Fortnite has been in early access for a couple weeks now, and I'd be lying if I said I haven't loved every minute of it. Getting together with randos and killing zombies while you protect someone or something is an incredibly fun thing to do, and it only gets crazier the further you progress through the campaign trail. That said, it's really about all you do.
In the game's defense, my gripe is a bad one considering the zombie fort defense is the main selling point of the game, and it does that part really well. The weapons crafting system, variety of traps, and building construction are all incredibly deep and well thought out and the game goes even deeper than that. So deep in fact that over two chapters into the game I still get the sense I'm in the tutorial as more and more mechanics pop up teaching me about new stuff I can do in the game with every mission I complete.
So what's the downside? Well, with the founder's pack, every new mechanic I unlock ultimately is a problem solved because the game gave me a crap ton of stuff to ensure I have absolutely no struggle trying to find survivors to fill the appropriate slots for defenses or other things of that nature. Don't get me wrong I 100% think there should be a perk for purchasing an Early Access game for as expensive as Fortnite runs (min $39.99), but all those perks really sap the fun out of the early game.
Once I figured out I'm significantly more equipped than my in-game allies, it didn't take long for me to start using that to my full advantage and start topping out every mission in categories. Sure, I could've pretended I didn't have all those weapons, upgrade abilities and epic gear...but who the hell is actually going to do that? You give me a rocket launcher when everyone else has pistols...I'm the fool not to use it.
Now, I've already read the game gets significantly harder in the late levels, which is great because the I've played over a dozen missions and haven't really felt entirely threatened by anything I've seen yet. A dozen missions don't sound like a ton, but let me tell you...between the cutscenes, dialogue, mission loading, fighting, mission time...it's a time sink. Once again, this is awesome for the free-to-players...but they won't be here until next year...so for the paying crowd, it's like you're just blasting away a handful of slow zombies waiting to get to the appropriate challenge that lies hours and hours down the road.
Final Verdict
Although super fun, it takes hours of campaign grind to really get a feel for the game. When those hours and hours are only "protect x person/building for x amount of time," and you aren't really feeling the strain of battle...it can wear you down pretty quick. This is going to be a great game for the free to play crowd...but the problem is that crowd isn't here and won't be for a year...and the paying crowd have to grind through a lot of low-level challenges before they get to the battles they're appropriately leveled for. If I could do it over again I would've saved my founders pack pinatas until I needed them because the temptation to go easy mode is just too tempting and it affects the game.
