PlayerUnknown's BATTLEGROUNDS - Just how good is this disgusting popular battle royal mod gone standalone?

Game Title: PlayerUnknown's BATTLEGROUNDS
Publisher: Bluehole Inc.
Year:  2017
ESRB Rating: M
Platform:  Windows 10 PC - Steam Edition
Genre:  Battle Royale

Fun Factor

As of August 3rd, 2017, the average amount of hours played of Battlegrounds across all 8.9 million owners is 33.7 hours.  Compare this number to a game considered one of the most addicting out there, CS:GO, and you get only 1/4th of total time played on average, clocking in at 8.5 hours per person.  That means Battlegrounds, a game that's been out for less than a year, already has not only about 1/3rd the community as CS:GO, but it also quadruples the total average playtime across all players.  You don't have to be good at math to realize how absolutely mind-blowing this is.

What I'm trying to illustrate here is how ridiculously addicting and stupidly fun PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is, and while this may be the case, why exactly is this game as popular as it is?

Let's explore some of the key components of a typical Battlegrounds game, the first of which being extreme, heart pounding adrenaline.  Just the pure rush of thrill as you skydive from miles above a deserted island littered in weapons is enough to get anyone's body tense.  Even from the very get go, you never know if you're going to have to race against other players in search of weapons and gear.  One moment, you're dragging ammo and a pistol into your inventory as fast as you possibly can and trying to reload before a guy across the room does before you, the next, his buddy bursts through with an AK (how the hell did he even pick one up so quickly?) and you're a bloody mess on the floor.  The game never lets up, whether you're first thing out of the plane, or wandering the fields and forests of the island alone.

Even mid to late game, you're constantly kept on your toes.  Was that gunshot fired from over the hill to the east or from behind me?  Did they see me running across the field with no cover?  Holy shit, is that a guy just standing over there?  (No, it's just another goddamn bush.)  If you're not a paranoid person and you've always wondered what true anxiety and fear feels like, just pick up this game for 20 minutes and I can guarantee you'll never enjoy a moment of silence again.

Aside from the atmosphere of adrenaline the game provides, the amount of "juice" is fantastically balanced.  While there may be 99 other people on the island at any given time, the whole map is large enough that you often find yourself in complete solitude, assuming you didn't drop with anyone else.  This sense of lonesomeness not only increases the aforementioned paranoia you'll often face, but it drastically raises the satisfaction whenever you score a kill.

I mean, god, there really is no other way of describing the pure, unadulterated hit of straight dopamine you get when you mini-uzi down an unsuspecting guy entering a building he was sure hasn't been looted yet (which is why you always close doors!).

I could go on for hours talking of all the aspects I love about PUBG, but that means less time grinding for those chicken dinners!

Learning Curve

While incredibly fun and rewarding of an experience, PUBG is also one of the most punishing gaming instances I have played through.  If you're a newcomer to Battlegrounds, do not think for a moment you're going to get a load of kills right off the bat, even less so win the game on your first go! (I recently heard somewhere that you are more likely to be struck by lightning twice than to win your first game of PUBG).

The learning curve for this game is steep.  Every game, you are matched against up to 99 other players who almost always have played more than you, but assuming the odds are equal amongst all players, that's still a 1 in 100 shot at winning.

Currently, I have played 90 hours of the game over the course of this past summer, and I have won a total of 2 solo games, 2 duo games, and 1 squad game (though to be honest, I was carried like a suitcase for that squad game).  Assuming each game averages about 15 minutes each, accounting for all the times I've gotten to the top 10 and all the times I was one of the first 10 killed,  that is about a 1.2% win rate, only slightly above the if-everyone-was-equal-and-there-was-no-luck-or-skill-in-this-game 1% win percentage.

