The hottest game of 2017 is now on Xbox One through the Xbox
Game Preview program. Yes, now you too can play Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds
just like the cool PC gaming kids. What’s it like? How does it perform? Should
you play it? Find answers to all of these questions and more in our full PUBG
on Xbox One impressions.What Is PUBG?
Just as a quick reminder of what Playerunknown’s
Battlegrounds is, it is a free-for-all deathmatch where 100 human players are
dropped onto an island and have to fight it out until only one player or team
remains. You drop onto the island with no weapon or armor or items and have to
scrounge through houses and other buildings to find them. The island is huge,
too, so there are lots of places to go, things to find, and even vehicles to
drive around. At certain intervals the play area shrinks and players have to
move into an increasingly smaller circle to stay alive. There are solo, duo,
and 4-player team modes available.
Early Access
First off, PUBG on Xbox One is in early access / the Xbox
Game Preview program. This means it is not a polished finished product. It is
glitchy and buggy and janky and can (and does) have problems. You are paying
$30 for early access to essentially help play test the game. When it is
finished, you already own it. If you are not comfortable paying money for an
unfinished product, that’s fine, but don’t, as so many ignorant people have
been doing on message boards lately, complain that it isn’t finished and you
shouldn’t have to pay money for it. This is how early access is supposed to
work.
Already in the first month on Xbox One, PUBG has seen
several patches and updates to improve it. Framerate performance has improved,
graphical pop-in has improved, and even overall visual quality has improved.
Little touches like making your player dot on the map yellow instead of white
have also been implemented to make it easier to play. The game is, without a
doubt, better today than it was when it launched and as the team is able to
impelement more user feedback and updates and fixes, PUBG will continue to
improve. Again, this is how early access is supposed to work.
B-b-but I Heard That ...
Most of the coverage of PUBG on Xbox One so far has been
split between folks playing it and having a decent enough time, and other folks
that want to nitpick and tear it down for not having perfect performance. You
see the term “unplayable” thrown around a lot, mostly from people that haven’t
actually played it and more than likely have an agenda against Xbox. They don’t
want the game to be a success on a platform they don’t prefer, you see, so they
are putting their efforts into a FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) campaign to
spread misinformation about it. I know it isn’t really kosher to criticize
other folks’ criticism, but I have to call it like I see it.
Performance
The truth is that PUBG on Xbox One is OK at this point. It
does have framerate issues, tons of glitches, wonky controls, semi-ugly
graphics, and is a bit of a janky mess, but so is the PC version, if we’re
being honest. Framerate in particular has been a touchy subject, but on Xbox
One it starts choppy in the pre-game lobby and while 100 players are jumping
out of the plane, but as the game plays out and the player count drops, it
greatly improves. I don’t really think it’s a problem now and it should only improve
as the game gets updated. I should also point out that I’m playing on a launch
day 2013 standard Xbox One, too, and I think it’s fine. Don’t expect silky
smooth 60 FPS (or even 30FPS) and you won’t be disappointed. It’s unstable, but
playable. If that’s a deal breaker, well, PUBG might not be the game for you.
My Impressions
As for my personal impressions, I honestly find PUBG’s
success to be kind of weird. I love the concept and find it to be incredibly
intense and fun while you’re sneaking around the huge open world and scrounging
for items. When it comes to actually shooting people you come across, however,
PUBG has bottom tier trash garbage gameplay. Shooting just feels absolutely
awful. Simply moving around and picking up items and reloading your weapons is fairly
awkward and far below the standards set by pretty much every other multiplayer shooter over the
last 20 years. The game is also definitely not a looker and is somewhat ugly,
though with 100 players running around I can understand why it isn’t a visual
showpiece.
So how can a game so janky and ugly and mediocre become so
popular? I think, for one thing, the sneaking around and scrounging for items
aspect of the game is a lot of fun and very intense and satisfying. Even though
I suck when it comes to shooting, I keep coming back to the game because
everything up to the shooting part is enjoyable in spite of the flaws. I also
think that as a co-op duo or team game it is exponentially more fun and
satisfying to play. Coordinating with your friends in order to take out other
teams is amazingly fun and absolutely 100 % the recommended way to play.
Playing solo just highlights all of the negatives about the game. Playing in
teams makes the flaws a lot easier to forgive.
Should You Play PUBG on Xbox One?
Should you play PUBG on Xbox One, then? I would say yes, if
you’re into multiplayer shooters already, but there are caveats. You have to
understand that it is early access and the performance won’t be perfect now,
but you also have to understand that it may never be spectacular just judging
on how the PC version still plays to this day. If you couldn’t possibly play a
shooter that isn’t locked at 60 FPS, you’ll need to look elsewhere. I also
highly recommend that you plan to play with teams instead of solo. Teams
absolutely make the experience better.
These are our impressions after the first month or so
of PUBG being available on Xbox One. We’ll continue to update this article if /
when anything meaningful changes.
