PUBG

I've been playing video games for nearly three decades. My favorite type of games are action shooters that are in first or third person like Halo, Unreal Tournament, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, etc. Over the past few years a new style of these types of games started to pop up, Battle Royal. A battle royal game takes survival, exploration and scavenging and combines those with last man standing game play.  Playerunknown's Battlegrounds or PUBG drops you (you jump out of a plane and parachute down), along with up to 99 other players, onto a single map which then slowly restricts the playing field until only one player remains.

PUBG is not the first of its kind, but its rise in popularity put it at the forefront. Another popular game, Fortnite, has surpassed it in both popularity and revenue due to its free to play feature. Not to be outdone, PUBG launched the mobile version of the game that is also free to download and play. After seeing many tweets about it, I decided to give it a shot and I've been hooked ever since. I started playing in April and haven't had a day where I didn't get at least two or three games in. I don't think I'm particularly good at it but I have a lot of top 10 finishes and a handful of wins.

What I like most about the game is that I can play anytime, anywhere. Most of my plays come at night after everyone else has gone to bed but not having to be home in front of a TV every time I want to play is a huge plus. It also doesn't cost me anything because as I mentioned, it's free. I don't need to buy a game system or subscribe to an online gaming service like Xbox Live or Playstation Network. I also don't need to buy a new computer, even though you don't need a great system to run the game our laptops are basically paperweights at this point. So since the only investment is my time, this game has been a great way for me to get my fix of multiplayer online gaming.

In PUBG you can play in three different modes: solo, duo, and squad. I'm particular to solo but have had the most success, when it comes to wins, playing with a squad. When playing solo, everything is on you and you have to be on your toes at all times or you're one sniper shot away from being eliminated. With squad you have back up, assuming at least one of your teammates sticks with you. You can even be revived if knock out but not yet killed by other players. It's also easier to secure a good camping spot like a building on the side of a hill. As fun as all of that is, being able to get a win all by yourself, at least to me, is just a bit more satisfying.

There are now two maps in the mobile version and while I'm not going to go into super detail about each one, they are drastically different. They're so different that it almost feels like a different game to some degree. The first map, Erangel, is an island map that's surrounded by water with a few rivers that run throughout it. There are forests, mountains, and plains across the maps and all sorts of buildings that provide lots of cover and places to camp. The second map, Miramar, is a desert map with some water along the south and east boundaries. Now when I say desert map, it is truly a desert, almost everything is tan or brown. Nearly all of the buildings are destroyed in some way so they rarely offer much cover and are very difficult to secure. Sniping and urban assaults are much more prevalent in Miramar compared to Erangel.

Like any other shooting game, the more you play the more you become familiar with the map and how each weapon works. In both maps, I have my favorite spots and tend to stick with the same types of weapons, assuming I can find them. I prefer to have one rifle with a decent scope and then a shotgun as my back up for clearing buildings. There are also melee weapons but it's very rare to get a kill with one because you'd literally be bringing a knife to a gun fight, so yeah. The grenades and other explosives come in really hand when you find someone camping but don't want to engage in a firefight with just yet.

Customizing your game play experience is key to a great shooting gaming. Different types of clothing are found throughout the map to change your appearance. As you complete missions like join three games or travel 2000 meters in a vehicle, you'll earn points to open crates that will give you permanent pieces of clothing. Depending on the map, you'll want to address accordingly. On top of your clothes, you can add armor in the form of a bullet proof vest and helmet, both come in three different protection levels. Those can only be added during the game.

Overall, PUBG is a great little game that is hard to beat for many reasons. I hope that it continues to grow and get updated with new weapons, maps, and whatever else they can come up with. For somebody with little free time and isn't interested in investing money into a gaming system, PUBG is perfect. If you want to add me to your friends list so we can play together, my handle is DJISOM. Hope to see you in my sight soon.