EA and DICE have revealed all 11 locations that will serve as maps in Star Wars Battlefront II's Galactic Assault mode at launch. This includes some we've already seen, like Naboo, as well as some newly revealed ones, such as Mos Eisley.
The companies teased the maps earlier this week, providing the number of letters and spaces in each one's names and allowing fans to make predictions. As previously announced, Battlefront II includes content from multiple eras, and not just a single one of the film trilogies. In a tweet today, EA shared the full list, which hits many of the most iconic locations from the full series, including the classics: the second Death Star, Endor, and Hoth. Here's the full list:
Naboo
Kamino
Kashyyyk
Endor
Death Star II
Hoth
Mos Eisley
Yavin IV
Jakku
Takodana
Starkiller Base
These maps will all be playable in Galactic Assault, the 40-player mode that features vehicles and hero units. This is the mode we saw featured at E3, when EA showcased a match on Theed in Naboo where Separatist droids storm a palace that Republic clone troopers try to defend.
It may have seemed like an unusual premise at first, but Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is proving to be a critical and commercial success. The Ubisoft game is now Nintendo Switch's top-selling non-Nintendo title, according to sales numbers from the NPD Group and Chart-Track GFK and reported by Eurogamer.
While Nintendo titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2 have continued to dominate the sales charts, other third-party games like Super Bomberman R have sold well. Still, Mario + Rabbids has already topped the list since its release at the end of August. Eurogamer also reports Nintendo has picked up the game for publishing in Japan and South Korea.
Back in early September, sales data from Australia and New Zealand showed Mario + Rabbids was the top-selling game across all platforms in the two countries during its launch week. The game was the second most-purchased game across all platforms during the same week in the UK.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a strategy game with its roots in XCOM-style, turn-based combat. You pick a squad of characters (including Super Mario staples and Mario-ified versions of Ubisoft's Rabbids) and face off against a bunch of enemy Rabbids. It also has a local co-op mode, where you team up with a friend and each control a squad of two.
The game has been a favorite among critics. In his Mario + Rabbids review, GameSpot's Edmond Tran said it "triumphs in creating a magical game world that is undeniably delightful." For anyone just picking up the game, check out our feature on the 13 things we wish we knew before starting Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle.
EA's FIFA 18 is still a week away from release, but critics have already begun offering their thoughts on the new soccer game. FIFA 18 doesn't differ radically from last year's installment, but EA has made some notable tweaks to the gameplay that make the game an improvement over its predecessor. In GameSpot's FIFA 18 review, critic Oscar Dayus said the game's "on-pitch improvements represent the beginnings of a recovery for the series," though it is "still lagging far behind PES 2018's more fluid, satisfying football."
Other reviews and impressions have begun appearing online as well, and most seem to agree that FIFA 18 is yet another worthwhile entry in the long-running sports franchise. You can find a sample of reviews and reviews-in-progress below; for a wider look at what critics think of the game, be sure to check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic.
"It's off the pitch that EA excels. From the variety of game modes on offer and how everything's presented, to the constant updates in FUT's Team of the Week, Daily Objectives, and discussion of real-world happenings in commentary, FIFA 18 captures the world of football and confidently translates it into a video game. On the pitch, however, EA's soccer series is still lagging far behind PES 2018's more fluid, satisfying football. This year's improvements are welcome, but more needs to be done in the coming years if FIFA is to be a world-beater once again." -- Oscar Dayus " style="word-wrap: break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #6DC6DD;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;">Full review]
IGN -- Review-in-Progress
"Ultimately, FIFA 18 introduces enough new ideas to suggest it's not sitting on the laurels of its success. However, it's a simplified experience, one that fails to embrace the complexity of football at the highest level. Its focus on attack makes for spectacular matches, but they often feel like extravagant offensive training sessions than a proper match with depth and strategy." -- John Robertson " style="word-wrap: break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #6DC6DD;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;">Full review-in-progress]
US Gamer -- 4/5
"This series hasn't changed much over the years, and it's certainly not as dynamic and ambitious as it was back in the days of the Xbox 360. But the foundation EA built back in 2010 has held up remarkably well over the years. And with FIFA 18, it goes back to its strengths a little bit after a year that frankly wasn't that much fun to play." -- Kat Bailey " style="word-wrap: break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #6DC6DD;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;">Full review]
GamesRadar+ -- Review-in-Progress
