The best offense is a good defense. New video game, “Fortnite” not only understands this, but it embraces it. This game is centered around your ability to destroy anything in sight and your ability to then take materials you gathered from your destruction and turn them into a base or a fort to protect you. This concept makes “Fortnite” a unique combo of a shooter game and a sandbox game.

“Fortnite” was developed by Epic Games and People Can Fly and was released as a paid early access game for $40. However, those who did not pay for the game could still access its Battle Royale mode. The mode is based off of another game, PlayerUnknown’s “Battlegrounds.” Despite its inspiration from PUBG, it manages to be unique and almost an entirely different experience. This mode is earning the game much deserved attention and is easily the highlight of the game.

Battle Royale mode starts off with you and 99 other people being put on a flying party bus. The bus flies over an island and the players jump out of it whenever they find a good landing spot. After landing, players will scavenge nearby towns, farms and other locations to find things like building materials, guns and helpful potions. With your gear and quick wits, your goal is to be the last one remaining. As the match progresses, a storm will form and steadily close in on players. If you are in the storm, you will slowly lose health until your death. This feature pushes players together and increases the intensity.

The game is very fast paced, as each match is action-packed and suspenseful. One moment you’re sneaking around a prison, the next moment you are blowing the prison apart with explosives because someone came around the corner. “Fortnite” keeps you actively engaged and on the edge of your seat.

“Fortnite” is fun because every match is different. The gear you find will dictate how your match plays out. In one match, you might get an assault rifle and a sniper rifle, prompting you to approach scenarios and gunfights from a range. In another match, you might find a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher and a shotgun, encouraging you to play more destructively.

Your gear will also determine your chance at winning a gunfight. If you have a high tier assault rifle, and your enemy has a low tier pistol, you are more than likely going to come out victorious. This forces players to choose their fights carefully.

Traversing the island can be difficult at times, especially if you run into a mountain while trying to escape the storm. Luckily, you can build a multitude of things such as stairs, walls or floors with either wood, bricks or stone materials you collect from around the island.

Along with being a useful way to get around, the things you build can be used to protect or conceal your location from others. You can even go as far as building a fort out of materials to hide in. Anything is fair game, so using this constructive ability to gain the upper hand is strongly encouraged.

If the game wasn’t already appealing enough, the fact that you can gain access to it for free should definitely pique your interest. Although you can only play the Battle Royale game mode for free as of now, later in 2018, the game is expected to be released as a full package for no charge. Also, the game gets free updates that include new content. If that doesn’t sound like a great deal, then I don’t know what does. Grab some loot, build a fort and try your hardest, because there’s a storm coming.