17th April 2018, 9:27 PM
Well, the gameplay is that of a shooter, sure, but they have a unique format.
- The game starts out with all of the players parachuting or dropping in from the sky. Usually you drop from a flying plane or something which moves on a path across the map. Players scatter out across the huge map depending on where they go.
- Then, you land and start collecting loot. Looting weapons and such is a core part of these games, as you land with no weapons other than your fists and need to find weapons to fight with. They are all over, but you'll need to find them...
- Then after some time passes, probably a few minutes, part of the map is marked off as 'the area to go to'. This usually is done with a large circle on the map. You're given some time to get to the circle, then a wall of "you will be damaged if you are on the wrong side of this" starts heading towards the marked circle.
- After it reaches the edge of this first, large, circle, the game then pauses again, then sets up a new smaller circle somewhere inside the first one. You have some time to get to it, but less than the previous circle. Also the damage from being outside of the circle increases as the game goes on.
- In solo play, any player which dies is out, you get no second chances. In team games you can be downed, and teammates can heal you if you manage to stay downed. Shooting downed players some more will kill them for good. Unless rezzed by an ally, downed players slowly lose health until they die for real.
- The circle continues to get steadily smaller until there is a single winning player or team. By the eighth or ninth circles the area is so small that someone is sure to win.
And then, win or lose, you go back to a menu where you can play again. You get rewards of some kind from the game, but can't keep any of the stuff you collected, that needs to be done every game. These games all have microtransaction systems as well, for stuff for your characters to wear and the like. PUBG has random loot boxes. These don't give you loot during games though, only new stuff to wear to make your characters look different.
As for maps, PUBG currently has three maps, while Fortnite's free Battle Royale mode and Radical Heights each have one map. PUBG's first two maps are quite large, while the third is smaller, more like Fortnite's map size. Radical Heights' map is probably similar in size to that as well.
The games are compelling to watch, as the tension of always being at a risk of dying in a game like this where you can't just respawn makes all of that looting and exploration feel much tenser than it would be in a more 'normal' game. They can also be fun to play, though skill, or, sadly, cheating -- and these games, PUBG especially, have a LOT of cheaters -- are highly rewarded, so the better (or the more you cheat) you are at the game the more fun it probably will be.
Still, they're interesting and a quite different take on the shooter. For actual play, as far as multiplayer shooters go, I like classic Unreal Tourament-like fast-paced arena games the most, I guess, though sadly few people play those games these days. Splatoon is also really awesome. Battle Royale games are interesting too, but for me maybe more to watch than play... still, they're worth a try for sure.
- The game starts out with all of the players parachuting or dropping in from the sky. Usually you drop from a flying plane or something which moves on a path across the map. Players scatter out across the huge map depending on where they go.
- Then, you land and start collecting loot. Looting weapons and such is a core part of these games, as you land with no weapons other than your fists and need to find weapons to fight with. They are all over, but you'll need to find them...
- Then after some time passes, probably a few minutes, part of the map is marked off as 'the area to go to'. This usually is done with a large circle on the map. You're given some time to get to the circle, then a wall of "you will be damaged if you are on the wrong side of this" starts heading towards the marked circle.
- After it reaches the edge of this first, large, circle, the game then pauses again, then sets up a new smaller circle somewhere inside the first one. You have some time to get to it, but less than the previous circle. Also the damage from being outside of the circle increases as the game goes on.
- In solo play, any player which dies is out, you get no second chances. In team games you can be downed, and teammates can heal you if you manage to stay downed. Shooting downed players some more will kill them for good. Unless rezzed by an ally, downed players slowly lose health until they die for real.
- The circle continues to get steadily smaller until there is a single winning player or team. By the eighth or ninth circles the area is so small that someone is sure to win.
And then, win or lose, you go back to a menu where you can play again. You get rewards of some kind from the game, but can't keep any of the stuff you collected, that needs to be done every game. These games all have microtransaction systems as well, for stuff for your characters to wear and the like. PUBG has random loot boxes. These don't give you loot during games though, only new stuff to wear to make your characters look different.
As for maps, PUBG currently has three maps, while Fortnite's free Battle Royale mode and Radical Heights each have one map. PUBG's first two maps are quite large, while the third is smaller, more like Fortnite's map size. Radical Heights' map is probably similar in size to that as well.
The games are compelling to watch, as the tension of always being at a risk of dying in a game like this where you can't just respawn makes all of that looting and exploration feel much tenser than it would be in a more 'normal' game. They can also be fun to play, though skill, or, sadly, cheating -- and these games, PUBG especially, have a LOT of cheaters -- are highly rewarded, so the better (or the more you cheat) you are at the game the more fun it probably will be.
Still, they're interesting and a quite different take on the shooter. For actual play, as far as multiplayer shooters go, I like classic Unreal Tourament-like fast-paced arena games the most, I guess, though sadly few people play those games these days. Splatoon is also really awesome. Battle Royale games are interesting too, but for me maybe more to watch than play... still, they're worth a try for sure.