PUBG Mobile got released earlier this week and surprised us by releasing this early. Earlier this year, February to be exact, PUBG Mobile got released in China and reportedly millions of Chinese players have at least booted up the game and played a match of Battlegrounds. On the 20th of March, PUBG Mobile got released in the United States and shortly after the game also came out in other regions like Oceania and Europe. The question is though, is it even fun to play with touchscreen controls and will it offer a similar experience compared to the PC/Xbox One versions? In this article, we’ll find out everything that’s different.

Learning the Game

You may think that learning the game would just be like the PC/Xbox versions, but the developers behind the PUBG Mobile app have actually added some features that make the game an easier experience for everyone.

First off, they made a tutorial showing you all of the controls with an explanation alongside it, even though it’ll be easier to just start up a game and not care about your results.

In your first game, people will appear to be very poorly skilled at the game which may give you a perspective on the game that you shouldn’t have – because they’re actually bots. The developers decided that it won’t be fun to just die constantly with controls that may feel frustrating, so for the first few matches you’ll see bots who’s AI is programmed to loot themselves up and run around waiting to get killed.

Controls on the Left Side of Your Screen

The controls are actually surprisingly good at utilizing the touchscreen, with multiple settings giving you customization and different transparent buttons on the screen for every action possible in the game.

The left side of the screen has a secondary fire button, the virtual thumb stick to move around, and the inventory button. The secondary fire button is there on default but can be removed since not every player will use it. The best reason I can see to use this button is if you like to fire with your left thumb because you’re left-handed.

The virtual thumb stick is actually really responsive and feels like it has been polished by the developers before they released the game. If you hold the thumb stick down and slide your thumb above the actual position where the thumb stick is located, it’ll display a circular sprint button which allows you to activate the automatic sprint (Numlock for PC) so you can use your left thumb for something else and/or allows you to run automatically while looking at your inventory.

The inventory button isn’t very important since there is a lot of automation on the mobile version and other buttons which we’ll go through next.

Controls on the Bottom Centre of Your Screen

It may sound quite odd to have controls on the centre of your screen, but they work surprisingly well!

The first button is on the left side of your health bar, automatically displaying the medical item (Bandage, First Aid Kit, Med Kit, Painkiller or Energy Drink) that’s best used in your scenario. If you tap this button, it’ll display a menu of everything you have and allows you to use those items without accessing your whole inventory with the button on the left side.

The second button is a little less useful, especially because it’s hard to use the first couple of games. You can select a melee weapon or a grenade and acts like the medical button on the left. Be careful though, you can’t cook grenades on the mobile version!

Controls on the Right Side of Your Screen

Now, these are interesting. There are some other buttons that we previously mentioned that perform the same actions but definitely not all of them.

The main button is your fire button. This button can’t be moved or removed and you should really get used to this button since it’s a lot larger and personally, I found it easier to use but that could possibly be because I’m right-handed.

Just on the lower left side of the minimap you'll find the second button which has a pictogram of an eye on it. This button acts as the left-alt key for mobile and should be used often while auto-sprinting.

The third button is a toggleable button which allows you to sprint. If you have it on, it’ll become a shiny yellow color.

The fourth and fifth buttons we're covering are just the crouch and prone buttons which are toggleable and also become a shiny yellow color when they’re active.

Jumping/vaulting/climbing is the sixth button and it will recognize what action you want to perform depending on the terrain in front of you.

Reloading is the seventh button indicated with 3 bullets and a circular arrow.

The eighth button is the last but very certainly not the least, as it is the only button in PUBG Mobile that can let you ADS (aim down sight). There’s no lag when using this button multiple times and just like PUBG on PC, you’ll not be able to run while ADSing.

Looting

Loot spawns remain the same, even though some buildings have fewer walls than their counterparts in other games to make movement easier.

As a tip, I would recommend everyone to just walk over loot when it’s not a weapon on the mobile version because it’ll automatically pick up higher tier gear, the number of medical items that you need, and weapons that are generally better than what you currently have. Attachments will be automatically put on a weapon if the slot is empty but keep in mind that it doesn’t prioritize any attachment over another, meaning that if you think the Compensator is useless on a Kar98k the game won’t change it out for the Suppressor you just found.

When you’re near an airdrop or a death crate from an enemy player, a little extra button will pop up displaying the pictogram of the death crate. It may be hard to find out at first, but this is the only way you can open those two crates.

As a closing note on looting, death crates will have a green light on top of them to make it easier to find your enemies’ loot.

Physics

The physics of PUBG Mobile are very similar to the other two versions, except for the parachutes, vehicles and the airdrop crates.

Parachuting in this game definitely feels unrealistic due to the fact that if you open your parachute you’ll slow down so much that it gives you the impression you’re just floating in the air for 2 seconds. It’s also very hard to go far with these parachutes since they won’t launch you forward at all.

The vehicle physics have been altered in such a way that a buggy can sometimes feel stable but if you swap to another buggy it can just slip out of nowhere. This may be a bug and could be fixed later on. The UAZ already was a stable car but on PUBG Mobile it’s even more stable, not even allowing you to drift in the slightest. The Dacia, motorcycles, jet skis and boats are extremely similar to their PC/Xbox counterparts.

I’ve personally experienced the airdrop crate bug out a couple of times when I drove against the crate and it also feels less pinned on the ground. The strategy of putting your vehicle under the airdrop crate and taking it with you on top of the vehicle will not work on mobile because it’ll fall off very easily. It was a fun try though.

General Differences

PUBG Mobile has a ranking system that may hint to a similar system being put in place for the Xbox and PC variant - at least for now, it has kind of taken the route of a ladder that's similar to the one in League of Legends starting at Bronze V.

It also has a levelling system that'll give you Battle Points to buy more crates and give you "vitality"

When you don't make the use of audio (which is understandable with a mobile game), you should check the minimap as much as possible, since it'll indicate the general direction where the bullets come from. Suppressors will make the direction where the bullet is coming from less obvious, even on the minimap.

The last change that PUBG Mobile has is that it grades your performance just like League of Legends ranging from a B to an SSS grade at the end of your run in every single game.

Concluding

My personal opinion on PUBG Mobile is that on release it’s already a lot better than I had expected, even compared to other mobile games with a concept that’s a lot easier to execute with touchscreen controls. You’ve got to try it out for yourself and I recommend everyone to at least play two games to get a feel for it because the first game may feel a little bit wonky. You don’t have to splash money against it in any way, shape or form since it’s free and the items in-game can’t be bought or traded.