PUBG: Battlegrounds

Introduction

Playerunkown's Battlegrounds is an online 100 player battle royal survival game. It is developed by a new collaboration between Bluehole Studio a South Korean developer best known for their free to play MMO by the name Tera released back in 2011, and Brendon Greene more commonly known by his modder name: Playerunkown. He was responsible for several battle royal style mods for DayZ, ARMA 3 and H1Z1: King of the kill. This time around its standalone and built from scratch. Battlegrounds is what Greene believes is the “final version” of the battle royal concept. At the moment Battlegrounds is in early access which might be seen as something negative. Games such as these are often plagued with endless early access periods that never seem to reach full potential ending with countless broken promises. Greene has said that hes not planning for Battlegrounds to remain in early access for very long. Though there is no set date, the team seem to be working very hard as they have been bringing out weekly updates since the games early access launch on steam.

Story

Battlegrounds doesn’t deliver much in the way of story. Its a battle royal game. You are along with 99 other players dropped out of a plane over a large island where your only goal is to remain the last one standing. Why do you find yourself in this situation? Who knows, and who really cares, this is not the reason people are being drawn to this title. The game play itself is what makes this game so enjoyable.

Game play

At the moment there are three game modes, with plans to add more such as hardcore modes or first person only. The current options include single player, coop and squad. You either go in alone, with a friend or a group of friends, no matter your choice the objective remains the same. Become the last man standing. When you start a game you are thrown into a waiting area as the game waits for players to load in. Once enough players have connected a 60 second timer starts. Once the timer runs out all players are thrown into a plane which will take a randomized path across the island. I would advise anyone wanting to conserve their hearing to turn of voice chat. Listening to 100 players screaming and shouting at each other in an enclosed space is not the best way to start a round. After making your choice of when to exit the plane your first task is to find yourself some method of defending yourself. A wide variety of weapons, armor and consumables are scattered throughout the buildings across the island. Depending on your luck you could end up fighting armed to the teeth with assault rifles and bulletproof vests, or just as easily be left to fend for yourself with a motorcycle helmet and a frying pan. This allows for a new experience every time you play.

As the round progresses the playable area of the map is constricted in intervals, killing anyone left out of the marked safe zone on the map with an electric field that slowly creeps towards the edge of the safe zone. The game does a good job of informing you where the safe zone is, when it will change and where you are in relation to the zone and the electric field. Even so I keep finding myself getting caught outside the safe zone due to my greed. “Just one more house!” I tell myself and then proceed to run for my life as the electric field catches up with me. There is also something called a red zone. Which if you’re familiar with battle royal you know you don’t want to get caught in one of these. It moves around the map bombing the area its in, which if your caught outside chances are you wont survive. It adds some fun dynamics to the game, however I noticed some significant performance hits when looking in the direction of the explosions.

The gun play itself feels overall pretty good. I feel like things are hitting where I aim and that there is some weight to the weapons. Hit-boxes seem to be working pretty well, though sometimes I find myself having some trouble when shooting around corners indoors. You can choose to play the game in first person or third person with the ability to switch between them on the fly. I tended to remain in third person as it gave better situational awareness, though first person was often useful in close quarters. Depending on the amount of armor a player has and the weapon you are using, it usually only takes a couple of shots to bring a player down. There are no bullet sponges here. And with the promise of a hardcore mode, anyone who feels players still take to many hits can still enjoy the game.

Graphics/Audio

The look of the game is a fairly standard Arma/H1Z1 inspired look. The island the game takes place on draws likeness to Chernarus, the eastern themed map in Arma 2. There is nothing that really stands out in form of any graphical achievements, but it gets the job done. The sound design is however worth mentioning. One of the things that this game does really well is the sound of gunshots in the distance. As well as serve as an excellent indicator for where the action is taking place, it helps create an eerie atmosphere. Listening to the gun shots getting closer and wondering if you will be next really gets your heart going.

Conclusion

In conclusion there is nothing new here. This is a battle royal game and is pretty much the same as the previous mods. The difference here is that the game works. As it is no longer restricted to the engines and mechanics of the base games, the game feels smoother and less clunky than some of the previous iterations. It has ways to go, but it definitely has potential. Even though its more of the same I still had a great time playing this game. It is so easy to jump into, combining the realism aspects of Arma with a more arcade feel from H1Z1 giving it the perfect balance. You don’t have to make the same commitment as you would in a DayZ game. A round often takes no more than 30 minutes and is filled with intense moments. I often notice my heart rate shooting through the roof as I sneak across a house waiting for a player to jump out at me, while listening to his footsteps on the floor above. These are the moments that keep bringing me back, making me hit that big yellow button in the corner of the screen to launch another round. Maybe this time I will survive! If you enjoy battle royal inspired games, I recommend you check out Battlegrounds.

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