"There's more punch to shooting from distance, more intent on crosses (with genuine whip added to the ball--my favourite of all the new changes), and players are sharper when it comes to breaking onto loose balls or throwing themselves at shots." -- Ben Wilson " style="word-wrap: break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #6DC6DD;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;">Full review-in-progress]
The Telegraph -- Review-in-Progress
"FIFA 18 is a significantly better football game than its predecessor. I was rather fond of FIFA 17, but despite the engine overhaul it was still beholden to some of FIFA's more long-standing issues. Animations taking too long to unfold and delaying your move; wrestling to control unresponsive players; a lack of individuality from player to player. FIFA 18 has addressed these issues quietly but confidently, like a successful team signing a full-back under the radar because the previous one kept picking up daft bookings." -- " style="word-wrap: break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #6DC6DD;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;">Full review-in-progress]
Digital Trends -- 4/5
"FIFA 18 relies a little too much on back-patting and the illusion of choice during its story mode, but it's still remarkable how well Electronic Arts managed to tell the tale of Alex Hunter and his family. The soccer on the field more than backs up the writing, with rewarding gameplay that can entertain even those who normally hate the sport. Just make sure that you carve out plenty of time and say farewell to your family members for the foreseeable future, because you're going to need all the extra time you can get." -- Gabe Gurwin " style="word-wrap: break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #6DC6DD;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;">Full review]
Picking up a copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection is no longer the only way to a handful of Halo games on Xbox One. Microsoft has added four more games to the backwards compatibility library, all of them Xbox 360 entries in the Halo series.
As promised, Microsoft has made four games--Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4--playable on Xbox One. The full campaigns and multiplayer modes are included, and these are accompanied by all of their DLC packs, which are accessible for free. If you own any of these games, you can simply pop the disc in (or install it from the Ready to Download list, in the case of digital copies) and start playing.
These games are curious--but welcome--additions to the backwards compatibility list, given that Microsoft stands to make money from sales of The Master Chief Collection. That compilation includes improved versions of all of these games (Halo 3: ODST was offered as free DLC post-release), as well as a fully remastered version of Halo 2. MCC remains an attractive option for those looking to play the best-looking versions of these games (or to play Halo 2 on Xbox One), but being able to play the original versions for free is a nice gesture.
Like other fighting games, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is packed with mechanics that take time to master. While you can get by using the basics and intuiting from there, there are still plenty of strategies and concepts that require specific in-depth knowledge to utilize. To help you improve your skills, we've compiled 10 essential expert tips. This guide uses a lot of advanced terminology, so be sure to refer to our glossary of terms for newbies.
After you finish landing the basic light-to-heavy combo, press down and heavy punch to launch your opponent into the air. If you aren't holding the down button, your character will automatically jump into the air, making it easy to continue the combo. Press each attack button one at a time, but ending with heavy kick. The heavy kick will slam your opponent back to the ground. If you get back down there fast enough, you can continue the combo for one more cycle. The combo will end the second time your opponent is slammed to the ground.
Getting Your Teammate Into the Mix
By this point, you should already know the basic light-to-heavy combo on the ground, plus how to end with a launcher attack to continue that combo in the air. Once you've perfected that, when your opponent is slammed the ground for the first time, immediately tag in your teammate. They will charge forward and will be ready to continue the combo. Once you continue the ground combo and air combo, make the most of this combo by ending with a Hyper Combo.
Blocking Your Opponent's Infinity Storm
It's getting down to the wire in your match and you're winning, but you can't help but notice your opponent's full Infinity Meter featuring the Soul Gem. You don't want your opponent to bring back his or her teammate that you just KO'd. How do you do that? All you have to do is activate your own Infinity Meter. Only one Infinity Storm can happen at one time. So your opponent will have to wait until your Infinity Storm ends before they can activate theirs. Just make sure you knock them out for good before your meter drains.
Hit Confirming Your Hyper Combos
We've all been there. You're in a close match. You have enough meter left to pull of a quick level one Hyper Combo. You get desperate and you activate it out of nowhere, only for it to be easily blocked and you get KO'd shortly after. If only you would've hit confirmed your Hyper Combo! Hit confirming means that you add your hyper combo in the middle or at the end of a combo that's already landing. That Hyper Combo gets linked to the combo that is landing, thus guaranteeing that it can't be blocked because it's part of the larger combo. The Hyper Combo won't do as much damage due to combo damage scaling, but you can still guarantee that it will land.
