The advertising campaign of the mobile shooter PUBG: NEW STATE promised us almost a new word in the battle royale genre. However, in reality, everything turned out to be much more prosaic, and the expected revelations did not happen. However, this does not mean that the game has nothing to offer the sophisticated gamer. All the details are in our review.
- Developer: PUBG Corporation
- Publisher: Krafton
- Release date: November 11, 2023
PUBG: NEW STATE is a familiar battle royale, only from 2051, with technologies accompanying the era: they are not far from modernity, but still provide the participants with a pair of futuristic gadgets.
So, electric cars are now placed on the map: fast and quiet, with a spacious trunk (you can drop extra loot there) and the ability to sit behind an open door like a mobile shelter. You can also ride a high-speed electric bike, and if you do not want to steer yourself, you should use public transport: autonomous trams run on the map, which will quickly deliver a soldier to the neighboring area. Considering that they are armored, you can use them as mobile firing points.
In the arsenal of the player, there was also a place for new products. First, some of the weapons from PUBG Mobile have gotten updated, futuristic versions of themselves. Secondly, now you can use such devices as, for example, a portable shield, which is installed even in an open field, providing its owner with shelter.
Also, players have the opportunity to call drones with supplies: for a certain amount, he will deliver anything – although I did not need to, because loot in PUBG: NEW STATE literally wallows underfoot. In addition, the drone unmasks the player, but, on the other hand, allows you to ambush rivals hunting for valuable equipment.
The latter, by the way, are periodically replaced by bots – to help newcomers get used to the game world, as well as to supplement the match if, for some reason, there are not enough participants in it. You can really get your hands on bots, but they also relax: getting used to the fact that AI dummies do not cause problems, when meeting a real player, you risk making the mistake of mistaking him for a bot.
What’s missing in PUBG: NEW STATE – at least for now – is cheaters. It seems that the developers did not deceive, claiming that they had invested significant resources in improving the anti-cheat: over the course of dozens of matches I was not able to catch my opponents in an unfair game, unlike the same PUBG: MOBILE, where sometimes it was not clear where it came from, fighting my character from the first hit. Everything seems to be fine in the new game, but for how long is an open question.
Since the NEW STATE action takes place in the future, the appearance of the cards has changed somewhat. Now players are greeted by Troy and Erangel, and new battlegrounds will be added later. The authors reworked the locations: some parts were “aged”, others were removed or replaced with new ones, so PUBG veterans will have to get used to the changes.
We figured out the innovations, but how is PUBG: NEW STATE played? Yes, in general, just like the previous game in the series, and like any shooter in the battle royale genre. Landing from an airplane, searching for equipment, battles with other players. For those who like to play as a team, there are squad modes, including a furious team deathmatch on a compact map. There is also a switch between first and third person views.
The authors have complicated the interface and control: although it can be customized (and there are even options for using four-finger controls), the UI feels overloaded, inconvenient. Often I happened to shoot when trying to rotate the camera, and some of the icons turned out to be very small and I had to carefully try in order to hit them with my finger.
The game does not support connecting gamepads, as the developers strive to put all users on a level playing field. The initiative is commendable, but I lacked the ability to connect a controller to a smartphone: you can easily adapt to touch controls, but the gamepad is still more familiar. Hopefully Krafton will consider dividing players by input device so that alternative controllers can compete against each other.
In promoting PUBG: NEW STATE, game makers promised a new level of graphics based on rendering technologies used in PC games. Perhaps in the future the picture will improve, but now, playing on realme GT with maximum graphics settings, I do not notice any significant improvements in comparison with PUBG Mobile. Yes, here and there textures have appeared more honorable, and the locations have become overgrown with details, but the feeling of a sequel, which NEW STATE is positioning itself to be, does not arise. But the game works smoothly, with a high frame rate, and I could not find any serious bugs.
The novelty is distributed free of charge, and therefore is monetized through microtransactions, and in their worst manifestation – in the form of loot boxes, which do not guarantee the drop of all items from the set. To collect all the contents of, for example, the Halloween bundle, you will have to buy two or three boxes at best. Fortunately, their contents only affect the appearance of characters and weapons, so loot boxes can be dispensed with.
PUBG: NEW STATE does not seem to be a breakthrough in the genre, and pleases, rather, with small additions than major changes. However, this is only the beginning of her journey, and in the future, according to the assurances of the developers, the shooter will acquire new story content, add new maps and expand with new features. It’s a good, solid battle royale right now for mobile, but don’t expect anything more from it.
