When the match starts, you are forced out of a plane. Once you’ve landed, your first thought is of what loot to grab. From there on out, there is only one mission: Be the last one alive. This is the player experience of PlayerUnknown’s “Battlegrounds,” otherwise known as PUBG, in a nutshell. 

PUBG was created by Bluehole Studios Inc. for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. It is available on Steam, in stores and the Xbox store for $30. The game is a more tactical, realistic approach to your typical shooter game. PUBG is currently the second best-selling game on PC with 24 million copies sold, and it is the fourth best-selling Xbox One video game with 2 million copies sold. The popularity in the style of the game has inspired other games to use the battle royale game mode, such as “Fortnite.”

It’s “The Hunger Games” with guns, a different beginning and instead of 24 contenders, there are 100. Instead of the famed dash of death to obtain the best weapons and ensuing onslaught that soon follows, the game has players scattered out from the beginning only to shove them back together by decreasing the area in which you can play. If you are outside of this play area, you will suffer damage until your demise. This forces interactions between players as the area will decrease until there is one player remaining.

There are many ways to play PUBG, and that’s what makes it great. Everyone will approach scenarios in the game differently. Some may hunt for others, and some will hide. Some will conserve what they have, and some will go all out. Every match feels different with a new set of challenges. In one match, your main issue may be not having enough gear, while in the next match your problem will be with reaching the play area in time. Also, with the ability to play on a team with your friends, greater gameplay diversity is added.

It is relatively easy to survive since you can hide from others. You may get a high rank in the match this way, but in my opinion, you won’t have as much fun. So, to spice things up, I like to be mobile and hunt others. This forces you to get better at the game, which increases your chances of getting a higher rank, and it makes things more fun. Another way to enjoy the game more would be to play with friends, as having someone else there who will help you gives you a sense of intensity and teamwork. It’s also especially fun to go against other teams of people since they require more strategy to oppose and are harder to take down than a single player.

Overall, the game is fun if you want it to be. Play the way you want, but I strongly encourage other play styles and variety in how you play. It has a few bugs and texture issues, but that will be fixed in time. Despite its few problems, the game is fun and very enjoyable to mess around in. Grab some friends, a frying pan, jump out of a plane and enjoy PlayerUnknown’s “Battlegrounds.”