Battle Royales: Game Changer Or Overrated?

Battle Royales have been all the rage over the past year or two, mostly over the past year. I've played my fair share of them and I've reached a conclusion. But we'll get to that in a bit. First, I want to talk about the battle royales that I have played.

Fortnite

Fortnite is probably the most well-known battle royale out there, having just passed 200 million players. I played this on the day it was released because everyone was (and still is) talking about how amazing battle royales are and how they have changed gaming. So I installed it because I had nothing to play at that time. I'm used to playing JRPGs so I have no problem with spending hours upon hours in a single game. The thing is, I didn't have any JRPG in mind that I wanted to play, so I put my time into Fortnite. 220 hours, that’s how long I’ve put into Fortnite, and I really don't like it, but do I hate it? Well, hate is a strong word and that’s why I won’t use it. In the end, I guess it's just not my cup of tea. I only played it because I had no idea what to play, truthfully, I did like it when I first played it.

But just like most marriages, I quickly came to hate the thing I once liked. It became very rinse and repeat for me but I still played it because I had nothing else to do. The main thing that I didn't like was the building, and yes, I know that's what Fortnite is and that's the reason I don't hate it. I personally prefer fighting someone with weapons, but Fortnite sacrifices aim for the building. Unless you have a sniper and the drop on someone when you engage in combat, it comes down to has more materials and who is a better builder. I get why people like building, I just never liked it. I doubt that I'll ever play it again, but it did introduce me to battle royales, and I only stopped playing it because something else came around. And that was...

H1Z1

When this was announced for PlayStation 4, I stopped playing Fortnite altogether. I waited for about a month for H1Z1 to come out. I thought that this was going to be a battle royale for me. The one that took up all my time and all my thoughts. I've played H1Z1 for maybe 70 hours. And those 70 hours have been spent driving around a completely dead map for 15 minutes, only getting out to swap cars, driving in a smaller circle with about six other cars and then getting blown up or killing the last person. I rarely encounter people before the end of the game, and if I do, they usually run away once I've pulled off a few shots on them. The other thing about H1Z1 is that it has more bugs than a jungle.

The amount of bugs in this game makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Vehicles are just the worst. Wanna run someone over? "Sorry, but don't worry. We'll fix it soon. We promise" Daybreak says. Well, two weeks later, "Fixed, you can run over as many people as you want." No. You can't. On the release, you were able to, albeit for only a few days, but you still could. I played it out of pure boredom roughly a week ago and you still can't. The biggest bug I came across was cars exploding for pretty much no reason. If you dive over a small rock, well, that's instant death. And good luck if you land slightly tilted, that can also cause you to explode. Every time they fix a bug, two more take-up its place. I do hate this one, if you are looking for a free battle royale, you're better off going with Fortnite.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 introduced its battle royale in the form of Blackout. Blackout is by far the best battle royale that I've played. I have something like 25 hours in it and I've already had more fun than Fortnite and H1Z1 put together. The map is one of the best things about it as it's an amalgamation of the most iconic Black Ops maps. With places like Nuketown Island, which is Nuketown after being, well, nuked. And Firing Range, looking better than ever. Blackout brings something fresh to the battle royale genre, which is perks. Perks (for those who don't know) are like passive abilities that can give you the edge in battle. My favorites are paranoia, which tells you if anyone is watching you, and iron lungs, which lets you hold your breath underwater for longer. 

However, these perks don't last forever, they usually last up to two minutes. While perks are useful, you'll need more than that to win any battles you enter. The vehicles in Blackout are also much better than in other battle royales. There are four vehicles in Blackout. There's the ATV, the Light Helicopter, the Cargo Truck, and the Tactical Raft. The map feels full and you're much more likely to come across other players while roaming than other battle royales. There's also the number of weapons. There are a fair few guns in Blackout and the snipers are to die for. You can come across attachments while you roam from one building to the next. These can range from things like grips and stocks to scopes and barrels. The effects of these items can also vary, like scopes. You can find scopes of 1x up to 4x and then there's the best: the sniper scope. If you're okay with spending your hard earned cash on a battle royale, this is the best you'll find.

Conclusion

Battle royales seem to be invading gaming at the moment, and after spending about 300 hours in the ocean of battle royales, I think it's time for me to towel off. I don't think that the genre is necessarily a bad one, I just think that it's been milked. Hard. I've spent enough time in that ocean, and I doubt I'll be getting back in anytime soon. But who knows? Maybe I'll dip a toe in again and then immediately jump back in. I mean, Red Dead Redemption is getting one. And If you're wondering why PUBG isn't one that I've played, it's because I play on PS4 and it's not out yet, but I doubt I'll buy it. Whilst battle royales are infecting the gaming scene right now, I wouldn't bank on them being around much longer.