Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG Mobile for mobile, somehow manages to bring the acclaimed battle royale shooter directly to mobile. When playing PUBG on PC, it is hard to imagine how on earth the developers could port such a large-scale, twitch-reflex reliant game to the limited confines of a mobile device.
Surprisingly, the port is exceptionally decent. Considering the entirety of actions taken in the PC version is reliant on mouse and keyboard, it was an understandable challenge to incorporate everything possible onto the limited phone UI.
The different actions are divided between the left and right side of the screen. On the left, you control the movement and fire controls, as well as your backup inventory, whereas on the right your aiming controls, as well as all crouching and jumping.
The impressive nature of the combination of UI elements aside, there are always going to be a few problems.[sc name=”quote” text=”The impressive nature of the combination of UI elements aside, there are always going to be a few problems.”]
The primary problem with the visual interface is the fact that the control to fire your weapon is located both on the left and right side. The reason for this is so that you can fire your weapon both when controlling your movement with the left side of the screen, but also when aiming with the right side.
This means that there is double the buttons to fire your weapon, so the chances of you accidentally firing when you don’t mean to is doubled.
This can cause you to reveal your position far before you might mean to, due to you shooting a tree randomly.
Despite this UI issue – one inherent to many PC ports such as these – the gameplay is, as it is in PUBG on the PC, fantastic.
The main differences with regard to gameplay are primarily to do with how you control your character. When gathering loot, instead of pressing a particular button and manually clicking each item in turn to add to your inventory, you will auto pick up anything that you lack, including medical supplies and ammunition for your current weapon.
Alongside that, you will automatically pick up weapons to fill your inventory slots if they are empty, as well as the weapon attachments. This gets rid of a great deal of clutter and unnecessary screen tapping, instead allowing you to focus wholly on the experience of murdering everyone around you.[sc name=”quote” text=”This gets rid of a great deal of clutter and unnecessary screen tapping, instead allowing you to focus wholly on the experience of murdering everyone around you.”]
Besides the functionality and UI differences, this is a near-exact port of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds. The core mechanics of a battle royale simulator are the same, the specific weapon stats and loot drop rates the same, as well as almost the entire graphical terrain.
The only real differences in that capacity is the lower draw distance and the fact that enemy bodies will gently glimmer with a green light to let you know where they are.
PUBG Mobile is one of the few instances wherein a mobile port of a famous PC game works flawlessly – the gameplay is preserved exactly, the graphics don’t suffer much and the UI isn’t unwieldy to deal with.
Assuming you love PUBG – and who doesn’t? – PUBG Mobile is simply the same game, but portable.
[review pros=”Exactly the same great gameplay as the PC version. The design team has done a great job combining the UI onto a mobile screen.” cons=”You will find yourself firing accidentally quite a lot. The gameplay is extremely repetitive.” score=9]
[appbox appstore id1330123889]
[appbox googleplay com.tencent.ig]
