As the flying bus passed over the strip mall, I leapt from it. Noticing many other people heading for the same location, I changed course and glided down to the roof of a house, which I smashed through and jumped into the attic, where I picked up an assault rifle lying on the ground. While this may sound like a fever dream, events like this are common in Epic Games’ Fortnite.

In this “Battle Royale” video game, players fight each other on a continuously-shrinking map, either in teams, or solo. The final player or team left alive wins. After hours of play, it is clear that Fortnite is not one of the best games ever made, but it is enjoyable, even for people who do not usually enjoy games of this type (like myself.)

Gameplay:  The first thing to know about Fortnite is that it is absolutely huge. The game’s map is full of everything from houses to warehouses to forests to rivers. The thing is, it quickly becomes much smaller, figuratively and literally. Players rapidly spread across the map looking for resources and weapons, leaving few areas untouched. The playable area of the map, however, shrinks over time. While this gives Fortnite a steep learning curve, it does a great job of speeding up the game and encouraging interaction between players. A difficult game is better than a boring one. Four different gamemodes exist in Fortnite. The problem is, all of them are the same. In the modes Duo, Squad and 50v50, players are randomly placed in teams of two, four or 50. When only one team is left alive, they win. The final mode, Solo, is only different because it requires one player to win, instead of a team.

Construction and material-gathering gives the game a unique twist because it allows people uninterested in combat to still enjoy the game by gathering weapons and resources, or by constructing defenses. This is especially good for the game because the game’s combat is only average. It is not bad by any means, but it is standard guerilla fighting with guns that we have seen in a million other games. Fortnite defies physics as much as games like Skate 3 or Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing; it’s common to see a 20-story-tower built out of nothing but wood planks, or a massive ramp jutting into the sky without a support to be seen. Construction becomes crucial late in the game, when gameplay is restricted to a small area and consists of teams attacking each other’s forts.

“The best players are the best builders,”wrote Nick Petrou of Australian gaming site Reize. With its huge environment and unique construction feature, Fortnite is fun for nearly any gamer. Even if people are underwhelmed by the overly similar gamemodes and the trite gameplay, they’ll still enjoy it.

Graphics:   Although some reviewers have criticized Fortnite’s aesthetics as childish and out-of-place, with Polygon’s Charlie Hall describing them as “Pixar sitting in to do a season of The Walking Dead.” I find the cartoony style a welcoming change from the colorless, uninspired photorealism that has become commonplace in modern Triple-A games. Aesthetically, the graphics are fantastic. The character designs are wonderful, and each character looks different from the next. In terms of the environment, this are the graphics’ strongest point. The warped perspective and the brightly colors work great with the game’s feel: it wants to be a comic book, not a gritty war drama.

Unfortunately, a problem with Fortnite’s graphics exists in terms of the technical elements. At lower graphics settings, lighting feels almost non-existent, with objects seeming to cast no shadows at all. In addition, the textures feel somewhat crude when you are close to objects. Although from a technical perspective Fortnite does not look that great, it is worth noting that the game runs extremely smoothly given that 100 players can play on the same map. One can imagine the Epic had to cut a few corners to ensure that the game ran smoothly.

Microtransactions:   Ah, microtransactions — the bane of modern gaming.  Microtransactions seem to pop up in every single game nowadays, and Fortnite is no exception. While microtransactions in other games often include weapons such as in-game currency or new characters, Fortnite’s microtransaction are all cosmetic, and they do not affect gameplay in any way. Epic Senior Gameplay Engineer Benjamin Salem said that the company has a similar policy in all of its games.

“We really, really want the game to always be on an equal playing field. Cosmetics tend to be a great way to allow people to monetize without upsetting anyone or feeling like we’re selling power,” he said.

As for the objects themselves, people are able to temporarily give their avatars unique gestures to make or outfits to wear. These are bought with “V-Bucks”, which can either be obtained through completing in-game quests and missions, or by paying small prices. This works well, and I do not feel like the game is constantly trying to make me cough up an extra few bucks a week to enhance a game I paid $40 to play. It is nice to have at least one game studio that respects players’ wallets.

From its aesthetics to its gameplay, there is no other game quite like Fortnite. Sure, the gameplay has a few problems, but the charms easily outweigh the challenges. With a great art style and enjoyable gameplay, I highly recommend anybody who likes video games to try Fortnite at least once or twice.

Overall​ ​score:​ ​8/10 (Deserves a try as quality entertainment.)