With Call of Duty Mobile recently launching for iOS and Android devices, the game has drawn comparisons to other mobile shooters on the market. Playerunknown's Battlegrounds Mobile and Fortnite are currently dominant in the free-to-play online shooter category on phones and tablets. So how does the latest take on translating the storied Call of Duty franchise hold up compared to these established players?
Call of Duty Mobile has been both popular and fairly well regarded in its first couple of weeks. The Game Rant review of CoD Mobile was mainly positive, calling the game "a pretty great mobile FPS that will no doubt please fans of the franchise." But the game was not without some issues. Now the question is are those issues that PUBG Mobile and Fortnite on mobile fix? Which experience is best for gamers who want a shooter (FPS, third person, battle royale, or otherwise) on their phones?
Playability
Each of these games is extremely popular in terms of playability, with PUBG Mobile raking in $1 billion in revenue, especially for mobile shooters. Fortnite has the obvious disadvantage of being the core game, but paired down for mobile controls. It still plays well though and has great UI compared to the other two options. PUBG has a lot going on. It is the most complicated game of the three to try and be translated to mobile and while the work they've done to simplify the game for phones is good, CoD Mobile improves upon these mechanics.
Bringing Call of Duty to phones is no easy task and while Call of Duty Mobile doesn't feel as snappy as the latest Modern Warfare, the game makes it easy and quick to aim and shoot. The focus of the game is not entirely on Battle Royale either, and frankly modes like Team Deathmatch translate better for quick sessions.
Winner: CoD Mobile
Match Quality
In this regard, CoD Mobile and PUBG Mobile have the same issue. Both games are full of bots, especially in the early progression, which can mean when players download and start playing it may be two to three hours until they encounter another real human. The especially insidious aspect of this is how both games don't communicate that players are loading into bot matches. This creates artificial confidence with players, encouraging them to stick with the game longer than they may have.
Fortnite does not have bots. Thanks to cross platform play between all versions of the game, Fornite has a larger player base than its competitors and doesn't need to inflate player counts. There are enough players at all skill levels across every version of the game to keep matches relatively fair. The battle royale will soon add bots, so it is hard to say if this will have the same detrimental affect as in the other two games.
Winner: Fortnite
Progression
A good progression system could make or break a shooter. It could make up for shooting that isn't quite top notch and while playing a shooter on a phone that is especially important. Both PUBG and Fortnite have leveling and loot that keep players engaged — and Fortnite has its Battle Pass — but this category has a clear winner.
Call of Duty has always shined in this area, and CoD Mobile is no exception. It goes above and beyond in this category, perfectly replicating the console games and including perks, classes, weapon leveling, and killstreaks. Call of Duty Mobile is by far the best mobile shooter on the market in this category.
Winner: CoD Mobile
Crossplay Functionality
As was previously mentioned, a major plus for Fortnite is the ability to play with friends that own any version of the free game. All versions of the game are compatible with one another. And for the sake of this comparison, the biggest plus here is that Android and iOS Fortnite players can play together, a feature that PUBG Mobile also offers. As of right now, it doesn't appear that Call of Duty Mobile even has iOS and Android crossplay.
Winner: Fortnite
Controller Support
Controller support is not essential for a mobile game, and spoilers most of them don't support it, but is worth bringing up after CoD Mobile dropped controller support at launch. This functionality was promised and added for launch, but soon removed for the sake of fairness which certainly burned some fans. It'll likely be added back to the game soon, but for now, it doesn't appear in the game. In January of this year, Fortnite added the ability for players to connect any bluetooth gamepad to play the game. It makes the most sense that Epic would do this to level the playing field for mobile players competing against the PC and console users.
Winner: Fortnite
... And The Winner Is
While Call of Duty Mobile gives Fortnite a run for its money by focusing on more simple game modes and having a killer progression system, the most popular game in the world still take the W here. Fortnite has the distinct advantage of just being Fornite, but on phones. Crossplay functionality and a distinct lack of bots makes Fortnite the best mobile shooter.
Call of Duty Mobile is out now for iOS and Android mobile devices.