeks and has its own theme, story, and set of challenges/tasks. By completing them, players get points that go to pump up the "Combat Pass", and each level in turn unlocks exclusive skins, dances, emotions, music, and so on.

So if you have a "Combat Pass," you'll get more "cosmetic" items and opportunities to make your character more colorful and unique. But all this is just "cosmetics", which does not give any advantages directly in the game, but affects only the appearance or the way you will express your emotions after the victory.

On the other hand, cosmetics are also an important thing. For example the skins in the Fortnite world are almost the main thing: there are a lot of them, they are all bright and allow you to run and fight in the most different images - even a clown, even an alien, even an angel, a rock princess, a samurai or, for example, Harley Quinn. There are also free, but they are, of course, all much less colorful (you can change your appearance on the page of the character in your personal locker).

What is Fortnite: Fight the Storm (formerly known as Fortnite: Save the World)? Here, players team up in squads of four to survive together, explore the map, gather resources, build and fortify a fort, and confront zombies that attack in waves.

According to the storyline, the action takes place in the recent past, when our Mother Earth was hit by all kinds of cataclysms - cyclones, storms, and (the worst) viruses that turn people into zombies (they're called brainiacs here), destroying and infecting everything in their path. That's why people have to unite in groups to resist this plague together.

The storyline is constantly supplemented and expanded with interesting global events: first a meteorite falls, then the entire universes collide, then the game world is literally sucked into a black hole. Now in season 16 everything is twisted around strange waves coming from the Epicenter - the denouement of these events will inevitably change the entire reality of the Fortnite universe.

The passage is divided into missions - some can be completed alone, others are designed for cooperative interaction. As a rule, our task is to explore the map, collect items, equipment of varying rarity and resources. And when the story event activates - to build fortifications to fight off the next wave of brainiacs. At higher levels of difficulty traps and various cunning constructions help to hold out the necessary time.

And the most important thing is building a fortified fort, where you can build and edit each wall, erect windows, stairs, frames, roofs, and so on. That's why every player in Fortnite runs not only with a gun, but also with a pickaxe - you change your machine gun to it, and start first hitting trees, stones and other objects, breaking them into resources (metal, wood, stones), and then you build different structures for them. The whole thing is reminiscent of a mix of Minecraft and Left 4 Dead.

In addition to the main quests and all those exercises with defense and construction on the map, you can always do something else - rescue other survivors, search for treasure, hunt local game, play minigames (for example, there is fishing), communicate with non-player characters and fulfill their tasks. The list of characters is updated and expanded each new season, and almost all of them are interesting and unique in their own way. Suffice it to list the names of some that appeared in season 16 - the Cursed Cowboy, Lara Croft, the Steady Northern Scout, the Battle Carp, the Heroic Sergeant, the Nectar Crusher, and so on. Some give orders, others you can trade with, some help you improve your weapons, and some you can even hire.

Or, for example, you can try to pass some unique test to pump up your "battle pass". For example, in season 16, there's "Spend 7 seconds within 7 meters of a fleeing chicken". That is, you have to really scare the chicken in some way and then run next to it.

As you have already understood, despite all story passions with cataclysms and brainiacs, Fortnite is a bright and cheerful game, and the juicy cartoon graphics only emphasize this. For example, in the first story mission of Season 16, "Epicenter: The Final Crisis," despite all the dynamics and drama, you'll still be smiling. Just watch the intro video for it.

However, when you are attacked by local zombies in "Fortnite: Fight the Storm" mode, it's no laughing matter. Here you have to act intelligently. And including the correct use of the four available classes.

More often than not, everyone starts out playing as a Soldier. He is not engaged in reconnaissance or construction - all his skills and abilities are aimed at causing damage and increasing firepower. For this purpose, they constantly issue mines and grenades. Also, the Soldier automatically replenishes passive skills, reduced recoil of weapons, he spends less time reloading. He can also inspire his allies with his Battle Cry.

This class is naturally the fastest and most agile and very good in melee combat, where it cuts down enemies with its swords - although ninja can also use long-range weapons and even smoke bombs. In addition, thanks to the double jump ninja is able to quickly move around the map, explore it and get to where others can't. The downside of the coin for this class is low defense, which forces you to avoid large crowds of enemies, pull them out one by one, go in the back and retreat in time.

