Battle royale video games are not really power fantasies, especially if you’re one of the majority of players on the losing end of a match. Being dropped onto an island with fellow scavengers and scrounging around for what little firearms and ammo you can get your hands on creates a tense, anything-can-happen atmosphere. You’re supposed to feel vulnerable all the time. That’s not the case in Fortnite’s big Avengers: Endgame crossover event. The limited-time game mode is all about feeling overly powerful — like a superhero — to spectacular effect. Whether you’re on the side of humanity, wielding one of the many heroic weapons taken from the Marvel universe, or whether you’re part of Thanos’ army — with its jetpacks and energy weapons with unlimited ammo — the mode elevates the entire Fortnite experience to a level of almost absurd chaos. The mode builds off the Infinity War limited-time event from last year, tweaking the formula in smart ways and making sure everyone can have a little bit of fun, even when they lose. Last year’s Avengers event, an unprecedented crossover for Hollywood and the game industry, was purposefully imbalanced. You were one of dozens of other players trying to take down, but mostly avoid, the one player that assumed the role of Thanos, with his destructive purple beam, massive health bar, and inhuman movement. It was often very tough to get the Infinity Gauntlet that would let you transform into the villain, and even if you did, it meant that every other player on the map had their sights set on you. In the Endgame variant, everyone is a superhero or an ultra-powerful villain, to an extent. The teams are split into two sides of up to 20, although in my experience, quite a few people dropped out, making each contest roughly 15-on-15 in most cases. One side is humanity, dropped into the standard Fortnite map with an assault rifle, a shotgun, and a treasure map leading you to one of a number of Avenger-specific weapons, like Iron Man’s gloves, Hawkeye’s explosive bow, and Captain America’s shield. You’re also given triple the amount of normal health for the entire match. The other side is Thanos’ army of alien Chitauri, which are equipped with a blaster, a more powerful charge-up attack, and a jetpack with unlimited fuel. (The jetpack has a cool-down mode to keep you from flying in the air at all times.) The first Chitauri player to touch one of the six Infinity Stones that lands on the map transforms into Thanos, and every time the villain dies he is randomly assigned to a player that happens to perish at roughly the same time. From there, the battle escalates in satisfying fashion. The humanity side has unlimited lives, but most make ample use of the heroic weapons to take down the Chitauri and Thanos. The villain side has 100 total lives, but it can initiate an endgame situation by collecting all six Infinity Stones that drop incrementally on the map, taking away humanity’s respawn capability. By the end of a match, there are typically about 50 or more Chitauri and Thanos pressing down on the 15 to 20 heroes as they defend the final Infinity Stone. Naturally, the combat is ridiculous and overwhelmingly, with energy blasts flying in all directions, heroes and villains soaring through the air, and Thanos expectedly laying waste to any structure he comes into contact with. But it’s exhilarating, in ways few superhero games have been able to accomplish. (Last year’s Spider-Man on PS4 was a rare exception.) Just being able to soar across the terrain using the Hawkeye bow’s grapple ability, or hovering in the air with Iron Man’s gloves and sending out destructive blasts of energy, is enough to make you wish this were a full-fledged game all on its own. At one point, in my only experience as Thanos, I sent out my most powerful attack — a giant beam of purple energy — at a human player, only for them to deflect it in entirety with Captain America’s shield. Meanwhile, the other heroes were shooting me from all sides and I was downed almost immediately. In another game, a group of other Chitauri found Thanos on the battlefield and hailed our leader the only way we knew how... by dancing. The matches feel slightly skewed in favor of Thanos, which may or may not have been an intentional touch on behalf of Epic Games and Marvel. It’s simply much easier to overpower the heroes and snag the Infinity Stones than it is to fend off the Chitauri, at least in the mode’s current iteration. To that end, Epic has already announced some tweaks to make certain heroic items more powerful (but reduced the strength of Iron Man’s gloves), just as it altered some aspects of the Infinity War event last year. Balance will be restored in the Endgame LTM: Thor's ground pound, bash, and throw damage increased from 200/150/95 to 225/200/100 Iron Man gauntlet's blast damage lowered from 45 to 35 Health gained per infinity stone lowered from 25 to 20 — Fortnite (@FortniteGame) April 25, 2019 Still, the world’s biggest video game and Hollywood’s most epic climactic event of the decade have successfully come together in a way that doesn’t feel cheesy or like a silly marketing gimmick. Instead, it’s an incredible experience and a true testament to the cultural magnitude of both Fortnite and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. My only wish is that it would stick around.