So why exactly is this game so difficult to win at?  Well, first let's try to establish a definition for what a "win" in this game can really mean.  Some, including myself, would entertain the idea that while getting a few kills and making top 20 or so isn't necessarily "winning" the game, it definitely feels nice and you can leave happy, if a bit frustrated.  Even to achieve our definition of a "win" in PUBG is somewhat of a feat, especially if you are new to the game, as there are many factors one must take into account in order to even have a chance at success.

On the skill side of things, one of the most important things to affect the outcome of your efforts is knowing where to drop.  Do you take the risk and drop in an area where you know high level loot spawns and taunt fate against the chance of getting murdered on scene by the numerous others that had the same idea, or do you take the safe route of going to a couple secluded houses in the distance away from the initial fly path of the plane, compromising your chance at good loot for a more secure feeling of safety?  This must be considered right as the plane begins flying over the map, and you must hope that it flies over a part of the island you are familiar enough with to be confident in your decision.

Continuing on the skill side, one of the largest contributing factors to your success is your combat tactics.  Do you rush in, guns blazing, or do you creep quietly in the underbrush, waiting for your chance to pounce once your prey has turned their backs?  Neither method of attack (or defense) is really any better than the other, as the situation you are put in calls for different strategies.  Applying these strategies in the proper manner is crucial to the outcome of the encounter.

Of course, there are other determining factors like your aim, your knowledge of bullet drop for a certain gun at a certain distance, and general positioning as you run towards the circle or engage in a firefight.

Skill won't get you all the way to where you want to get in this game, though, as luck and RNG is a huge part of shaping the outcome of a game.  Even if you have the perfect spot to drop down to a key, the game can either be generous and give you full level 3 gear and a fully stocked M4 and Kar98, or you can be stuck with a motorcycle helmet and a sickle (not that I'm speaking from experience here or anything).  Sometimes, you'll be fully decked out and get head shot by a guy with an AWM from across the map, and other times, you'll make it to the top 10 using nothing but a pistol and a double barrel shot gun.

The game is brutal, but that only adds to its replayability, and the sincere feeling of accomplishment when you do well.  So yeah, it's hard as hell to learn and even get sorta good at, but boy do the small, sporadic rewards make it worth it.

Graphics

Graphics for PUBG are a bittersweet topic of discussion.  If you can max the game out, the lush forests scattered around the island and swaying fields reflecting just the right amount of golden sunlight drizzled out after being refracted off the gorgeous, dynamic skybox is other worldly, and needs to be experienced first hand.  But that's IF you can run it at max settings.

Currently, running an i5-4690k overclocked to 4.3ghz, 16GB RAM, and a brand new GTX 1080, I can only run PUBG on medium to high settings on a widescreen 1080p monitor at a relatively solid 60fps.  The rig that I have set up is nearly some of the best hardware you can get, which means it's far from cheap, and I still can't even max the game out.

The lack of graphical optimization is a huge drawback for Battlegrounds, as many who cannot afford the most expensive gaming setup but still wish to participate in the game cannot do so.  Likewise, those who can hardly run the game on their current rig but who still attempt to play it anyways are at a massive disadvantage, especially in the newly popular first-person only mode, where a high frame rate is needed to make the game playable.

Audio

The audio of PUBG is nothing spectacular, but like all the other aspects of the game, it is key to how you play, and paying close attention to the sounds around you can vastly influence the outcome of a fight.


First off, the ambient noise of Battlegrounds is pretty standard, just some humming and a few chirps here and there to keep the game from being completely silent during downtime, though I can't say I personally can contribute to how it could improve, if it even needs to be improved at all.

The real important snippets of audio come from the gunshots and their varying tones, the footsteps and their direction, and how both of these are projected in 3D space around your character.  For instance, every single weapon in the game has a relatively unique sound when it matters, allowing you to easily differentiate between a Kar98 and an AWM, two very powerful snipers, from a long distance.  Whether you're on the attack or the defense, you must take gunfire and it's booming sound into account.  Sure, you could blow that guy laying the grass away with a single headshot, but the circle is getting smaller, and you'd risk comprising your position, as well as revealing that someone has a sniper.  This is where silencers come in handy.  While they don't completely mask your position, they disrupt the 3D emission of the sound, making the source of the gunshot far more difficult to locate, as well as decreasing the range that the sound travels.

