PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is well-loved, even in its Early Access stages, for being an intense, tactical and difficult multiplayer experience, and porting a multiplayer game with 100 players per match from PC to console isn’t without its challenges. The Xbox build of PUBG was playable on the show floor at this year’s Gamescom, and there’s a lot to adjust to, and a lot of unanswered questions.
Unsurprisingly, there were performance problems from the very beginning, but nothing remarkably out of the ordinary for PUBG. It's not a very pretty game, and the only noticeable graphical difference on the Xbox build seemed to be a slight change to draw distance, though that didn't seem to hinder gameplay in any negative way. The framerate was consistent and smooth, with developers aiming for, but currently unable to confirm, 60fps. It's still a bland, dull-looking game, but it ran almost as well as the current PC version, and I don’t think console players will be disappointed.
The UI changes do take some getting used to, though. On an Xbox controller, you change weapons by hitting right or left on the D-pad, and change your fire rate by hitting down. It's a simple, though slightly unusual system that takes a little getting used to, but it's also probably the fastest way to let players switch between their long and short-range weapons on console. Reloading is with the Y button, which is also a little odd when so many shooters tend to map it to X (with X instead being used to open/close doors and pick up items). There isn’t currently any option to change button mapping.
Inventory management is well-organized and intuitive, but similarly slowed down by your inability to click and drag weapon modifications and the like. While these slow-downs are surely in the milliseconds, for a game that thrives off of intense moments that require fast response times, I have concerns with how even the slightest delay in swapping weapons might fare for console players. The developers at Bluehole do intend to allow cross-platform play between PC and console, and one option they’re considering to level the playing field is adding in aim-assist on console, which is not in the current build of the game.
Not having aim-assist on the build was almost a relief to me, especially considering a lot of the intensity of PUBG comes from not knowing where other players are. Some moments would be totally ruined by having your weapon guide you there. That said, if cross-platform play is going to be a staple feature (and not just an option, where you may be able to pick Xbox-only servers), the disadvantages have the potential to completely turn those playing on console off of the game. It’s a challenge in every shooter, but I think the importance of speed in PUBG makes it more significant than usual, and Bluehole doesn’t currently have any obvious solutions.
We also don’t have a clear answer on what "console exclusive" means, but it’s possible that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will come to PlayStation 4 after a window of exclusivity to Xbox starting this fall, similar to 2015's Rise of the Tomb Raider. Of course, we’ll update you when we get official confirmation, and, until then, I think the Xbox community is going to love playing PUBG on console, as long as cross-platform play with PC gamers is optional, or balanced with a lot of care.
Alanah Pearce is a writer at IGN, you can find her on Twitter @Charalanahzard.
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