very fun season and map, the train is a cool idea even if it got stale pretty quick, the weapons mods are fun and i like the bosses

the cosmetics this time around felt personally targeted to me, mgs, tmnt and cell all being added back to back made me feel like epic games was watching me from within my walls

also it shocked me just how good this game can look, this was the first season ive played on ps5 and it looks stunning at times

update: immediately after this I did this review they dropped a whole mini pass which yes i did buy and complete, so yea they got me for two more weeks right after I said i was done... anyway the turtles pass was fun :3

This season isn't too bad. The map sucks and I hate how overpowered the bosses are but the battle pass is decent, I love that they finally added Peter Griffin (even if he isn't fat) and the attachment stuff are cool. I'm very torn on the weapons, some I hate & some I like but there's really no in between. I hate the Pump this season & I miss the old one.

And don't even get me started on the incredibly lame item shops this season. But overall the seasons not too bad but its also not the best & I can't wait till it's over.

On Friday, January 5th, I got a ping in a discord server consisted of one friend group about an impromptu Fortnite get-together. Since I admittedly regained an interest in playing it, and because said friend server has yet to really do much for several months, I decided to take the opportunity to see how the game has transformed and evolved over the years. Installed the dreaded EGS launcher, got marginally but not totally surprised by the increased file size, and proceeded to log back into my account from years prior. After all, it's only gonna be just for a few days, and then I’m off to uninstall it...

...but things didn't pan out that way. What has happened instead, was a transformation into becoming an Epic Fortnite Gamer. A near 3-week foray, money spent on the Battle Pass and both Gambit and Rouge skins, and grinding my way towards unlocking Peter Griffin's page, all while accumulating levels, Ranked medals, and other knick-knacks along the way. Life really does come at ya fast when you least expect it!

To go more in-depth into my prior experience: I'm very much someone who first played Fornite's at-the-time new Battle Royale format, played a couple of matches - both with my completely separate and no longer in touch friend group and solo - and thought it was kinda neat but really lacking in staying power. I'm uncertain if I was also one of many that thought it was simply gonna be a fad that'll fade away, since this was nearly 7 years ago now, but it matters naught since it's still here, and about as popular as it was since then. There's no need to cover much of what it's about, cause even if you never played it, you certainly know of it and the appeal, so I'm just gonna make this a thorough dumping ground of my thoughts as someone who finally came back to the bus.

Firstly, and more importantly, I'm glad that Zero Build is a mode that can be opted into. Now, I'm not besmirching the mechanic in its holistic entity, but I will admit one of the reasons I fell off pretty quickly originally was because of the gap between people who can build (especially PC players), and people who can't (especially console players). You can be a quickshot all you want, but as long as the other guy can spontaneously build a Jenga tower or a Minecraft fortress to recuperate quickly, your choices are to either eat shit, continue to pester them, or just give up and bolt out entirely. These types of encounters, to me, are fine in doses - the risk-reward allure is just balanced enough that it isn't entirely irritating, and the satisfaction method is incredible! That, however, begins to dissolve into ruin when it occurs ad nauseum, tying itself into state of the loop, and altogether just demotivates my ass since the most I can do is a stairway to heaven and maybe a few walls despite my flicks of the mouse and sensitivity zones. Even with the practice mentality, there's also the fact that, again, it's been 7 years - if you've played any sort of multiplayer shooter in mind, you'd know that there's a good chance that any sort of tech people know about, will inject and hone their craft to it to days on end, and I've seen plenty opponents do some shit that simultaneously leaves me fascinated and discontented. So, just having a mode where there's little frills to that, is appreciated, even if I do tap back into the regular option every now and then.

The other thing is that there's like... actual POIs and side activities now. I recall these being a thing in 2017, but it was a lot more minimalistic and very much in the vein of "we needed something to have players distract themselves and play the game with". Solid enough base, but combine that with the haphazard loop I had before, it again just made the dull grind even more prevalent. That nagging aspect is still present, but it's way easier to tolerate and avoid now. Vehicles, more movement options when doing on-foot roaming, an entourage group to pick off and reap rewards from to better your gamestate, and just the overall map layout is way, way more satisfying to convey and poke around than ever, even if I'm not entirely sure how prior seasons were like. Hell, this also obfuscates the other big critique that was going on at the time, which was how spacious people could become. Rarely has the thought of "man this is kinda boring" occur now since everything feels more fulfilling to explore and do, especially using grapple blades atop various points and just ZOOOOOOOOMING to where I need to go, or just ramming bogeys and guffawing at how high they get launched, or doing dopey motorbike tricks across hilltops. It's neat! It's exciting! It just about upends most of the issues I had to begin with!

I really don't have much else to like, add at this point, aside from some qualms:

- The bots here are on the opposite spectrum end of TF2's Bot Crisis; instead of being hammered down by some flagrant creations stopping any sort of enjoyment I can muster, there's more of an awe factor over how braindead they can be. I'm not quite sure how the system itself operates, but while I know and understand they're a necessity to fill up empty spaces, that becomes highly questionable when I see these guys fuck up easy picks, do some bizarre pathfinding and routine interactions, and somehow overcompensate within a quarter at most of the 100-player pool. This is the least egregious of the three ire I'm covering, but even then it's just... confounding. Not sure what's going on here!