On a similar note, footsteps of both your enemies and your own doing are an essential aspect of Battlegrounds.  Footsteps allow you to know the general location of your enemy far before you see them, giving you time to set up a position with a good view of entrances and solid cover prior to your enemy even knowing that someone else is around them.  More often than not, the element of surprise can almost always guarantee a kill, just so long as you don't aim like a drunk toddler missing a few fingers.

More experienced players will use surrounding sounds or distractions based entirely around the premise of sound in order to create the opportunity for an assault on a keen, though confused enemy.  Some examples of this can be using the supply crate plane flying overhead to move when in the listening radius of a baddie, or having a partner shoot at the building from outside as you sneak up the stairs and flank the enemy from behind.

For those who have played the game before, I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that it is not a rare occurrence to enter a building you were sure hasn't been touched yet  (damn those closed doors) and find yourself face to gun barrel with some naked gun camping in the corner with a SCAR.  Footsteps, my friends, it's all about listening for and concealing footsteps.

Controls

There isn't much to say about the controls for PUBG.  They are pretty standard shooter controls, and work well if the design of the game, considering it is a shooter at its core. WASD for movement, right and left mouse buttons for aiming and firing, M for map, number keys or scroll wheel for weapons, etc. etc.

The only more inventive control scheme is the game's aiming system, borrowed from Arma, the game which first featured PlayerUnknown's revolutionary battle royale game mode.  Whether in third or person, PUBG gives the option to aim either down sights like a traditional shooter, or "third person aim", where the gun steadies at your hip and the reticle appears center screen.

This gives players the options for more precise, long distance shooting, usually associated with the first person aiming down sights mode, while also allowing room to spray at close range with a wider field of view during use of the third person aiming mode.

Characters

PUBG doesn't feature any story driven, or even dialogue driven characters, so I'll use this section to describe the possible loadouts that a player might find themselves choosing between in a typical match.  Weapons and different forms of equipment combinations change how different players may fight one another, giving an almost "character-like" feel to those with varying gear.

The most common combination, if you are so blessed as to have such luck, if one that most players strive for.  This goal combination of weapons is a sniper of some sort for long range alongside an assault rifle for close range.  Due to the rarity of snipers, most people are able to settle for a scoped assault rifle and either an SMG or shotgun for close range and clearing out buildings, depending on the preference of the player.  Personally, I can't hit my first shot for the life of me, and half of my mag is usually used as a guide to line up the other half in hopes of a hit, so shotguns are the equivalent of battle royale suicide for me.

Due to these different combinations of weapons, sorts of "characters" start to evolve with the play style of each participant.  You often have the guy in the ghillie suit with all level 3 gear and an AWM picking off everyone running to the next zone, but in the very same game, you'll have a guy whose made it to top 20 using nothing but an uzi and a pistol, and while he is very confident at close range in a building, he will often hide in the brush when exposed in an open field.

And that's what's so interesting about PUBG: while there are no defined characters, the RNG allows for play styles to convert players into their own unique character each game, giving a fresh flavor to most encounters, even after playing the game for nearly 100 hours.

Level Design

The level design of Battlegrounds is massive, to say the least.  Currently, there is only one map to play on, but after 90 hours in the game, I still can't say I've explored all of it.  Now, that is only partially due to the fact that the map is so large, but mainly due to the fact that only a few parts of the map are worth going to, even less ever in the flight path of the plane in the beginning.

