Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) lit the world on fire in 2017. It sold millions before it even left Early Access on Steam, and kicked off the battle royale gaming craze we’re experiencing right now. Not too long ago this FPS juggernaut landed on mobile.
In PUBG you play as a mercenary who parachutes, along with up to 99 other players, onto an island. Once they land, players scavenge for weapons, ammo, armor, and other supplies in a last-man-standing death match. The game’s map starts large, but quickly shrinks as the electrical storm around the island collapses into progressively smaller circles, forcing players together as the game goes on.
It’s a simple concept with tons of room for complexity. You land on an island with 99 other people and only your fists. Find a gun and stay in the circle. Last one standing wins. Is it worth playing? That’s what we aim to find out in this PUBG Mobile review.
Battlegrounds is only as forgiving as its players, which is to say, the meek shall not inherit its earth. Worse, some players have turned to hacks or controversial noninvasive tools and techniques (stream-sniping, modifying the color saturation) that provide a competitive edge. Some headaches, unfortunately, stem from odd design decisions and fixable blemishes. The game’s controls lack the smoothness of modern shooters, collecting items feels unintuitive, ammo and weapon information is obtuse, and high-end graphics actually serve as a disadvantage: Low-end graphics settings remove bushes and other greenery players might use as camouflage.
There’s a case to be made that Battlegrounds is the defining game of 2017, both one of the year’s best games while also being the embodiment of the current video game industry. It’s a brash multiplayer shooter set in an open world, akin superficially to the medium’s best-selling franchises. PUBG’s also an indefinite work in progress, a de facto status it shares with most AAA games with massive teams operating on tight budgets and impossible deadlines.I am not the first person to say Battlegrounds is broken, nor am I the first to say it doesn’t really matter. It’s like when somebody tells you their favorite film is Apocalypse Now, but they can name all its historical inaccuracies, plot holes and production gaffes. Greatness can be, and often is, messy.
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