PUBG

 PUBG is a real-time, multiplayer, combat/adventure game that takes place on an island. Each gamer controls one soldier, who at the beginning of a match is armed only with their bare hands. There are several unique island maps where each match can take place.
While PUBG has been favorably compared to other mega-popular games, like Fortnite: Battle Royale and Apex Legends, this one has some significant differences. It definitely offers challenges and unique game-play experiences and features not offered by its competition. 

Before each match, you have the opportunity to choose a game-play mode and map. »

« Game-play modes include Solo, Duo, and Squad. There’s also the opportunity to create a Custom match, and then invite other gamers to experience it. By choosing the Custom match option, you’re also able to participate in matches created by other gamers.

 

 After choosing a game-play mode, up to 100 soldiers are transported to the pre-deployment area. 

Everyone then boards an aircraft that’ll take them directly over the island. You’re not given a first-class airline ticket to travel on a luxury airline, however. 

 As soon as the island is reached, each soldier must leap from the aircraft and free fall toward land. A parachute is provided to ensure a safe landing. 

 DECIDE WHERE YOU’RE HEADED BEFORE LANDING 

 While in the pre-deployment area, or while riding in the aircraft, check the island map to view the random route the plane will take as it travels across the island. Use this information to help you choose the best time to leap from the plane and select what you believe is the ideal landing location. 

 Depending on your goals for a particular match, you can allow your soldier to free-fall at a steady pace toward land, and then simply wait for their parachute to deploy automatically. This strategy allows you to use the directional controls to glide through the air and cover a lot of territory across the island before landing, but it’s not the fastest way to reach land. As a result, enemy soldiers could beat you to your desired landing spot and grab a weapon and ammo before you. If this happens, while you’re still unarmed, you could be shot within moments after landing. 

 Getting killed during a match causes your soldier’s immediate removal from that match. As you’ll discover, in addition to getting shot or blown up by an enemy, there are many other ways to perish on the island. It’s your responsibility to avoid all of them. 

 CHOOSE HOW FAST YOU WANT YOUR SOLDIER TO REACH LAND 

 Many gamers opt to use their directional controls during free fall to speed up their soldier’s descent to reach land faster. This helps to ensure that upon landing it’ll be easier to find and grab weapons, ammo, and other useful items, so your soldier can defend themselves against enemies who land nearby. 

 Landing in a popular location on the map virtually guarantees that you’ll encounter enemies almost immediately upon landing. This, of course, makes it harder to stay alive and gives you the added objective to find and grab a weapon quickly. As you’re close to land, you’ll see the parachutes of other nearby soldiers and be able to see where they’re landing. If someone else is landing first, it’s best to stay clear of that area until you’ve secured a weapon and ammo. 

Choosing a more remote, less popular landing location typically means you will not encounter enemies right away. This gives you extra time to explore a bit, gather up an arsenal of weapons, ammo, items, and armor, and devise a plan to stay in the safe areas of the island, based on the location of the safe circle that’s formed by the blue wall. 

 If you want to take your time during free fall after leaping from the plane, and maintain more navigational control while you’re in midair, consider manually deploying your soldier’s parachute anytime during free fall, as opposed to waiting for it to open automatically. The sooner you open the parachute, the more horizonal distance across the island you’ll be able to travel, and the slower your soldier will descend. 

 HAVE A PLAN ONCE YOUR SOLDIER LANDS 

 Upon landing, your first objective is to find cover if there are enemies lurking around who may already be armed. Your second objective is to find and grab at least one weapon (and some compatible ammo) as quickly as possible, since upon landing, your soldier is unarmed and extremely vulnerable. In some cases, you may find armor first (shown on the left). In this case, the soldier discovered a Vest. Grab the armor and put it on for added protection. On the right, notice he’s now wearing the vest. 

 Your best bet for finding a weapon and ammo is to enter into a nearby building or structure. You’re apt to find weapons, ammo, loot items, armor, and/or health/boost-replenishment items lying out in the open, on the ground. 