- Aside from BR, there's now Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Festival. I only used LF briefly cause of an XP exploit, but I did at least put actual time into RR and Festival, and I'm thoroughly unimpressed with both. The former's a really dull and barebones arcade racer that couldn't even compete with some of the more straightforward affairs during the 5th Console Gen Boom, and well, Cold_Comfort goes over the woes of Festival even if I'm not that harsh about it. One could say these can be ignored since the main aspect is BR, but since they're easily visible upon the main bar of the lobby, I feel like it's fair game to expect these to be in a commendable quality - especially since Epic Games have been making big talk about user-generated content and have seemingly been in a stronger push in competing with Roblox.

- Since this is an ongoing season, solidifying and boxing the current meta state is tricky. What I can say for now though is that, with the feel of everything being good on a base level, there's a clear power imbalance. There's absolutely no reason to pick up the Hammer Pump variant of the shotgun, since Frenzy Auto has a strictly higher DPS and can easily mulch people by comparison; same goes for the Enforcer AR, being pitifully outclassed in speed and output by the Nemesis and especially Striker variants; I don't have any major beef with the Lock-On Pistol, due to its four-charge shots contains a slight buffer between each piece + all while leaving the player vulnerable should they be careless (especially to someone who Knows What They're Doing)... but the availability of this is perplexes me. I've gone entire games without either my downed foes or myself finding it, meanwhile I can simply trip across Ballistic Shields, a weapon that sounds about as good as it does while also not being nearly as OP as it sounds or others postulate, despite that being in a higher rarity color. Weird little quirks like that making the fights distinct but also just sort of headscratching as to where they could go. Also, maybe an Issue Of Skill, but I’ve seen instances of a bullet from my sniper shots clearly hitting its mark, but then somehow never registering?

I actually can’t recall the last time a multiplayer game had its pull on me quite like this, perhaps Among Us which had faced similar views. May keep this on for the time being until I actually do procure the Griffin or maybe Solid Snake since he’s close to being unleashed upon the world. I’m not sure where and how this chapter will go next, but if nothing else, it at least pulled me back in after years of inquisitive glances and intrigue. It is also carrying one of the most important mantles of any piece of fiction: having multiple patient zeros that will cajole someone into becoming a furry. Truly, this is a blessed time!

No idea what seasons I've actually played but i know that this one is really fun, i like that you have to wait for more of the battle pass and content to come out, so you actually have to play over a long time period - which hasn't been an issue so far as its been really fun to play ! Not sure when they made the app a 'platform' , but i think it has really helped in making the game more accessable to people who dont just want to play battle royale.
The leveling system hasn't been difficult at all as im nearly lvl 200, but it's just fun to play at the moment

While the season is yet to conclude, I feel like sharing my thoughts, having hit level 103 in the current pass.

This season, all of the game mode additions have been a blessing to take a break from the far more competitive and often annoying shenanigans in the basic battle royale. While the collaborations, loot pool, map design, and traversal have seen major improvements from the OG season, the number of sweaty players compared to other seasons makes it hard for me to want to keep playing the solo zero build mode (where I spend most of my time) compared to other seasons. It's still fun to run around and cause mayhem in the battle royal, but this season's massive popularity increases the number of people with wild skill gaps from a majority of players. Never have I had so many subsequent games where I am not even finishing in the top 75 players unless I have at least one other friend to try and coordinate with.

As much as I whine about my "skill issues" and the like, I will continue to play especially to get my boy Solid Snake despite the fact they ROBBED him of his dummy thicc ass just like Omni Man, Leon Kennedy, and many more sexy boys before him.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1 in my honest opinion, is a downgrade from what I just played at the end of Chapter 4. The sudden change of almost everything, including stuff outside of BR has left me with many mixed thoughts.

The gunplay has been completely changed in a way that totally throws me off. The small set of new weapons lack any sort of variety, with only 3 ARs, 2 SMGs, 2 Shotguns, 1 Pistol*, 1 Sniper, and 1 Melee. But all of them are able to equip mods and spawn with random sets of mods, which don't help with the variety in the slightest and instead make every gun I pick up feel awkward to use once I engage. The real elephant in the room is that all firearms are now projectiles with bullet drop, and all have increased damage, making some weapons capable of melting health bars if used right.

Weapon balance is all over the place too. The Hyper SMG in particular is easily the worst gun in the game with it's high recoil and low damage, while the Striker AR is easily the best gun in the game with the proper attachments. Then there's the Reaper Sniper... Not only is it the only sniper currently available, it can have 3-5 shots per mag, use any optic that has no glare, and is capable of one-shotting anyone regardless of rarity, health, or any amount of shields. Oh yeah and the Ballistic Shield is there. Was pretty strong at first, but still is extremely annoying to deal with.

Map design is also another thing I'm not really a fan off. I genuinely like the design & theming of everything, but the terrain does not play nice. It's extremely mountainous, having tons of high and low spots with very little mobility tools (as of the current update). And the results of firefights now depend on not just who has the better loot, but also who has the high ground.

Outside of BR, the new UI sucks ass. And I think this is universally agreed upon. The charm from the last major update is gone and looks real bland. My guess is because of the three new games added into Fortnite, but it never had to be like that.

I still think this new Fortnite Chapter has a lot of good going for it though, and it is still perfectly playable. Contrary to what people have said about the new movement, I actually like it. It feels a bit more snappier and responsive than before. And the ability to move while healing is a much appreciated addition, even if it makes the Medi-Mist mostly irrelevant now. The new outfits are also real cool too, and the inclusion of Snake, Raiden, and Peter Griffin were definitely the most shocking additions too, and of course the three new games that were added.