A very important class for a game like Fortnite. After all, it costs faster and cheaper to mine resources and build defensive structures. He also has the "Base" skill, which gives buildings extra protection and creates an area where the cost and time of construction is reduced. And with the "onslaught" skill, the Constructor can push crowds of monsters away from buildings. In other words, it is somewhat analogous to the Engineer in other online action games. To be able to build in the middle of a fierce fight, this class is given a lot of health and shields. Logically, the Constructor does little damage without its builds. In addition, it has the lowest movement speed.

Finally, the Traveler class specializes in finding resources and cool items. Using his passive skills, he easily finds treasure chests, resources, and technologies needed for construction. And in addition, he collects fragments, which can be used to use unique abilities and gadgets - for example, to deploy the "Bear" turret, which attacks all enemies in a certain radius around itself. The minus of this class is that the Traveller has no active abilities, he has low damage and defense.

Each of these four classes has many more subclasses with their own skills, but the general specialization is generally the same. Which one is better? It all depends on the player's preferences. For example, if you can't stand construction and just like to shoot and destroy enemies, then Constructor is obviously not your choice. But Soldier is the easiest and at the same time the most effective class, ideal for beginners. And vice versa.

And if you love to collect cool items and open the chests, in which the next "my beauty" is hidden, then the choice in favor of Traveller is obvious - the main thing is to have allies guarding you. In any case, as you can see, in Fortnite all classes are clearly sharpened for their functions, do not duplicate each other, and this is the most important thing.

In Fortnite's Battle Royale mode, however, everyone is initially equal and has no class differences. 100 players are dropped from the air onto an island (the same map as in "Fight the Storm") without weapons or equipment and are invited to fight each other until there is one last survivor. If you play in Trio mode, the squads of three players compete

The area is constantly shrinking due to the deadly Storm, in which players die - you have to all gradually shift to the same safe zone.

Naturally, the main thing in this situation - as quickly as possible to find weapons and other useful items for survival, which are in chests and drawers - medicine chests, various potions, potions, traps, fires, restoring health, and so on.

Favor guns for every taste - guns, including double, different types of shotguns and assault rifles, hunting rifles, tommy-guns, sniper rifles (heavy or semi-automatic), miniguns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers. They all differ in the degree of rarity, which affects damage, rate of fire and other indicators. In season 16 pump shotguns returned and bows, including prehistoric bows, appeared. Yes, you can now build all sorts of primitive weapons from bones, including the prehistoric assault rifle. Guns can also be upgraded.

However, even having a cool gun and aiming skills do not guarantee your success. In Fortnite, as you have already realized, you also need to know how to build. And if in the "Fight the Storm" mode you need this to build a fortified fort and defend against monsters, in "Battle Royale" - in order to come out the winner or just to survive in a battle with other players (although the fort at a later stage can also be built). They also allow you to traverse chasms and climb high ground.

For the collected resources (with a pickaxe we destroy everything we see, including skyscrapers and lampposts) we can, just like in LEGO, build four kinds of buildings - wall, floor, sloping surface and roof. And with a quick edit you can make a window or door in the wall or add stairs to the sloping surface. And if you are attacked head-on by another player, it is better to quickly put such a "ramp" - a wall and stairs on an inclined surface, which will protect from a direct hit and allow you to quickly change position.

This is just the simplest example. Experienced players during battles line up mazes around themselves from such ramps, ladders and walls; they edit them, whirl around, create windows, jump in them to get in the back, etc. And in close combat, they quickly build diagonal "bridges" to go around their opponents from the top or side. In addition, many people like to build trampolines, so they can jump behind the back of the opponent or attack him from above. Plus you can build and set traps, like spears on the ceiling.

After that, it's hard to call Fortnite's Battle Royale mode arcade and simplistic. Yes, there are moments here that, let's say, make the game easier - it's easy to spot enemies, you can tell immediately by the color the steepness of the "gun" dropped out of the chest, the lightweight physics model and character movement makes it easier. Players are almost always visible on mostly flat terrain (unless, of course, they are hiding in buildings), they are not able to crawl and blend into their surroundings without using camouflage

But there is a unique building system, which you need to know how to use. And if you really know how to use it, it gives you a lot of creative possibilities and freedom in how to fight intelligently, how to combine weapons, buildings, ramps and traps. And this combination of cartoonishness and accessibility, on the one hand, and interesting and challenging construction mechanics, on the other hand, where it is important to quickly navigate and edit your builds on the fly, is largely what makes Fortnite unique.

