There’s a new trend in video games: take the hottest properties on the planet, port them to mobile, and make them free to play. This strategy is less for the U.S. market, and more for untapped gaming markets like China, where consoles have struggled to gain a foothold against the overwhelmingly popular smartphone gaming segment. In just the last few weeks, we’ve seen "PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds" launch on iOS and Android, a mobile port of "Ark: Survival Evolved" being announced, and perhaps most significantly, a surprise soft launch of "Fortnite" on iOS.

Epic is promising that this version of "Fortnite" is the real-deal, supposedly feature-complete and just as massive as its console cousin. Is that really the case? In some ways, absolutely.

"Fortnite" on iOS boasts the same map, weapons, and player count as its console and PC counterparts, and even supports cross-play between various versions. Impressively, the graphics are also very, very comparable. Sure, the draw distance isn’t as great, there’s aliasing on the edges of objects, and things look a little less sharp across the board, but it’s a mind-blowing achievement that the game is able to run on mobile phones at all, let alone at this fidelity. Performance-wise, things hold up very nicely. The game consistently runs at a solid frame rate and I’ve only encountered a few instances of stutter -- usually when loading large areas like "Tilted Towers." Thankfully it doesn’t affect the game in an adverse way.

Elsewhere, Epic made a few smart changes to make up for mobile gaming shortcomings. Doors open automatically instead of requiring a button press, and golden chests and player footsteps are represented on-screen visually, just in case you’re not using headphones or playing in a noisy space. Both changes alter the game in subtle ways, especially when it comes to placing traps behind auto-opening doors, but they’re not so radical as to require different strategies.

So, how does the game actually play? Well, I’ve never played a shooter on a touch screen that felt natural, and "Fortnite" on iOS is no exception. The controls are laid out with one virtual thumbstick on each side of the screen. Dedicated buttons for crouching, aiming down sights, and jumping are displayed on the right. Tapping anywhere on the lower right-hand portion of the screen will fire your equipped weapon. The problem is that, to fire the weapon, one of your thumbs needs to come off the screen, which means it’s only possible to strafe or alter your aim— not both at once. It can feel cumbersome, especially during moments of intense action.

There’s just no getting around the fact that the virtual controls are far, far less precise than on a controller. Subtle movements, like strafing up a stairwell, are hard to execute effectively. More often than not, I found myself getting hung up on edges of structures

Why not just use one of the many, many Made for iPhone (MFI) controllers on the market? Unfortunately, the game lacks any controller support at the moment, though Epic promises this much-requested feature is coming “later.” Bummer.

I don’t expect "Fortnite" mobile will ever be my default, go-to platform. I’d much rather play on PC or console, as would the vast majority of "Fornite" fans. However, as an addition to the core experience, it’s wonderful. Once controller support is added, Fortnite on iOS will become the most fully featured Battle Royale experience on smartphones.