Season 8 Pilot Review

The time has come again for me to do my official review of Fortnite's latest season. I did one for Season 7 and now Season 8 gets its turn. In this review I shall be looking at the Map Changes, Battle Pass and the newly added Canons. This season has had mixed thoughts and opinions, some saying it is the best season yet and some replying with "Are you mad? It's ****." This review will cover both the Positives and Negatives!

The Map Changes

Welcome to the Jungle!

If you like to have a nice hike through Wailing Woods before shooting some holes at Lazy Links on a nice Saturday afternoon then you can kiss that goodbye... Yes the new season has gone out with the old and in with the new. Lazy Links had now turned into Lazy Lagoon with no holes but a giant Pirate Ship! and clear blue water with plenty of chests to go around. Wailing woods has now been transform into Sunny Steps, an Aztec looking environment with a maze of rooms and openings with plenty to explore. But let's not forget the GIANT Volcano that is slap bang in the middle of them both! This area is un-named and is amazing in its design and creativity. The Map has indeed piqued our interest and most certainly kept us on our toes.

The positives of this map is that it has a lot to explore with a lot of hidden secrets that still have to be found, but this causes a problem because since these are quite high profiles areas you can't really explore because there are about 20+ other players in that area hunting you down, so you have to wait or come back to the area at a later time.

The Water Vents that have been introduced from previous Earthquakes are an interesting way to travel around the map and is quite fun, but the novelty soon wears off and they become a nuisance as some are placed in confined places so you can't get a certain chest or loot because you have burst pipe in your way that shoots you 20 feet in the air.

The un-named volcano is a massive addition to the map, but its appearance was completely unexplained, towards the end of Season 7 there was a series of earthquakes that would create cracks in the map, this caused a lot of theories to come into play and hopefully an answer would be given in the cinematic that happens at the start of the new season, but unfortunately that answer wouldn't be given... it is obvious that this volcano was the cause of the shakes but a cinematic explanation would've been nice—in my opinion, it was a wasted opportunity.

Overall very creative and interesting and a good use of the space with a lot thought gone into it, but the whole theme itself would've been better for the summer time of the year, not the spring due to the Tropical feel to it. It also adds to the running theme of having a map with different environments: Desert (Paradise Palms), Tundra (Polar Point), Urban (Tilted Towers), and now the Jungle.

Battle Pass

There's a Banana!?!?

Again this Battle Pass has gotten mixed feelings. If you were able to complete the Battle Pass challenges in Season 7 then you would get this Season's Battle Pass for free, which is a good move from Epic considering the amount of the competition it's had from Apex. But to be honest if these challenges hadn't arisen then chances are that not many players would've bought this season as it does seem quite bland.

If you are an avid player of this game then you know the Tier 100 skin something to grind for. Having that skin meant you were not to be messed with and you owned the map... Previous Tier 100 skins have been amazing, for example: The John Wick, Ragnarok, The Ice King and The Black Knight; three of which had different variations of based on the amount of points you acquired. But this Season's Tier 100 skin is a let down with Luxe. Even though it does have variations it isn't something to get excited about, especially since it is kind of a rip off an Apex character.

The only way to get excited about this Battle Pass is to unlock the skin Peely! This is amazing, comical, and creative. You will be walking around as a giant banana! This is pretty awesome. One of the many things I like about Fortnite is the fact that sometimes they let loose and just add some funny things! it is something to work towards but in my opinion Peely should've been the Tier 100 skin... another wasted opportunity

Overall this Battle Pass isn't the best one they have had. I do feel like Epic have missed out on some opportunities and have lost a bit of their mojo due to be in competition with the growing Apex. But it does have some comical moments for people to enjoy. Some of the skin are similar to others, for example: Sidewinder being nearly identical to Calamity.

Canons

STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP!

Now... these cannons are amazing! Not only can you fire a weapon that does 100 damage to another player but you can also launch yourself! This causes many Youtubers and Streamers to engage in some funny and questionable fun. These Cannons are a good way to travel across the map and inflict damage. But they do have a downside to them—they are extremely hard to move, slow and cause you to glitch out if you drop from a certain distance with them but hopefully this will soon get fixed. They fit well into the theme but again you would find them all over the map, I think it would be better to leave them in the Jungle area of the map, so when a challenge arises where you have to use them, you would be forced to go into a high profile area, e.g. Sunny Steps.

Overall

What's the verdict?

Epic has introduced new things on a massive scale and also with little things here and there. They have definitely lost their touch here with this Season due to many reasons, one being its current competitor Apex. It has rattled them and made them rush this Battle Pass to bring back their former players.

As I have stated before this season has got mixed views ranging from "Amazing" to "Pure Rubbish." It mostly depends on what the player themselves view as good. Each person has something they wished were changed or fixed but of course Epic can't address all these issues. They have got really creative with this one and kudos to them for trying. I do believe that since we are in the early stages more will come with many live events, creative skins and emotes. There are many bugs that need to be addressed such as holes in the map which players can fall through eliminating them, glitches with the Cannons, and builds not being placed. Of course, this is to be expected at the start.

If Epic sorted these issues out, I think this could turn out to be a great season. I'd rate 5/10.