PUBG Arrives on Xbox Today, But You Shouldn’t Buy it (Yet)
Screenshot is from the PC version of the game
After much fanfare, one of the best selling games of the year has finally arrived on the Xbox One. PlayerUnknown’s Battleground is here, in preview I should add, and it will set you back $30 to jump into the fight.
I have been playing PUBG on the PC for several months and I love this game. When I learned that it would be coming to the Xbox, I was extremely excited as it means that my favorite game would be on my favorite console…a perfect pair.
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Sadly, if you are thinking about buying this game for the Xbox One, don’t. While I don’t have an Xbox One X, I do have an S and it’s nearly unplayable. The early reviews said the framerate would stabilize once you get into the game but the initial loading and flying into the island feels like 5 FPS and running around in any congested area results in dropped frames.
Once you are on the ground, textures do not always load until you are on top of them which is an issue for finding a gun as you may not see if from the opposite side of a building. And then there are the controls, they are clunky.
To reload your weapon, you have to long-press X, this should be a tap. To open a door, you tap X which means if you are standing near a door and try to reload, you are rolling the dice if you get more ammo or if the door is going to open.
And then there is aiming, unlike every other FPS where you have to hold the left trigger to ADS (aim down sights), in PUBG, you tap the trigger and it stays in the ADS position until you tap it again. Further, there is no aim-assist on the console which makes long distance rifle shots nearly impossible and close quarters combat feel clunky as you are spraying and praying. I know not everyone will want aim-assist but controllers lack the precision of a mouse and keyboard and it really shows in this game why that technology is needed.
At the end of the day, this is an early release of the game and I’m still optimistic about its future on the console. That being said, you will likely want to wait a bit for before diving in as the version available today is not providing a quality gaming experience.
Conversation 9 comments
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Stooks
<p>On my Ryzen 1800X, 32gigs of RAM, Samsung 960 EVO, and Zotac 1080GTX it maxes out at around 60fps at 1080p with ultra settings. Same PC and Battlefield 1, 130+FPS on ultra at 1080p (144hz monitor Asus monitor). Not only is the performance double but the graphics are 10x better if not more.</p><p><br></p><p>PUBG on the PC is a complete bug fest. The graphics even on ultra look dated. I have to try and open door's multiple times because of lag. There have been countless updates on the PC and still runs like kraaape most of the time. </p><p><br></p><p>It is not surprise at all that it runs worse on the Xbox. A big fat PASS!</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>