I am one of the lucky chosen to get access to the first wave of invites for Fortnite: Battle Royale mobile, where installation and login took no more than three minutes, and sure enough, I had a fully functional version of my main PC account now readily available to me on my iPad Mini.
After a number of Fortnite matches on mobile since release yesterday afternoon, I wanted to talk about what’s almost certainly the most important aspect of the port, the controls. Very, very few shooters make it big in the mobile market because well, shooter controls are generally awful on the platform, and Fortnite could totally bomb this release if the controls were mishandled.
They’re…actually pretty decent. And all in all, it’s going to quickly become clear that Fortnite on mobile is better than no Fortnite at all, and I’m going to make a bold (not bold) prediction that the game will be a monster hit on iOS and eventually Android.
So, why does Fortnite work pretty well on mobile? And how does it work?
You control your character with essentially, imaginary thumbsticks. One is a joystick that moves your feet, and can be locked into auto-run, and the other is an invisible part of the screen that lets you move the camera around and aim. Tapping the finger controlling your aim is how you fire, and it takes some training not to accidentally start shooting when you look around, but you get used to it eventually. There’s also a dedicated fire button on the left side which some may find easier, but I didn’t, as you really can’t move while using it. Right above the aim area is a jump button, easily accessible. Crouch is less accessible, above that, but you won’t need that as much.
Certain aspects of the game have been modified for touch controls. You tap on weapons and chests on the screen to pick them up/open them, and doors will automatically open for you as you go near them (you can tap them closed). It works pretty seamlessly, for the most part. There are also some mobile-specific additions that have to do with sound, not touch. The game shows you where footsteps and gunfire are coming from with prominent indicators onscreen, and also the hum of nearby chests. This appears to be a decision made to accommodate those trying to play without headphones, which is a fairly common situation for mobile titles. Given how important sound is for awareness in Fortnite, this was a good call, even if it makes the game a bit easier. It also may be the one advantage mobile players have over their PC and console counterparts, who lack these kinds of in-game alarm bells.
The most cumbersome parts of the control scheme I’ve found so far have been switching weapons and building formats, which are in your center bar, and at least on an iPad, are far away from where your fingers normally are, so you have to either forgo movement or aiming to switch between them. Given how fast combat in Fortnite is, that can kind of be a problem, but less so given that everyone on a mobile server is on the same, kind of awkward playing field. Also in furious firefights, the touch movement/aiming will resulting a lot of misses, as your fingers can slide far away from where they need to be with frantic motion, though I expect players will improve in time the more they practice with this new system. For now, it’s created some pretty goofy, comedy-of-errors encounters, however, as both players miss 20 shots for every one they manage to hit.
I’ve gotten a fair amount of kills in the Fortnite mobile so far, and the name of the game to date has been distance. Close-up, combat can work as intended, but even with a heavy aim assist on mobile, getting kills at distance is incredibly difficult, and I would imagine even more so on a phone than an iPad like I’m using. I can’t speak for speed building because I’m terrible at that on any platform, but the nature of the controls make it seem like it would be rather difficult.
I mean, this is kind of what’s expected. PC is a more precise platform to play on than console. Console is a more precise platform to play on than mobile. As fun as cross play might be, I imagine most players are only going to want to square off against PC and console players if they absolutely have to, when their friends are playing there and they have no other options. Because otherwise, unless you’re a pre-teen tablet prodigy, you’re probably going to get wrecked by default. The controls here are about as good as they can be using this kind of input, but this kind of input naturally dictates that PC and console will have an advantage. But in mobile lobbies, everyone will be on the same level, so that’s where I’m guessing most players will spend all their time so they can feel like they have a fighting chance. I will say I wonder what happens when Fortnite mobile gets Bluetooth controller support, as that could create a sharp divide within mobile lobbies, which may prove problematic. But that’s a problem for another day, I suppose.
Fortnite works on mobile. It could have been a total trainwreck, but it’s definitely not, and Epic has done a fine job with this port, and crafting a control system that may not be perfect, but it’s about as good as you’re going to see on phones or tablets. Also, we’re now in a society where Fortnite’s biggest fans, kids and teens, have been raised on touch devices their whole lives, so they might slide right into this format and even prefer it, based on their past gaming history. As someone twice the age of most Fortnite players who grew up on consoles and PC only, perhaps I’m not the best suited to fully analyze this version. But even in my old man hands, I can recognize that this port works well enough to satisfy most players, and assuredly be a mobile hit.
I know Epic will continue to tweak these controls as time goes on, but for now, this is a very promising start, and yes, this mobile release is absolutely going to launch Fortnite into the stratosphere once it goes wide.
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