<doc-sep>Thanos returns to Fortnite -- but this time it's your squad versus his. Fortnite Endgame LTM (limited-time mode), announced Thursday, brings Avengers: Endgame weapons and outfits to the popular battle royale game along with Thanos and his Chitauri in a race to find the six Infinity Stones. Along with items to be found throughout the map, you can complete challenges for free rewards such as sprays, banners and the Avengers Quinjet Glider, according to the announcement by Epic Games, Fortnite's publisher. If you've got some V-Bucks burning a hole in your virtual pocket, you can also buy a Black Widow outfit and Widow's Pack with a Widow's Bite Pickaxe and Widow's Pirouette Emote. Or you can hold out till early next week, when Epic plans to release a second outfit set. Epic teased the Fortnite Endgame tie-in earlier in the week. On Wednesday, the Fornite Twitter account tweeted an image of a character wearing Iron Man's repulsor gloves. This followed a teaser Tuesday of a Fortnite-ified version of Thor's magnificent ax Stormbreaker and one Monday night featuring Captain America's vibranium shield. All of the teasers touted the release date of Avengers: Endgame, April 25, so today's release wasn't exactly a surprise. This isn't the first tie-in of the two most popular brands in the world. Last year, Thanos appeared in Fortnite as a playable character -- if you found his universe-killing Infinity Gauntlet on your map, you turned into the giant purple supervillain, complete with superpowers. Avengers: Endgame hits movie theaters worldwide on Thursday, April 25. CNET's Abrar Al-Heeti is watching all the preceding movies in a single, insane 59-hour Marvel marathon in preparation for its release. She started on Tuesday and she's still going! Now playing: Watch this: 24 hours into the 59-hour Marvel movie marathon Fortnite is a massively popular multiplayer game for PCs, consoles and smartphones that has you shooting other players and building structures for cover. It went stratospheric with the addition of a battle royale gameplay mode (a la PUBG), in which 100 players duke it out on an island until one person is left standing, victorious. Its maker, Epic Games, has since parlayed Fortnite's huge success into Epic's own game store, seeking to edge out rivals such as Steam on PC. Fortnite has also been the venue for huge online events, such as a gig by DJ Marshmello in January. Originally published April 23. Updates, April 24: Adds Fortnite tweet featuring Iron Man's repulsor gloves; April 25: Adds official announcement details.<doc-sep>
Fortnite developer Epic Games has spent the past few days slowly doling out teasers for an Avengers: Endgame crossover event coming to the hit battle royale title. Each of the images teased an iconic piece of Avengers equipment, and now with the launch of Fortnite's update 8.5, those items--and other Avengers goodies--have arrived alongside a special limited-time event. The limited-time event pits teams of Avengers versus Thanos and his goons as they race to get equipment that can bring down the other. For the Avengers that means items like Cap's shield and Iron Man's Repulsor Gloves, while Thanos uses his trusty Infinity Gauntlet. You can win some cosmetic items including a nifty Quinjet glider, so be sure to check out our challenge guide. Separately, the in-game shop is selling some limited-time cosmetic items, like a Black Widow skin, harvesting tool, and emote. The initial tweets teasing the event quoted the Endgame tagline "Whatever it takes" and used a #FortniteXAvengers hashtag. This last one showed a Fortnite character with Iron Man's repulsor gloves, which he uses in the films and comics for both propulsion and offense. The other teases showed Cap's shield and Thor's axe, Stormbreaker. All of these teasers hinted that the battle royale event will let players equip iconic Avengers weapons, most likely in a limited-time mode. Alongside Avengers: Infinity War, Epic introduced a special crossover that let players equip Thanos' devastating Infinity Gauntlet. It was nerfed almost immediately so that more players would be able to defeat the "Thanos" player and don the gauntlet themselves. So far Epic hasn't detailed this crossover event, or if the Infinity Gauntlet mode will be returning in some form. These limited-time modes are all separate from the usual battle pass goodies. Fortnite regularly rotates in special events and limited-time modes, along with rotating seasons on a fixed schedule. In fact it has begun teasing its next season already, with roaming runes that appear to be slotting into a vault in Loot Lake. But these frequent updates have apparently come at a cost, as developers have complained of crunch culture on a continuous loop. Avengers: Endgame concludes the story arc of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe to this point, and reviews have started to release online in advance of its debut. We also now know that for the first time in the MCU, this movie doesn't have a mid- or post-credits scene--a way of bookending this as the end of a story arc. It is still three hours long, though, so if you need to take a bathroom break, we have you covered with when it's safe to pee. "But most of all Endgame is a love letter to the entire MCU--the whole thing," Michael Rougeau wrote in GameSpot's review. "It's messy and confusing, and there's going to be a lot of discussion about whether the ending even makes sense--it basically breaks the rules set up throughout the entire movie leading up to it. But holy hell is it an emotional, fulfilling ride. I have no doubt we're going to spend the coming weeks picking and pulling it apart until we've over-analyzed every single aspect imaginable. But right now, in the aftermath, Avengers Endgame feels like a win."