Pubg lite review

Pubg lite review

 

PUBG MOBILE LITE review: Play it only if you can't run PUBG Mobile your phone 

PUBG MOBILE LITE is one of the finest attempts to make a true battle royale game more accessible to the masses. With limited gameplay options and basic graphics though, it makes the main game more accessible

Hacces

• PUBG MOBILE LITE is finally available in India for low-end smartphones.
• The game only weighs 400MB and runs on phones with at least 2GB RAM.
• The game is essentially a watered down version of PUBG MOBILE with optimised graphics and gameplay.

If I had asked you over the last one year which game do you love playing the most on mobiles, the obvious answer from a majority would have been PUBG MOBILE. And it's easy to see why - it looks like a game ported from the consoles, plays like a game from the consoles, and unlike other conventional console games, it is absolutely free to download. And the best part is that you could play it on a phone that could start from as low as Rs 12,000. These traits made it a dominant title on the mobile platform. Was there anything wrong with it? No.

However, PUBG MOBILE did create a want in the market and everybody wanted to play - even those who had cheap low-end phones. The PUBG MOBILE team responded and announced PUBG MOBILE LITE. Meant to be an optimized version of the game for low-end devices, PUBG MOBILE LITE has now been released in India and it promises a lot of things on paper (or rather on the Play Store).

The game claims to offer the authentic PUBG experience on phone with 2GB RAM and that got me wondering - how? PUBG MOBILE is a benchmark and the only way to optimise the experience would be to tone down the graphics and throw out most of the features that make PUBG the game we know. Excited, I tried out PUBG MOBILE LITE on the Motorola One Vision (yeah, that's the lowest-end phone I had lying around).

PUBG MOBILE LITE looks like earliest versions of PUBG MOBILE in lowest graphics

I have always maintained that PUBG MOBILE raised the bar of game graphics on the mobile platform. When it first came out, it made gamers like me go mad about its GTA-style graphics. Over the course of time, the graphics have only gotten better. And that makes it hard to be satisfied with what you get from PUBG MOBILE LITE.

To be honest, PUBG MOBILE LITE doesn't look as good as the main game. It seems as if someone whitewashed the graphics and textures before releasing it. The ground cover looks bland whereas the textures on walls, houses, vehicles, trees, rivers and grass are simply simple. After playing PUBG MOBILE, it isn't enjoyable. The awesome weather effects from the main game are also absent here.

However, once we consider that this meant for a phone with 2GB RAM, the graphics start to make sense. PUBG MOBILE LITE with its low-resolution textures works wonderfully fast. Move around the camera even in the most crowded places and the game never drops frames. The graphics are just bare basics - all you need to get the PUBG experience.

Erangel is the only map available at the moment and despite featuring whitewashed graphics and textures, it is still an interesting place to hunt down enemies. The optimization has stripped this map of its vibrancy and at times, it becomes boring. Nonetheless, the fact that you can play it on a Rs 6,000 smartphone makes this a compromise you can (and should) live with.

It feels like PUBG MOBILE but not quite the authentic experience

Part of PUBG MOBILE's appeal, apart from the graphics, is the gameplay physics. The PUBG team impressed the world with its console-like physics - you had to worry about gun recoil and the direction of air affecting your shot while sniping on a rooftop - this is like crazy for a mobile game by today's standards. Sadly, PUBG MOBILE LITE tones down that experience as part of the optimization.

You still get the same 'last man standing' gameplay you expect from PUBG. To keep the game running smoothly, some of the most detailed actions have been eradicated to reduce the load on resources. Hence, the game skips features like gun recoil, effects of wind on bullets and other minor details. Even the special effects such as the blood splattering, body language of the characters have been diluted to keep the stress on the resources low.

Is that all bad? Absolutely not if you are interested in an easier PUBG session. With some of the complex parameters gone, PUBG MOBILE LITE is an easy point-and-shoot game that you can play. Jump from the roof, a point at the enemy and shoot him on his head and move on to the next guy - this is what PUBG MOBILE LITE is. You get all usual PUBG MOBILE movements such as crouch, run and lie down on the ground. Do note that lying in the grass for hiding doesn't make you invisible from others.

Weapons are available in plenty around the map but the ammunition is sparse. I often found myself running out of ammo and had to dash to the nearest building to get a refill. This is also magnified by the fact that the game requires the player to shoot more bullets in order to kill an enemy - this is done to give the prey a standing chance to flee. I got to see the popular machine guns and rifles but the variety is quite restricted compared to the main game.

You can also use vehicles to move around and this is where it feels similar to the main game. You can use the usual array of Erangel vehicles, including the safe but slow UAZ and the faster buggy to move around and mow down enemies.

The biggest change though is the reduced number of players in the map. Instead of 99, you get to play with 100 other players. This makes it interesting as there are lesser players to hunt and you get done with the game faster even in the Classic match mode.

Conclusion

There's no doubt that PUBG MOBILE LITE is a great third-person online shooter with lots of features to stay engaged. Given that you can play this on a Redmi 7A or Realme C2 easily makes this game a great time pass. If you have played PUBG MOBILE, you could feel that the lite version misses out on a lot of signature PUBG features. Plus, at the moment, you only get to play in Erangel.

Look at this way - had we not seen PUBG MOBILE last year, this would have been a terrific game to play. And it is quite good if you have a cheap low-end phone. The game is certainly enjoyable as an online shooter and since it only weighs a total of 400MB, I suggest you should try it out once. If you already play PUBG MOBILE on your phone, you can skip this.

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