 More often than not, you’ll find compatible ammo for a weapon lying out in the open, next to a weapon. Be sure to grab the ammo also, and then immediately load the weapon so it’s ready to shoot. Approach an item you want your soldier to grab and use the Pickup button or keyboard key to grab it and add it to your soldier’s inventory. 

Once items are in your soldier’s inventory, select one weapon at a time to use and then organize the inventory from your soldier’s Inventory screen.

There are many types of guns available on the island. Each has a specialty. For example, a Pistol (shown here is the P1911) is an ideal close-range weapon.

When you have your soldier hold their breath and aim, they can steady their shot for additional accuracy. Notice the lungs icon to the right of the soldier’s Health meter. This is the first-person viewing perspective for this weapon. 

This is the normal aim for a Pistol that has no Weapon Attachments connected to it. This is the third-person shooting perspective for this weapon. 

A Shotgun is best suited for close- or mid-range firefights. You can practice using this S12K Shotgun, just as you can every weapon, within PUBG’s Training Mode (shown here). 

 A Sniper Rifle or Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR), for example, is perfect for long-range shooting. 

 Shown here is a VSS Designated Marksman Rifle. On its own, it has a shooting range of 100 meters.

 Any guns you manage to collect, such as this UMP9 Submachine Gun, are worthless without compatible ammunition. After collecting the correct type of ammunition for each gun your soldier is carrying, it’s your responsibility to manually load the weapon and then reload it as needed, to ensure it’s always ready to shoot should you encounter an unexpected enemy.

A gun without compatible ammo is worthless! As you’ll discover from Section 4, “Collect and Manage Your Soldier’s Arsenal,” each gun can hold a predetermined amount of ammo at any given time, and each takes a different amount of time to reload. Running out of ammo during an intense firefight or having to wait too long to reload without having another loaded weapon on hand could easily become a deadly mistake.

If you try shooting an unloaded weapon, or you’ve run out of compatible ammo, a message that says, “There is no ammunition” will be displayed near the bottom-center of the screen (shown here).

 Beyond collecting guns and ammo, through exploration, by killing enemies, and by approaching Supply Drops (shown here), you can collect a vast assortment of Weapon Attachments. These are items that attach to specific types of guns to increase their capabilities, aiming accuracy, bullet capacity, and power. Once you find and collect Weapon Attachments, from the Inventory screen, manually move them, one at a time, from your soldier’s inventory and attach each to a compatible weapon in order to take advantage of it. 

Collecting and attaching the best combination of Weapon Attachments to the guns you have on hand is one of the core strategies that’ll help you achieve more kills during a match and stay alive longer. A Red Dot Sight is an example of a useful Weapon Attachment that makes a compatible weapon easier and faster to accurately aim. 

 After you’ve picked up a Weapon Attachment, access your soldier’s Inventory screen. Initially, the Weapon Attachments you pick up will appear on the left side of the screen, in the column that shows what your soldier is currently holding. Drag a Weapon Attachment icon to the right side of the screen and place it into a box displayed near one of your compatible weapons. Here, the Red Dot Sight has been attached to a UMP9 Submachine Gun. 

 This is the UMP9 with the Red Dot Sight being aimed. If you look closely, you’ll see the red dot in the dead center of the weapon’s crosshair. Point the red dot at your target and pull the trigger to ensure a direct hit. 

 There are also an assortment of other weapons, besides guns, that can be used to distract, injure, confuse, or potentially kill enemies. Various types of grenades are an example of these weapons. Here, a Frag Grenade (an explosive type of grenade) is about to be picked up and added to the soldier’s inventory. As you can see, a message is also displayed stating that in 30 seconds, the blue wall will move and the safe area of the island will soon shrink. This should be a reminder to check the island map to ensure  

 you’re positioned within the safe area. If not, you’d better get moving!