Battlegrounds may have sparked the current Battle Royale trend, but these days, I’d much rather log into Fortnite. Over the last few months, developer Epic Games have crafted a game with a unique identity, if not a better one.
Here’s why I prefer to play Fortnite over Battlegrounds.
It works
I’ve been playing Fornite for around 40 hours now, and not once have I encountered a problem. If I have a bad time, it’s never technical issues getting in the way — I’m probably just sucking. Battlegrounds, though? I swear, half the time I play something goes wrong. Constant crashes. Rubber banding. Inexplicable hiccups. I know that there’s a fantastic game hiding underneath all these issues, but why should I have to suffer through them when I have an option that works the way it’s supposed to?
It has personality
The second you boot up Fortnite BR, the game greets you with a chill, bubbly track that serves as a shorthand for the type of game it wants to be. Yes, the whole 1 vs 99 thing is inherently ruthless, but within that, Fortnite still feels welcoming. There’s something about Fortnite’s cartoon aesthetic, pastel colours and memorable character designs that makes playing feel like you’re climbing into a tree house.
And unlike Battlegrounds, Fortnite knows how to bring the holiday cheer with seasonal events — if you logged in over the last few weeks, you saw the entire map decked out with lights. It’s wonderful. Battlegrounds may be the place to compete, but Fortnite gives me a place I actually want to live in. It’s pleasant here, when you’re not fearing for your life.
It’s built for hijinks
Battlegrounds has more mechanical complexity than Fortnite, but Fortnite’s additions are inherently more fun. Even when used strategically, crafting is silly in the best way. Getting shot at? Time to put down a wall in a panic. Well, now there’s a makeshift house keeping me safe from an unknown danger. What should I do? How long can I survive here before they tear my walls down?
The community loves to play around with the crafting feature, too. One of my favourite things is watching people build elaborate sky towers, especially if it’s in defiance of whatever is going on around them.
Did I mention that you can craft yourself a bush disguise? I love moments when you spend ages hiding in a bush, only to realise the bush next to you has been an enemy player this entire time. Or times when you’re getting chased down, you turn a corner, and transform into a bush to confuse your assailant — where did you go?? Then, of course, you shotgun them in the face.
In Fortnite, you can dab. There’s a grenade that makes your enemies dance. You can run around as a gingerbread man or a knight. Meanwhile, in PUBG you can…vault now? While wearing realistic clothes? Yeah, I’ll take the game where you can ride around on a flying pumpkin, thanks.
WE DID IT BOYS! Witness the peak of @FortniteGame PVP meta! HAAHAHhttps://t.co/GuR1geC1zd pic.twitter.com/wsdpa3DlVv
— Sacriel (@Sacriel42) November 6, 2017
It has better bells and whistles
Since Fortnite is already a largely functioning game, Epic Games is free to add better systems on top of the main experience. There are daily quests in Fortnite. There’s a Battle Pass that you can level up by playing the game, and it allows you to unlock over 65 rewards during the season. Fortnite gives you a better sense of progression than Battlegrounds.
Lately, Fortnite has also been updating with more content on a nearly weekly basis. Whether it’s a another mode or a special item, it always feels like there’s a new thing to enjoy when you dive in.
Epic Games is extremely responsive
I’m impressed by how Epic Games handles in-game issues. If there’s a bug, chances are very good that they have already hopped into the BR Reddit to explain what’s going on and when you can expect a fix. Usually, Epic addresses big issues very promptly, too, and I’ve never seen any bugs last more than a week or so.
Apparently, this aspect of Fortnite is about to get even better: late last month, Epic Games said it is working on its hotfix system which will allow it to “tweak more than just balance numbers without requiring a full client patch.” I’m stoked.
Bonus reason: You can enjoy all of what I just mentioned… for free. Battlegrounds, meanwhile, costs $US29.99 ($38).
Last year, Bluehole expressed concern over how similar Fortnite felt to Battlegrounds. At the time, the worry felt overly cautious: Battle Royale is the hot new thing, and lots of developers are going to take inspiration from it.
While I still think Fortnite is enough of its own thing, I’m starting to understand why Bluehole was sweating in the first place.
Comments
26 responses to “5 Reasons I Like Fortnite BR Way Better Than PUBG”
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LOL reads like an Add.
I see the appeal for some, Fortnite is aimed at children so its easy, boring and just looks terrible.
Out of curiosity, how can a 1v99 PvP game be ‘easy’? Surely if it’s easy to kill people, it’s just as easy for your enemies to kill you, right?