Tag Often
If you just started a fight and you're getting crushed right out of the gate, get your starting fighter out of there and let them recharge their health. There's a good chance they'll recoup about half of their damage if they stay tagged out for long enough. Try to stay away from random tags if you can. Random tags that aren't paired with a combo will leave both teammates vulnerable to attacks. If you can, be sure to use the tag to continue a combo. Your partner will leave the battlefield faster, and you'll even have the opportunity to continue a combo.
Choosing an Infinity Stone
There are six stones to choose from in MvCI. The one you choose should depend on your experience level with the game, as well as the characters you are using. Beginners should absolutely stick with the Soul Stone. The Soul Stone revives a downed character and allows both members of your team to fight at the same time. When both characters are on the screen, you can activate both of their hyper combos to deal some serious damage. Make sure you hit-confirm you hyper combos in this case, so you're not just wasting precious meter.
Experts may want to consider the Mind Stone. The Mind Stone continuously recharges your Hyper Combo Meter at a rapid rate. This means you can unleash your character's level 3 Hyper Combo and immediately refill your meter for another powerful Hyper Combo. Just make sure you're using a character that you're familiar with if you choose the Mind Stone.
There really isn't a bad Infinity Stone in the game. They can all help even the playing field if you're coming from behind in a fight. For all the details about what each stone does and which characters are a good fit for them, check out the full Infinity Stone guide, as well as the character guides.
Building a Duo
There are a few different strategies when it comes to crafting your team of two. You can choose two characters that are similar to one another, or two characters that compliment one another thanks to their differences. There are benefits to both of these choices. Having two characters that have similar traits means that you don't need to shift gears when you tag. If both characters have great range with projectiles, you can stick to the same strategy with both characters. It also means your Infinity Stone fits both of your characters equally. However, if you're up against two opponents who who don't match well with range, you won't have a solution for them. That's where picking to different types of characters may help you. If you choose, say, Rocket Raccoon and Nemesis as your duo, you'll have a lot of bases covered. Just make sure you know the ins and outs of both of those characters. Chances are, you won't be able to pick an Infinity Stone that works well with both of them, so stick to a general Stone like the Mind Stone or Soul Stone.
Return to Combos in the Lab
Pros get as good as they are through hours of combo practice. You want to be able to pull off your strongest combos as soon as you see an opening, and you want to do that without dropping. MvCI's mission section shows some great combo for each character. It takes a ton of trial and error to pull them off properly. Don't quit, don't get discouraged and definitely don't move on after you finally land the combo for the first time. Practice it again, and again and again until it becomes second nature. There's nothing quite like unleashing a huge combo paired with a Hyper Combo in the online arena. Make all those attempts with it.
Master the Advancing Guard
Advancing Guard and defense in general is a major part of becoming a well-rounded player. If you rush into a fight with all offense, you'll get countered to death. Remember that being hit with counters deal more damage than if you were standing without attacking. Lead with a block and choose an opening rather than throwing an attack and just hoping that it will land. Follow the old adage that says "the best offense is a good defense." That can often be true in MvCI. Block a Hyper Combo and then punish it quickly.
Beware of the Tilt
It's been a long night, and you've just lost your third online match in a row in heartbreaking fashion. Your nerves are shot and your temper is starting to affect your gameplay. Take a break along with some deep breaths. The more competitive you are, the more likely you are to say "one more match" over and over until you get that one win after five losses. You won't do your online rank any favors with a record like that. Don't let the saltiness affect your play. It's best to enter the online arena with a clear head.
Director Wes Anderson is known for his quirky style of filmmaking, but the trailer for his upcoming film, Isle of Dogs, looks like the filmmaker's most peculiar movie to date.
The film, which comes to theaters on March 23, 2018, takes place in Japan in the near future, where an overpopulation of canines--along with an outbreak of canine flu--forces the mayor of Megasaki to sign a decree, sending all infected pups to a island made of trash. A 12-year-old boy goes on an adventure to the garbage isle to find his dog Spots and is accompanied by five hounds.
Anderson said (via Collider) that Isle of Dogs is influenced by the work of iconic Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon, Seven Samurai). Considering Kurosawa's work, which are not films you'd take the whole family to see, don't expect Isle of Dogs to get a PG rating, like Fantastic Mr. Fox. The trailer takes viewers on an epic, uphill journey where strangers form unique bonds, which is reminiscent of Kurosawa's work.
In addition to the typical actors we see in Anderson's films--like Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, and Jeff Goldblum--Scarlett Johansson and Bryan Cranston will provide their voices to the film, along with a slew of other familiar names, which can be seen at the end of the trailer above.
