Not being one of the cool kids any more, I’d never heard of the Invincible Universe before having a pop at this expansion in Fortnite.Â
However, in the course of doing my research for this impressions piece, I have discovered many things about said Universe. Firstly, it is based on a comic book written by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, & Ryan Ottley. Now, I had heard of Robert Kirkman, best known for his brilliant The Walking Dead graphic novels, so I was quite willing to give this a chance. It turns out that Invincible has also made the jump to an animated series, and so it is almost an inevitability that it would eventually end up as a video game.
The question is, have House of How and Skybound Games made the right choice in bringing it to Fortnite? Well, that’s where my collected thoughts on the matter come in. Strap yourselves in!
The story of this Invincible: Doc Seismic Attacks expansion fits into the overarching Invincible Universe, and it involves a bad guy called Doc Seismic. Apparently he is cross about something or other (I’m not entirely sure what, just that I can identify with his exasperation at the younger generation), and so he decides to attack a city. We are tasked with stopping him as GDA agents, guided by Cecil, and so as we go through the story, we meet and interact with various superheroes who are all trying to stop Doc Seismic. Apparently the voice acting is done by the cast that made the animated series, so it is all faithful; all I can say is that everything sounds and looks great. But can we stop Doc Seismic and save the day?
Now, luckily I have a Fortnite expert living in my house – my 13 year old son and his friends play Fortnite together almost every day, and so I was in good hands on the journey to the island. And it’s an island in Fortnite which is where the extra content takes place and when we get there, there are two ways to play this content.
The first is through the GDA Combat Training; basically a Free for All battle royale type affair. We are tasked with taking out every other GDA agent in the game in order to win, and suffice to say that mid table obscurity has been about my best result. I’m sure you will relate when I say I have no idea what the folk who play Fortnite have for breakfast, but if someone told me Monster and amphetamines were high on the list, I would not be at all surprised. But that brings us onto the main part of the new content, Doc Seismic Attacks!
Doc Seismic Attacks is much more up my alley, running as a six player raid type affair. Harking back to the 24/7 days of playing Destiny, I was bang up for this. The way the game looks is very nice too – I mean, Fortnite isn’t a bad looking game anyway, and having that level of graphical detail overlaid with the correct details from the Invincible Universe makes everything look great. The enemies range from mindless robots to massive flying moths, not counting the Doc himself, and the look of these is all pretty good.Â
The game plays out as a third person shooter, giving the chance to choose from a selection of weapons to take with you. As you get further into the raid, there are not only better weapons to be selected, but there are also three different character classes to choose from, so there is a lot of choice as to how to play. Finding a class that suits, and a loadout that is powerful, is part of the fun. Once you have got it nailed and are a card carrying badass, Invincible: Doc Seismic Attacks then ramps up the difficulty to keep you on your toes.
The set pieces of the boss fights are great to see; properly hard affairs. That is especially true if people get knocked out before you can revive them, as team work is going to be needed to make the most of the game. Having a team that communicates is an advantage, but should you prefer to go it alone, then you can have a go at it in solo mode. This makes things even harder, mind, so beware.
But in all, you should enjoy your time with Invincible: Doc Seismic Attacks. The raid element is challenging and quite lengthy, surprisingly so in fact, and while the combat training is just a glorified Fortnite free for all, the Invincible skins do make things a bit better.
If you are a fan of the comics or animated series, or just a lover of all things Fortnite, then Invincible: Doc Seismic Attacks is a no brainer. For everyone else, it is a pretty accomplished raid style shooter that is well worth a whirl.
You’ll find Invincible: Doc Seismic Attacks playable in Fortnite on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. A download from the Xbox Store should sort you out.