Look I think pubg is an awesome game and fortnite is pretty good. They are both stressful games though. The rubberbanding and crashes are a pain that i hope they will fix. edited cause im grumpy af lately.
I was only even playing fortnite until pubg came out on the Xbox.
Then pubg came out, and I realised fortnite was far far more fun, technically better, no performance issues, and I genuinely enjoyed playing it.
I now only play fortnite. It’s a blast in duos. I can’t deny the feeling of getting a dinner in pubg, but I feel like you’ve earned it more in fortnite.
Iv play both games and won multiple times in both and I think that pubg is more fun and everyone is saying that pubg has a lot of issues but iv played pubg since 23 of April when it came out and only experienced issues in the early game (which is expected) but when I play it now a days I never get any issues it runs clean and perfect for me (I’m on pc btw)
If fortnite adds a proper customisation system, some better progression and a new map. It could be huge.
I think I read somewhere, there is a plan for this, when the whole game comes out of early access.
It’ll be interesting if players will be able to trade / sell their old goods for v-bucks. (With Epic taking a cut I would assume)
This article is brought to you by Epic games.
Couldn’t disagree more. I booted up PUBG for the first time in 3-4 months the other day. Game looks and feels so much better. Is it bug free? No. But it feels and plays good to me. More importantly, I like the more serious tone way better than Fortnite. I play a lot of Overwatch, so I can appreciate a thematically-light game. I just don’t feel like the goofiness of Fortnite lends itself to the battle royale genre. Give me the heavy-handed teen drama of Hunger Games, not the over-the-top improbability of Space Jam.
Well fuck, doesn’t that just change everything?
yeah that makes fortnite much more childish and cringy
Its a blatant rip-off with cartoony graphics, and the pvp oceanic servers rubber band like crazy – apparently they aren’t even located in Australia.
well sir you are not correct. the servers are located in Sydney.
I play on PS4 and I’ve never experienced rubber banding.
For PvE, yes. For PvP, no. Check reddit/google.
Said it before, biggest problem PUBG has is that it’s a phenomenon of a well established game mode that any experienced developer can literally tack on to a solid base as an afterthought.
It’s a tough curve to get ahead of.
I like Fortnite, but I just cant get around the shooting mechanics… they’re horrid.
The guns are so inaccurate that hitting anything is dumb luck. Combine that with really limited ammo and it makes for pretty unfun shooting mechanics
are you talking about pubg or fortnite?
Because if you have ever tried to play pubg on xbox one…
That game is janky as hell.
I thought bethesda had bugs – but goodness.
The rubber banding in PUBG is horrible.
Fortnite. PUBG has way better shooting mechanics, at least on PC.
The Console of PUBG version seems to be an absolute mess though. Bad graphics, bad FPS and no aim-assist
“no aim-assist”. thats not a bad thing, even though console players are used to aim-assist. it just means you need to learn how to aim properly. besides, everyone else on pubg on console is in the same boat, so you aren’t at a disadvantage with no aim-assist. also, pubg has a smaller dev team, and since it being on console is new, it will not be in the best of shape straight away. which is the same with fortnite
I love moments when you spend ages hiding in a bush, only to realise the bush next to you has been an enemy player this entire time. I present to you, the typical pubg hater, a camper who loves other campers
I put a hundred or so hours into PUBG, most of which were spent being frustrated with how the game runs. Even when I’m getting 80+ fps it feels like less than 30fps. I guessing that’s the stupidly low tick rate.
Since I discovered FORTNITE I’ve put maybe 5 hours into PUBG over the last 3 months.
I find FORTNITE to be way more fun, runs better, and IMO looks better. I even bought the PVE part of the game, it’s almost as fun as the PVP.
They’re both great games that cater very well to different audiences.
Personally I enjoy Fortnite more because I’m a fan of the stylised aesthetic. And because it feels like a smoother game. PUBG is closer to a military sim, with its realistic animation based movement and aiming, whereas Fortnite feels more like an arcade shooter with its movement and aiming, kinda like Overwatch or classic arena shooters.
On the topic of bugs and responsiveness here, I feel as though its because Epic has a ton more experience at making games.
So, it looks ‘prettier’ and has a lower skill floor. Fair enough. Kinda seems like fortnite is aimed at children and adolescents so it makes sense. Personally I’m not that into the cartoony aesthetic.
“You can craft a bush” No, you can’t.
Can’t craft anything in PvP. That’s the one thing it’s kinda missing at the moment.