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PUBG: New State

PUBG: New State

In the year 2051, everything looks the same and everybody has super-weird haircuts...

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Of course, nobody even dreamt that PUBG would become one of the most popular multiplayer titles of all time, when amateur modder Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene created his first mod for Arma II a number of years ago. But just like the creation of Minecraft and Counter-Strike, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was born out of a man's passion and enthusiasm, and the rest is, as we usually say - history.

PUBG: New State

Today, PUBG is played by millions of gamers, and Greene as well as the current owners, PUBG Corporation, have made billions on dollars in pure profits from selling cosmetic mumbo jumbo such as skins and silly hats. PUBG: New State is not an expansion, not an update but a brand new game based on an idea to bring the Battle Royale genre into the future. It was released last week for Android and iOS (it's a mobile exclusive) and has been marketed as the next big step in the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds world. The New State battles take place on the new map Troi and the year is 2051. The world is in some kind of anarchist battlefield and in the middle of all this, 100 murderous maniacs with bad hair and weird pants jump head first from an airplane to fight over who is left standing when the smoke has cleared.

PUBG: New State
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New State works just like the old game. In fact, it feels identical to PUBG Mobile. The interface is the same, and the layout and the map differ little from what it looks like in the original. I have a real problem with seeing what constitutes the "futuristic" feel here, because the buildings, the vehicles, the weapons, the terrain and the characters look just like they always did. And this confuses me quite a bit at first, not least considering that the developers showed Blade Runner / Robocop-like graphics as marketing material before the game released. False advertising? Not far from it.

PUBG: New State

The only thing that feels different is that there is a kind of moving safehouse on the map that you can jump into, if you have time and skill, and then ride around and shoot opponents from behind safe glass who are feverishly squatting around in the grass fighting for their lives. In terms of gameplay, everything works exactly like PUBG Mobile.

Developer Krafton had the chance to take a page of out the Call of Duty Mobile-book, whose system for aiming and firing far surpasses everything PUBG Mobile and Fortnite (mobile) offer, but unfortunately they missed a chance to do so. My iPhone 13 Pro Max screen is infested with graphics, icons, text and information and wherever I press, I manage to activate or pick up shit that I do not need. This is a shame, and it happens even after about 30 matches played, including several overall victories.

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PUBG: New State

Minus that point, the game mechanics are okay. Like the original, New State is not a dumb-down, detached mini version of the PC game, but contains all the features that are in the other versions and it must of course be applauded - in some regards. Graphically, nothing has happened since the last time I tried PUBG Mobile, which a couple of years later makes this a pretty ugly game, especially considering the scope and budget that Krafton had to play with here.

PUBG: New State

As I said, I had hoped for something much more dystopian in terms of design and clearly more polished graphics with nicer lighting - from a technical standpoint. However, it is functional, loads quickly and of course also works on older mobiles and tablets. Basically, though, New State feels like a new map, nothing more. This feels like a little tiny mini-upgrade to the basic game that you could easily have just thrown into PUBG Mobile rather than creating a completely new game. It's fun, still, but considering how superior Call of Duty Mobile is here, both structurally, mechanically and graphically - it can only be felt that PUBG missed a chance to catch up.

06 Gamereactor UK
6 / 10
+
Battle Royale is still fun, solid foundation, loads of weapons.
-
Feels old, almost nothing new, the future-scenario is non-existent, clumsy controls, ugly.
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

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PUBG: New State

REVIEW. Written by Petter Hegevall

In the year 2051, everything looks the same and everybody has super-weird haircuts...



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