PUBG Mobile is now available for download in the App Store. Does that work, such a large Battle Royale game on a smartphone screen? Read it in our PUBG Mobile review.
PUBG Mobile review
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG for short) is a phenomenon. First the game exploded on the PC, later a version for game console Xbox One was released and now you can simply play the full game on your smartphone.
Initially, this smartphone version was only available in China. With competitor Fortnite moving to smartphones with a beta version on iOS, the makers behind PUBG have made the game available worldwide.
This is Battle Royale
In PUBG you jump out of a plane over an island together with 99 other players. When you land, you need to find weapons and armor to defend yourself as quickly as possible. The playing field is being made smaller and smaller, so that you will meet other players anyway. The goal is to be last. Then you get ‘Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!’ in the picture and the whole story starts again.
Battle Royale games such as PUBG are interesting because every game is completely different. Since there are so many other players who each have their own strategy and react differently to situations, you never know what’s going to happen. One game you lie still in the grass for minutes, while the other time you race across the island in a jeep.
If you’re just starting out, you’re likely to die from a bullet that seems to come out of nowhere, but taking advantage of your surroundings and looking around will get you better at avoiding them.
But how does that work on a smartphone?
PUBG Mobile plays the same as on the PC and Xbox One. To achieve this, a number of adjustments have been made. The most obvious is the controls. The screen has a lot of buttons for squatting, lying down, reloading and shooting, for example. You get used to that pretty quickly. If you play shooters on iOS more often, you probably don’t know any better.
The biggest problem we had is that we regularly hit the shoot button when looking around, giving away our location to the players in our area. You won’t be bothered by this on a smartphone with a larger screen.
There are also smart solutions to make playing on your smartphone easier. For example running. With your finger on the left side of the screen, a virtual stick appears to walk and run. If you slide your finger a little further, your character will continue to run and you no longer have to touch the screen. You look around by placing your finger on an eye and dragging it.
Mainly it looten has been made easier. You no longer have to select each item separately. You automatically pick up the items you need, such as a weapon, helmet or better backpack. Attachments, such as a scope for your rifle, are also set up automatically. If you come across other weapons or attachments later, you can exchange them manually.
Priegelen, but excellent
PUBG is really fiddling with a smartphone. You can’t see enemies as well as you can on a big screen, and aiming a weapon with your finger isn’t nearly as precise as with a mouse. So PUBG Mobile isn’t the ideal way to experience PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, but it still works amazingly well. We can enjoy a game of PUBG on our smartphone almost as much as we do on the PC. That’s because the game is simply great and fun.
PUBG Mobile shows how far we’ve come with smartphone games. From simple games to such an enormously extensive Battle Royale game, in which you walk around a huge island with a hundred players. We really live in the future.
Free?
PUBG Mobile is free to play, but of course its creators do have ways to make money. This is mainly done through lootcrates containing items. Fortunately, these items are always cosmetic. So you cannot buy an advantage in this game that will make you better, but just look more fun.
You can download the app for free in the App Store via the link below. When starting up, the game looks at the hardware of your smartphone and determines how beautiful the environments will be. Please note: your smartphone can get quite warm and your battery drains quickly. However, it is more than worth it.
→ Download PUBG Mobile from the App Store (free)
More games
Every month we choose the five best new games from the App Store. Check out February’s best iOS games. At the end of this month we will pick another five and PUBG Mobile will undoubtedly be one of them. Curious about the rest? Sign up for our newsletter or download the iPhoned app.