Fortnite: Chapter 2 Season 1 Review

Hello Fortnite fans and those who like gaming in general. I am here with the Chapter 2 Season 1 review. Even though season 2 is now out, I think its better to look back and see what went wrong and what went right.

Map Changes

First things first! A BRAND NEW MAP! Yes its out with the old and in with the new, after 10 seasons it was time for a facelift. We said "Farewell" to Tilted Towers, Paradise Palms and Haunted Hills and said "Hello" to Craggy Cliffs, Lazy Lake and Slurpy Swamp! Even though we still have Pleasant Park, Salty Springs and Retail Row, We have a whole new map to explore with new un-named locations including landmarks that we could find.

Even though the new facelift was a nice change, it was a shame that not everything had gone, being a brand new map I would've preferred it if had a whole new bunch of POIs and not try to keep reusing old locations...the more things change, the more they stay the same.

A new Battle pass

A new season, a new battle pass, I actually liked this seasons' battle pass, it was refreashing in a way, as some of the previous battlepasses looked liked recycled skins that had been re-coloured. But this was brand new and really good, as each skin also had an opposite to them! Good vs Bad! I thought this was very creative and I enjoyed the new designs!

We also saw that the way you viewed the battle pass was also different, instead of showing two different categories, it shows them all on the same line and it was also more interactive as it pieced all the sets together for you.

In the previous seasons once you reached Level 100 you couldn't aim any higher and it got boring as you couldn't challenge yourself. Well now there wasn't a limit! you could go as high as level 500! even though you couldn't actually unlock anything, the fact that you could keep progressing was a nice touch.

New Events

Fortnite has had its fair share of live events such as the Marshmallow concert, The rocket launch and the 3 day long black hole event (boy, that was a fun week) . In this season, we saw a Star Wars live event/crossover which allowed us to vote for what scene we would like to see for a special sneak peek of the new film, as well as being able to use lightsabers in game!...these were fun at first but did begin to agitate players as they were seen as too powerful and couldn't be countered easily, after 2 months, they were eventually removed.

Harley Quinn was also introduced but only in skin format, which is upsetting as I believe they could've done a lot more with this, such as a map change, bring in an Arkham POI or a special LTM.

And finally we had Fortnitemares! I really enjoyed this LTM, it was Halloween themed, had its own trophy system and was a chance to work properly as a team. It didn't last very long which again was upsetting, but then again, it would've got boring quite fast so I believe Epic Games made the right choice for this.

One of the radical changes that we saw, was that this season forced Cross-Platform play. Now it is said that PC players have major advantages over Console players such as: FPS, better connections, consistency and other factors, the only way console players have the upper hand is the having Aim Assist. Although the community was given Cross platform matches in chapter 1, we could still hop in with just console players and enjoy ourselves with no problems. But this new season saw us being pitted against sweaty PC players with their ability for faster builds and editing.

Even though players can turn off cross platform, they have to wait at least 15 minutes to get into a match and when they do, they aren't even against real players, just bots. Many players have complained to Epic about this with the majority even leaving the community. I'm on the fence about this as I do like going up against other platforms and being united with them, but there are times where I am looking for a casual game and not getting destroyed by some sweaty 7 year old and his £2000+ gaming computer, when he should really be in school.

Fishing was introduced, this is a fun activity, if a player is struggling to find a good weapon or any health, then all they have to do, is get their fishing rod or harpoon gun and fish! its that simple. If there is a health pot or weapon you see and you're trapped by another player just aim, swing and you got your weapon. Nothing like fishing after a hard days fighting and getting your hands on a Gold SMG!.

Going back to basics

With this season we saw Epic vault 95% of their weapons and other contraptions and leaving us with only the bare minimum of weapons and transportation. Weapons were barely Rare or higher, resulting in a lot of players having to make do with a common pistol in the end game, I'm all for a James Bond like style of gameplay but even he needs a rocket launcher every now and then, especially going up against little Mike and his epic builds.

Land movement was slow and boring, even though swimming was integrated in and boats were introduced, we still had a lot of land to cover and travelling halfway across the map was a challenge in itself. Launch pads were brought back into the game towards the end of the season and it truly was a sight for sore eyes! Just bring back the Hoverboard or the Baller! ANYTHING!!

Chapter 2 has opened our eyes to new a sense of gameplay and a new physics engine, its had its good times and its bad times, but I still believe we haven't seen the last of it yet. This is just the beginning for a new and improved game.