Whether you’re a hardcore gamer or not, you’ve probably heard about Fortnite already. It’s a battle royale multiplayer game that is free-to-play on PC. Following the game’s huge success across PC and consoles, Fortnite Mobile was later released in 2018.
First, it was released on iOS in March 2018. Then by August, the game was released for Android. However, only limited Android models were able to play the game. Within just five months after it’s iOS release, Fortnite hit 100 million downloads, based on data from Apptopia. That same year, Epic Games (developer) announced that it had registered over 125 million players. It basically topped off PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), which was originally the top game in the battle royale genre.
However, the game’s version on Android didn’t hit the 10 million mark just yet. During its first month of release, it only garnered 15 million downloads. The low number is however understandable because the game can only be installed through an invite-only scheme.
But in April 2020, Epic Games finally released Fortnite on Google Play. To date, it only has an estimate of 5 million downloads. The game obviously needs more traction. Despite this, one important question remains to be answered‒is Fortnite really worth playing on mobile?
Mobile Optimization
Optimizing the game for a specific platform is crucial if you want to enhance the gaming experience for its users. Unfortunately for Fortnite Mobile, it is poorly optimized for mobile play. For most mobile devices, whether Android or iOS, the maximum (frame per second) FPS is only 30 FPS. Now that FPS rate can give you decent performance, but if you’ve played Fortnite on other platforms, you will notice that the mobile version is not up to par.
As expected, a lot of players are still complaining about the game’s poor performance in both iOS and Android. Some players complain about the loading time, while others complain about the lags and glitches experienced in-game.
However, it seems like Fortnite Mobile can run decently on high-end mobile devices. High-end smartphones like iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone XR, and the latest models from Samsung, OnePlus, Huawei, Sony, and Razer can run the game quite well. However, don’t expect to get the same experience with that of the game’s PC and PlayStation versions.
Despite poor mobile optimization, players can still get the same features, elements, and maps from that of the PC version. And a great feature of Fortnite Mobile is that you can cross-play it to other devices like PC, MAC, PlayStation, and Nintendo. So, if you’re experiencing issues while playing on mobile, you can still continue to play on other platforms‒without losing your progress.
Fortnite Mobile’s In-Game Controls
If you’re not keen on playing mobile games, then you will definitely find it difficult to play Fortnite Mobile at first. For this version, the controls are fully dependent on touch, so you might need to work on your fingertips for that.
One thing that you’ll find difficult is the controls for aiming and shooting. Although shooting enemies when they’re right in front of you can be manageable, getting a headshot is quite difficult.
Long-range shooting is also difficult to achieve on Fortnite Mobile. Since the game is not perfectly optimized for mobile gameplay, you will find it difficult to see enemies from afar. It’s hard to aim at them clearly, especially when they are moving a lot.
Game Graphics and Sound Indicators
You might want to reduce your expectations if you’re used to playing Fortnite on PC and consoles. As mentioned earlier, the game is capped at 30 FPS and the resulting graphics are not smooth and seamless.
If you’re a hardcore Fortnite PC or PS4 player, you will definitely find the graphics of the mobile version unimpressive. You will notice differences in resolution, texture, anti-aliasing, and level of detail‒even if you’re playing on newly-released devices.
Although Fortnite heavily relies on sound, you will have a hard time utilizing it on mobile too. The mobile version uses sound indicators instead. These indicators give you a signal when there are gunshots, movements, and golden chests nearby. The closer you are to the sound, the more visible these indicators will be.
Conclusion
In terms of optimization and controls, Fortnite Mobile still has a long way to go. But since the gameplay is quite the same with its PC and console versions, players can still enjoy the classic Fortnite experience on mobile. However, it would certainly help if the developers can further optimize the game for compatibility.
