PUBG Mobile

Pros

• Free to play
• Authentic PUBG experience

Cons

• Only original map available

PUBG Mobile for Windows provides an authentic PUBG PC experience that is free to play.

For those who are new to the battle royale genre, PUBG is short for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. The battle royale concept began as mods for other games, such as Arma 3, and the developer eventually decided to turn it into a fully realized standalone game. PUBG has been an amazing success that gave birth to an entire genre that help launch industry juggernaut Fortnite.

The concept was inspired by Battle Royale, a 2000 Japanese film. The idea was simple: 100 people airdrop onto an island and only one survives. That island has resources that get contested, such as guns, ammunition and even vehicles. A shimmering blue wall surrounds the map and contracts over time, which adds the ticking time bomb element and forces players into battles.

PUBG began life as a PC game. It was eventually ported to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. PUBG Mobile is a combined effort between PUBG Corporation, parent company Bluehole and partner Tencent to bring this video game sensation to Android and iOS devices. The biggest different with the mobile port is that the game is free to play rather than requiring you to buy it as you do on other platforms.

China-based Tencent is the largest video game company in the world. The company is incredibly influential in mobile gaming markets in particular and has been integral to bringing major titles to the mobile space through financing these projects. Tencent develops its own Android emulator, GameLoop, and that program has been invaluable in bringing PUBG Mobile to Windows.

What is most impressive about PUBG Mobile is just how authentic the experience is. Changes, of course, had to be made to make this game work on mobile platforms, but it is not some poor recreation. The developers ported the original game and adjusted it as needed for mobile. If you are an experienced PUBG player, you will feel right at home after a short learning curve to get used to the new UI.

There are some differences, which experienced PUBG players may not like. The user interface has been redesigned to make sense for touchscreens. There are range indicators for squad mates and points of interest, and the plane’s directory is represented by a dotted line. When you walk over guns and ammo, they are automatically collected, and so you have to drop more and risk collecting items again.

Perhaps the biggest difference is that you have access to just one map: the original Russian-inspired Erangel. PC, Xbox and PlayStation players have access to Miramar, Sanhok and Vikendi. One bit of good news is that the Central American-themed Miramar is in testing on Chinese PUBG Mobile, so that may arrive soon. The jungle terrain of Sanhok and the snow-covered Vikendi may be a ways off, however.

Why play PUGB Mobile on PC rather than just PUBG? Well, PUGB Mobile is a F2P game. It costs you nothing to try and see if you like it, and it does deliver a rather authentic PC experience. It does not, however, do enough different to motivate the established PC player to play PUBG Mobile instead. Console performance remains poor, so that may be a reason to give this PUBG version a go.

PUBG Mobile has microtransactions, but so does all versions of the game. These items are all cosmetic and do not provide a competitive advantage. There are regular and special opportunities in all versions to earn cosmetics without paying real money. PUBG Mobile has daily mission that are reminiscent of many other mobile games but never seem particularly offensive or exploitative.

PUBG has always employed a bit of skill-based matchmaking. PUBG Mobile uses a much more aggressive—and perhaps more imperfect—approach to it. The cynic suspects that this is in place to get new players feeling better about themselves and thus spending more. You earn XP and rise in rank. The better you perform, the more you will earn and the faster you will level.

This works well for the most part. But low-level matches often use bots to fill out the lobby, and that makes matches less fun. It can also cause an inexperienced player to rise a bit too fast and get a rude awakening, but it does tend to work itself out reasonably well enough in the end.

Pros

• Free to play
• Authentic PUBG experience

Cons

• Only original map available