Introduction
Reviewing a game like Fortnite is a bit of a challenge because of the game's weekly updates that consistently add new content. As a result, I cannot make an end all be all review of the game. Rather this will be a pretty general review of the games three core modes and their most consistent features, and mechanics.
Battle Royale
I feel the need to stress that I am not a fan of the battle royale genre at all, so a lot of negativity I have towards this game is subjective and due to personal preference but if you look at the more objective elements of the genre its easy to see why I feel the way I feel. When you press the triangle or y button on your controller to start up a match you have just entered the lottery. There are little to no consistent factors in these games and rather than being an exception Fortnite is a prime example. There is no matchmaking so you're always facing a random lot of enemies of varying skill, where the bus flies in relative to the map is completely random, the loot drops are completely random, where the circle moves is completely random, and all these factors and poorly designed mechanics can completely decide the outcome of a match because whether you win or lose often comes down to unadulterated rng. Whether you hit or miss your shots with automatic weapons is completely random due to the bloom mechanic that has your bullets land anywhere within an increasingly large crosshair, and in a single player third person shooter, for example, this type of thing would be fine but is absolutely unacceptable in a game that is supposed to reward skill, and sometimes you'll end up biting the dust because unlike yourself, your opponent got lucky enough to find some shield potions or more of a certain type of ammo. The biggest threat to you obtaining victory isn't the other players themselves it's the sheer odds which aren't in your favor more than 70 percent of the time. And I know a lot of that isn't Fortnite's fault specifically rather just flaws in the genre, but I digress. This point is even backed up by the statistics of the game's pro players. Most of them only win around 15-30 percent of the matches they play which should give you a solid idea of how much luck affects this game. In an actual balanced multiplayer game, those would be the stats of an amateur player, not a professional. But despite all that matches in Fortnite are super formulaic and tend to always go down in one of two ways with hardly any exceptions: You'll drop into an area along with half of the lobby and because there's not enough loot in one spot for everyone, you'll end up defenseless, and inevitably die. Or you'll drop in and never see a single soul all match only to get killed by someone off in the distance that you can't see or hear. It's very repetitive and gets really boring really fast. And I've got to say I'm not too fond of the games biggest mechanic either: the building. It takes forever to acquire a sufficient amount of materials and it heavily discourages tactical play because there's no cap on how much you can build outside of having enough materials to do so. So every encounter becomes a giant sweaty build off to see who can press buttons faster in a semi varied order with roughly 80 percent building and only 20 percent actual combat. It's just a bloody annoying attempt to make the game unique. And there are a lot of small design choices that really get on my nerves too, like the fact that you have five slots for weapons and items of all sorts instead of having separate slots for weapons and healing items for example, which means you can run five submachine guns or five rocket launchers at once and you would think that with an ability like that your structures would have some actual durability but every structure that isn't made out of metal is about as strong as styrofoam, especially considering structures don't immediately spawn in with max health so good luck trying to stop anything explosive or automatic from killing you instantly. Traps are overpowered as hell, there are a ton of connection issues, and the cherry on top is the fact that the game's developers have a hit or miss reputation when it comes to listening to fan reception. So all in all the battle royale mode is a boring, unbalanced mess.
Creative
I don't really have a lot to say about this mode. It has a lot of potential to be interesting but it's ultimately stifled by the lack of depth in the customization. Compared to what can be done in any sandbox game what you can and can't do in this "creative" mode is very strict and limiting so it really just ends up being a small empty space to practice, test out new weapons and items, and mess around with your friends in and nothing more.
Save The World
Fortnite is not an entirely free game. So when people say that the game doesn't have to be good because it's free I just have to shake my head in disagreement because to get the full Fortnite experience you have to pay either $40 retail price or $20 if there's a sale. So what does that extra cash offer that warrants the purchase of the full game? Nothing, really. Save the World is technically Fortnite's main mode but it's just not worth the money. Simply put it's just a glorified tower defense/horde mode hybrid game that's been released half a decade after the genre completely died. It's not innovative in the slightest, it's grindy, repetitive, and isn't worth your time.
Conclusion
Like the title of the review suggests this game is a perfect example of popularity not equaling quality. But if there's one positive thing I have to say about Fortnite it's easily the visuals. The game is bright, colorful, and really well animated. But what's more important to a game? The visuals, or the gameplay? I don't know about you but for me, it's the gameplay and Fortnite's is really underwhelming. Maybe if the game goes entirely free to play it'll get some bonus points but at the moment it's just not worth your time or money especially considering all the fantastic games you can purchase for around the same price.