PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

PUBG is so good. It looks bad on a normal PlayStation 4 and playing with a controller is not the best way to enjoy PUBG, but a year later this is still a very strong game.

PUBG arrives of PlayStation 4 with the best console version avaliable, but the same control issues.

In the face of quicker, louder rivals, PUBG offers a slow and meditative experience. It’s not, I would imagine, unlike sitting in a deer blind waiting for an unlucky whitetail to pass below. While PUBG’s technical issues are ever-present, they rarely spoil this core experience. This is a buggy game, but they aren’t game breaking bugs.

The game that started it all is now on PS4 with a very solid version that allows us to enjoy its excellent gameplay. It could be a little bit more polished on the graphical side, but overall works very well.

The game offers a great experience with an intense concept. The input mapping is hard to handle at first but offers, with a controller, everything you can do with keyboard and mouse. Sadly, the game suffers from technical issues, especially clipping and framerate capping.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds manages to differentiate itself from its battle royale progeny with its more tactical spin on the formula, even with its obvious lack of presentational prowess. While its grounded approach can be brutal at first, if you take the time to immerse yourself in its stress inducing battles, you’ll find yourself involved in epic engagements that will have you sharing your successes – and failures – with anyone willing to listen. It may not be the king anymore, but PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds still more than deserves a place at the top table.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a game many consider as the catalyst for skyrocketing battle royale from a fun mod to a full on genre. They've had a slow start to catch up to rivals but after spending significant time with the PS4 release, they're on the right track.

Despite some technical issues, PUBG is still one of the best battle royale games out there. This console version is not as polished as the PC original, and controls need some "training", but is is fun and delivers some epic moments.

It may be late and it may not be the best looking game of the year, but PUGB is still an enjoyable battle royale, that enriches the PS4 catalogue.

While PUBG is struggling against the recent competition of Fortnite and Black Ops 4’s Blackout, it still offers up a different challenge on a huge map that relies more on simple gameplay mechanics than gimmicks (no one needs to dance that much). While the latter Battle Royale games are certainly more improved and up to date when compared to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, PUBG is still a solid Battle Royale experience on the PlayStation 4 with room to grow, especially graphically.

Tense battle for survival that suffers from technical shortcomings compared to the PC version.

If you can overlook the mediocre graphics and unintuitive controls, you'll find PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to be quite the pleasant experience on PS4. Battle Royale at its finest.

Compared to the Xbox One version, however, does not suffer from the same problems that have afflicted the debut on console, in December last year. In this sense, the fan base of the PlayStation players was able to benefit from the expertise and the improvements gained during these months.

Though ironically beaten to the punch by the likes of H1Z1 and Call of Duty, and tarnished by a handful of shortcomings, PUBG nonetheless remains a commendably inventive and expansive shooter that deftly embodies the Battle Royale genre.

The temperature of the gameplay dropped – not only thanks to the new winter map. The technical side of the game has always been its Achilles’ heel and the standard PS4 version reminds of it quite brutally. [03/2019, p.81]

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds airdrops onto PlayStation 4 as a technically messy port, but its brand of tense and tactical battle royale gameplay remains addictive as ever.

There is a whole generation of PS4 owners who are probably way too deep into Fortnite, with that game being their first exposure to the genre. While I wouldn’t count myself amongst them, I cannot imagine that any of those people would choose this $30 experience, with little promise to grow and improve, over triple-A titles that have since leapfrogged over PUBG.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on the PlayStation 4 is a port of a bad version of a great concept.

Quotation forthcoming.

A no-thrills PlayStation 4 port that has most of what you’d want from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds but in a much uglier, watered down package.

While PUBG delivers the core gameplay of the battle royale genre, it doesn't manage to do it with the sophistication of competing battle royale games on the PS4. It looks and plays like an alpha build of a game that's focusing on getting the basics worked out without worrying about optimization or graphical polish. It's also a threadbare offering, giving you a single game mode while games like Black Ops 4 and Battlefield V give you a whole lot more game modes beyond their battle royale modes. PUBG may have come first to the genre on other platforms, but its PS4 debut feels like a game that the world has long ago passed by.

In a time where Battle Royale is all the craze, raking in all that money and not bothering to try to keep up with your competition seems like a stupid idea. Considering PUBG creators sued Epic Games over Fortnite over plagiarism, it becomes pretty apparent that the suit wasn’t over losing money, but out of spite that someone else was making a better version of your game. Instead of paying legal fees, maybe pay a programmer to outdo your competition and beat them by being better, not by throwing a legal tantrum.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on PS4 is a great game, ruined by technical shortcomings and bad controls. The first can be fixed, but the second is tough to improve.

All of this is not to say that PUBG on PS4 isn’t fun, as it’s definitely a serviceable experience for Battle Royale aficionados who want a more strategic and deliberately paced alternative to competitors like Fortnite and Black Ops 4‘s Blackout. Unfortunately, though, there are still a host of problems that PUBG Corp. needs to address so as to justify the PlayStation 4 port’s $30 price tag.

It is easy to be frustrated by the overall state of the PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds PlayStation 4 port. The texture pop-in is ridiculous and the gameplay still has so many rough edges. But there is a certain charm to PUBG‘s gameplay that keeps players coming back for more.

There's fun to be had as a social experience, and PUBG is certainly better than the sum of its many subpar parts, but the resources earned through the record-breaking success of PUBG have not translated into a game that holds up in the current climate of high-end shooters, and we can only hope that if major updates (or a sequel of sorts) are on the way, that PUBG's success supports a triple-A experience instead of a frustrating one that looks and feels dated.

Even though it was the gaming phenomenon that boosted the "Battle Royale" genre, PUBG today feels dated and behind its competition. Especially when you consider the strides that other games on this genre have achieved.