How should a newcomer who is just starting to experience Fortnite deal with this situation? The game seems to be cartoonish, fun, bright and semi-arcade. On the other hand, it has its own unique nuances and complex mechanics.

Well, first of all, you need to calm down and understand that all these building mazes, which are erected on the fly others - this is the lot of experienced not even players, but cyber athletes. And for the newcomer the main thing to remember the first rule: if you see an enemy - immediately put a wall in front of you to protect yourself from damage! Only, previously place these functions on convenient for you "hotkeys". The rest, including editing on the fly, will come with experience. Also, remember that buildings made of different materials and are built at different speeds, and have different degrees of protection - wooden are built almost instantly, but also collapse quickly.

To destroy things faster (and thus get resources), you need to swing the pickaxe to hit the special points and zones. And if you destroy all the supporting structures, the building is guaranteed to collapse.

The best way to practice building skills in the woods (Wailing Woods), where there are few people and so you can safely break a lot of trees, practice and develop reflexes.

Here are some more helpful tips:

• Immediately after landing on the island in "Battle Royale", it is important to find your squadmates (if you play in threes) - and for this you need to navigate by the marks on the map or put them yourself. And the best place to sit on the roofs of houses, where there is an attic and a better chance to find equipment.
• Play with the best headphones: chests with equipment emit a characteristic hum. In houses, they are usually in the attic, basement or garage. You can also hear the footsteps and the direction of the shots in the headphones.
• When shooting at an enemy, it is better to aim at the torso instead of the head: bullets fly toward the enemy across the sight area with a random chance of hitting. Therefore, a body shot increases those chances.
• Weapons differ in their degree of rarity, which is reflected in their color. If you see gray gear, then it's the easiest one. But if you suddenly found a gold one, it means that you are extremely lucky, and you've got the coolest weapon. In general, the color gradation is: gray, green, blue, purple and gold.
• If you managed to hold out for a long time, and you've already built your fort, then remember that at this stage almost all players already have sniper rifles - it's better not to stick your head out too much!

You can gradually become a true professional and earn good money - that's another way to put it, to put it mildly. Fortnite is known for actively holding cyber-sports tournaments with large prizes, such as Cash Cups, Fortnite Champion Series, Fortnite World Cup, and others. Some players earn decent money or streaming in Twitch, which is also very profitable. There was a case where a 16-year-old boy won $ 3 million. This, of course, is an exceptional case, but, nevertheless, the top players can earn about $450,000 a year. Of course, there were cheaters in Fortnite, but the developers actively fought them and even sued, so now there are no cheaters.

Another facet of professionalism and passion for the game is to create your own adventures and games in creative mode. Namely, combat pass owners get 4 islands at their disposal, and there they can create whatever they want: place buildings, come up with new rules and games. You can invite your friends and give them permission to take part in the process. And then share the results with the whole community.

And it gets results: you enter creative mode, go to special screens and see how many things other players have come up with. There are survival shooters, puzzles, racing, boxing, and more. There's even a homemade version of Among Us. Everywhere has its own rules, but the authors tend to explain everything very conveniently and clearly. But if you want to get to a specific island and a specific game, you have to know the code and enter it.

However, the developers of Fortnite do not let get bored. That will come up with some new modes like "Royal Races"; then start a collaboration with the "Avengers", when the game appeared Tony Stark's base, Iron Man's suit, Thor's punch and Wolverine as one of the bosses; then recently started an interesting event with the NBA stars. From time to time, various performers even hold concerts here or present their new music videos

Yes, Fortnite today is really not just a game, but a part of modern culture. There are a lot of modes, events and opportunities, something is constantly happening and there's no time to get bored, especially since the close-knit community even creates its own projects. At the same time the game is free, bright, spectacular, quite democratic to newcomers - and at the same time with its depth and unique mechanics. In general, if you love to play and haven't tried Fortnite yet, it's very strange - urgently fix that gap.

July 2021