
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (2017-) "The OG Battle Royale."
First, the positive news. I would argue that PUBG has some of the most realistic audio design and audio environment for any FPS. Moreover, the shooting mechanics is very realistic with bullet drop mechanics, recoil etc. The games are very intensive at their best and adrenaline rushes through your body when you act the role of aggressor. For a casual gamer the smarter choice is to just hide away inside the ever tightening circle to avoid any contac, because this game is very ruthless. From an old school FPS player's perspective that's a definite plus side, because the higher the skill-gap of a game is, the more interesting is the metagame, too.
In all honesty the game has developed a lot since the beta stages when the game crashed 30% of the time when starting the game, you fell through the map 10% of the time, got stuck 10% of the time, self-exploded to red zone or by hitting solid objects with your vehicles. Still, the engine feels a bit clumsy and that is a feature that isn’t going to get fixed anytime soon. Also, the servers still suffer from early round lagging which is incredible considering that the game was sold in large amounts in early access and it’s now over a year old.
They have made the engine a lot smoother, but some work remains to be done if they want to compete with, for example Black Ops 4. However, the maps in PUBG are awesome, and very versatile. Just last night I was playing Miramar and the sheer size of the map is mind-boggling. It’s like the entire GTA V map and many locations are unique.
Overall, PUBG is for the former CS:GO players who lost faith in the father of online FPS and/or enjoy the Battle Royale concept more, want serious, real physics based FPS gaming, and don't mind the still occasionally haunting server and connection issues.
PUBG is really not for the casuals. It used to be more casual, but as more battle royale games are being released, increasingly it's starting to suffer from what “killed” H1Z1, that is the fact that skill gaps grow too much.
To end this article, I'd like to summarize the Top Three Typical Game Scenarios For Casual Gamers in PUBG:
1. Drop in a populated area, wonder why you are always later than others, find two pistols, two shotguns and get killed.
2. Drop in a desolate area, loot for 15 minutes, get decent gear, fall into a false sense of security, get shot out of nowhere with a Kar98 headshot or encounter someone camping in a random building and lose the 1v1.
3. Dodge bullets and other players to reach the center of the area with low level gear, hide in the center (buildings, bushes) until inevitable death and Top 10 placement. Wonder how some people can win the game, fall asleep while dreaming of a chicken dinner and start playing Fortnite.
TL;DR
+ Excellent sound design
+ Superb map design
+ Still one of the only real First Person Battle Royales, excellent shooting mechanics
- Not the best choice for casual Battle Royale gaming, large skill gaps
- Their engine is bug-heavy and seems to feed on lag
- I think they have disappointed their community, and I think the recent improvements are too little too late