I can honestly say I'm disappointed in the way that the flight pattern of the initial plane ride is lacking deeply in variation.  For how many different ways you can fly over this island, the flight path rarely strays from an intersection through the middle of the map.  While this enables players to have a chance to reach at least a few of the higher loot spawn areas, some of the smaller areas are neglected and rarely ever explored.  Due to high level loot ONLY being able to spawn in certain areas, there really isn't any reason to explore behind areas that you are familiar and more comfortable with.

Thankfully, PUBG begins to redeem itself with the circle mechanic that is implemented.  Every few minutes, a random circle generates on the island, and you have a certain amount of time to reach this circle before a deadly force field begins closing around you.  Stay in this force field for too long and it means certain death.  While it is possible to run from the force field, it is very difficult to outrun it if you do not have a bit of a head start.

With the addition of the most stressful circle in all of gaming history, players are forced together not only to duke it out until only one remains, but also are forced to explore uncharted areas they could not have predicted prior to the game starting, causing a constant sense of unease and uncertainty for each game played.

Changes

There are a couple obvious changes that most people would suggest, even if they have little experience with the game.  Though some of these suggestions can be, and usually are, adapted to after getting a foothold in the game, these changes could allow for newer players to better pick up the game, and more veteran players to better master the improved mechanics.

The first two suggestions are based purely on movement, and the clunky feeling it has.  This is more so an issue with the third person mode rather than the first person one, but the characters seem to have somewhat of an odd acceleration when they move, and carry their momentum with them even when you intend for the character to stop.  While this can be frustrating at first, you do eventually get used to it.  However, it still remains that the mechanic takes some getting used to, something that game developers should strive to avoid, as the fun factor of a game and the frustration level is often determined by how intuitive it is to control, and how in power the player feels while doing simple actions with their character, such as basic movement.

The other recommendation in the movement category is already promised to be implemented in an update eventuallyTM, but no one is quite sure when that might be anyhow.  For god's sake, please, add a goddamn vaulting system already.  There are so many low walls that you should be able to step over, but instead you need to do some weird running crouch-jump bullshit, which isn't too bad when you're all alone, but when you're chasing someone down or being chased yourself and it ends up getting you killed, it becomes extremely frustrating.  Thankfully, the eventual update promises not only a well deserved vault system, but also the ability to jump out windows, which I personally am very excited to try out.

Moving away from the movement of PUBG, the weapon variety and priorities of certain weapons by the development team need to be changed.  So far, every new weapon introduced into the game besides one (which was an uncommon pistol that has no purpose after the first 5 minutes of the game anyways) has been a crate only weapon.

So that means that all the really cool new snipers or bull-pup rifles or whatever else they have added thus far could only be found in crates, usually being rare in the crates which themselves are rare, giving the weapons a sort of artificial super rarity to them.  The entire purpose of adding new weapons is to generate a continued interest in the game, but when you make them so rare that most players will never even get to lay their eyes on them, it may as well be a fruitless effort.  If the development team insists and the constant addition of new guns to the game, at least make it more viable an option for more players to experience this addition.


While we are at it, why the hell are they focusing so much on new content being added over optimization?  I get it, they need to keep the game fresh and keep it alive, but for all those players out there who can hardly run the game (which is a good majority, mind you), they don't give a damn about new features if they can hardly play the game as it is.  In my opinion, Bluehole should focus on being able to simulate their game as efficiently and as lightweight as they possibly can before shifting what seems to be their primary objective on adding new weapons or maps.

Sure, LOD's take a while to create and set up properly, I've done it myself a few times, but I've also taken the time to add entire new weapons to my games as well, a time consuming process too.

Recommendation

With the issues and perfections the game exhibits in all, PUBG is a bit of a mess in some areas such as optimization and development team focus on content, but it is also one hell of a fun and addicting game.  I'd be lying if I told you I didn't love this game to pieces, and I'd be cruel not to recommend the same heart pulsing, palm sweating, frantic breathing experiences Battlegrounds has given me to others all the same.

It's still being developed, but even in its current state, PUBG is one of the most fun, energizing, and punishing games out on the market right now.