Chapter 3 Season 2 of Fortnite Battle Royale was called 'Resistance' and featured the war between the Seven and the Imagined Order. The conflict was already heavily foreshadowed in the previous season, but found its satisfying conclusion in CH3S02.
At the beginning of the season IO had completely overrun the Seven and their allies and their troops were already at the brink of defeat, before they managed to activate the 'Zero Build' mode, in which all of Fortnite's characteristic building was deactivated. The players participated in the Resistance and drove the IO forces further back every week. You could always watch the exact frontlines on the Fortnite map and in some weeks some of the POIs, like the Daily Bugle, Coney Crossroads, Rocky Reels or Tilted Towers, became points of conflict, where players could actively help the Seven troops to free the POIs from the IO. This was a pretty cool feature and gave the season a real war vibe. In a big Live Event at the end of the season (Collision Event) players could, with the help of the Paradigm and her giant Mech, finally defeat the IO and free the island forever (or at least for a season or two). The players were travelling inside the Mech (rebuilt Mech from the Chapter 1 Season 9 Live Event) and shooting all IO troops in sight. The Collision Event definitely lived up to the expectations and was a nice final to a generally very good season.
Chapter 3 Season 2 didn't introduce so many major map changes, but it introduced many smaller war changes. The colossal Foundation statue for example got partly destroyed, huge IO blimp airships appeared on top of some POIs (which later were destroyed through the Resistance forces) and they were generally a lot of craters and wartorn buildings all around the map. Covert Cavern changed to Command Cavern, but, except for the blimp on top of it, remained pretty much unchanged. The three really new POIs were Synapse Station, the Fortress and the Collider. Synapse Station and the Collider were really big, well done POIs. The Fortress on the other hand was a bit underwhelming, because it was only a gigantic drill. The drill was cool, but it was still a bit too small, for a POI. Synapse Station was a second main base for the Seven and a big workshop for their new drivable Battle Busses. Synapse replaced a previously empty spot on the map in the south and was therefore a nice addition. The Collider was only constructed in the last weeks of the season, but it still managed to become my favourite new POI of the season. It reminded me a lot of Isengard from Lotr, which is obviously a plus. Shortly before the Collision Event Tilted Towers was also partly destroyed by a retaliation strike of the IO, which was particularly appreciated by me (not the greatest Tilted Fan).
Item- and weaponwise there were a lot less additions in Chapter 3 Season 2 in comparison to the extremely generous previous season. Apart from the Ranger Shotgun (high damage, very slow speed) and the E-11 Blaster Rifle (Stormtrooper Blasters) there weren't really any new weapons worth talking about. Vehicles played a much bigger role in this season. Tanks were a new addition to the game and even though they were very entertaining, they were also too overpowered in the first weeks of the season. If you didn't manage to find an Anti-Tank Rocket launcher, you were just screwed against these metallic beasts (especially in the new Zero Build modes). Some players compared the situation even to the Season X Mechs. Tanks later on got a little nerfed and therefore more balanced. The other brand-new vehicle was the drivable armoured Battle Bus. About time, they finally were added to the game.
Even more worth pointing out were the many gameplay changes in Chapter 3 Season 2. The new Zero Build Battle Royale modes (Solo, Duo, Trio, Squads) were highly celebrated by the players and one of the main reasons for Fortnite becoming insanely popular during the start of the season. Many people came back to experience Fortnite as "regular BR Game". I am also a big fan of these Zero Build modes, since I could never really warm up to the building aspect of the game. I only dislike that they gave every player an additional overshield of 50 HP, that works separate of the regular Life and Armour points. It will, similar to for example the Halo games, regenerate itself after only a few seconds. This makes finishing other players on a distance much more difficult, if they can just get behind cover and regenerate their shields after around 5 seconds. Mantling was a great addition, that allowed players to grab and jump on ledges, which made the whole movement in Fortnite more dynamic. The tactical sprint function was taken straight out of Call of Duty and was an okay addition. It does function alright, but I was perfectly happy with the regular auto-sprint.
The Battle Pass of the season is a bit unevenly matched. 5 of the 8 skins I liked a lot, but the other 3 skins were quite underwhelming. Erisa is another Anime skin and I just don't like those, but you at least have to give her credit for having an extra style with a seven helmet (even though it storywise makes no sense). Kiara looks like a cheap Loba (Apex Legends) Rip-Off and Tsuki is an obscure robot character. Lets rather talk about the good stuff. Gunnar is an important IO character in the story and he's got some great armours in the Pass. Dr Strange is a fantastic collaboration skin, promoting the Dr Strange 2 movie. The Prowler is another cool Spider-Man skin, even though I actually think he is a bit too much of a smaller side character (unless you count the Miles Morales Spider-Man) to be a featured Secret Skin of a Fornite season. Since he is a great skin aswell, I won't complain. The other two skins are additional members of the Seven. The Origin and The Imagined are not only important for the story, they are also just awesome skins, that alone would probably be worth the purchase of a Battle Pass.
Pro:
+ Constant war throughout the season
+ Introduction of Zero Built Battle Royale
+ Cool Story Event
+ Half of the Battle Pass is fantastic
+ New gameplay additions (Mantling, Tactical Sprint)
Contra:
- Tanks temporarily too strong
- Half of the Battle Pass is bad
- BP again till level 140
Result:
Chapter 3 Season 2 managed to not disappoint as a follow-up to the great Chapter 3 Season 1, which in itself is already an accomplishment. The season, especially in the beginning, had some balancing issues and the content updates during the season weren't as significant and fluent as in the previous season. The majority of the Battle Pass however was fantastic, the map changes overall pretty good and the season really lived up to its war theme, which not all seasons do. The gameplay changes however are what this overall really strong season will always be remembered for. Tactical sprinting, mantling and the Zero Build modes have significantly impacted the Fortnite gameplay, which is quite a revolution for a 4,5 year old game.
8/10
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