The film has a unique animation style that Anderson used in his 2009 film Fantastic Mr. Fox: stop-motion animation, which isn't used as prevalently as it was in the past. "I really liked these TV Christmas specials in America," Anderson explained. "I always liked the creatures in the Harryhausen-type films, but really these American Christmas specials were probably the thing that really made me first want to do it."
By Anonymous on Sep 21, 2017 10:30 pm The new Ghost War beta is out for Ghost Recon Wildlands so Aaron and Erick head in to see what this new player vs player mode is all about.
The trailer, which you can watch above, offers another brief glimpse at the game's "what if" campaign, which follows a "forbidden" story arc in which Android 16 is revived to hunt Goku and the other Z Fighters. It also features the all-new Android 21, who was "supervised" by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. Android 21 appears to play a very prominent role in the story mode; she's described as having intelligence on par with Dr. Gero and is implied to be behind Android 16's resurrection. You can see screenshots of Android 21 below.
Bandai Namco also released a handful of screenshots for Yamcha and Tien, who were revealed alongside Android 21 in the most recent issue of V-Jump magazine. Yamcha is described as a close-range fighter; in the screenshots, you can see him using his signature Wolf Fang Fist attack, as well as the Kamehameha. Tien sports his outfit from Dragon Ball Super and can use a variety of techniques in battle, including the Tri-Beam and Dodon Ray. Like Android 18, he can also call in another character for assistance--in this case his buddy Chiaotzu, who can use his telekinetic powers to temporarily "seal" an opponent.
More Dragon Ball FighterZ news may be on the way this week. During Tokyo Game Show, developer Arc System Works will host a live FighterZ panel that will feature a guest appearance by Hikaru Midorikawa, the Japanese voice actor for Android 16. The panel takes place on Saturday, September 23, at 4:00 PM JST/12:00 AM PT/3 AM ET; you can stream it on Bandai Namco's Japanese YouTube channel.
The TV adaptation of the classic DC graphic novel Watchmen has been given an official pilot order by HBO. Earlier the week, writer and producer Damon Lindelof teased the project on Instagram, but now Deadline has confirmed that the network has greenlit a pilot.
The site also clarified that the image posted by Lindelof was of the writer's room for the show, which officially opened on Tuesday. It wasn't initially clear how far along the project was, but we now know that it is at the very start of the writing process. Although it is currently unknown who will be collaborating with Lindelof, Deadline states that HBO has also ordered scripts for additional episodes.
Lindelof's acclaimed drama The Leftovers was also screened on HBO, and it concluded its third and final season this past summer. His other writing credits include Prometheus and Star Trek Into Darkness, and he was the co-creator and joint-showrunner of Lost.
Watchmen was first published by DC in 1986 as a 12-part limited series. It was written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons and is widely considered to be one of the greatest comic books ever released. It helped usher in a new, more mature approach to mainstream superhero comics, and in 2005, it was featured on Time's list of 100 greatest novels of the 20th century.
A film version was in the works for many years, and 12 Monkeys director Terry Gilliam was attached at one stage. In 2009, Zack Snyder directed a Watchmen movie, which was a modest success, making $185 million at the worldwide box office.
By Anonymous on Sep 21, 2017 09:15 pm Our four-person hunting team tracks down a Barroth and gets creative with kills in the Tokyo Game Show 2017 demo of Monster Hunter: World.
In the Age of the Internet, where we demand everything faster and our attention spans shrink to that of a goldfish, it's interesting that both PES and FIFA are slowing down. It's a trend aimed at making soccer games more realistic, but upto and including FIFA 17, it had caused EA's series to suffer, with every title since FIFA 15 feeling less responsive than its predecessor. Finally, with FIFA 18, the franchise has managed to arrest its decline, and while the series' latest entry still feels slow, it at least feels a little more responsive, and less frustrating as a result. Combined with outstanding presentation and more ways to play than ever, FIFA 18's on-pitch improvements represent the beginnings of a recovery for the series.
FIFA 17's problem, I realized after far too many sleepless nights, was that it slowed players' turning speeds to Titanic levels but left much of the rest of the game at a higher velocity. That meant you could sprint pretty quickly, but would take an age to accelerate or change direction. This is still a problem in FIFA 18, where players' continued slow turning circles and lengthy animations can feel like there's a split-second of input lag--but their slower sprinting does mean the game's speed as a whole feels more consistent.
This results in a more thoughtful game that's less concerned with beating defenders using trickery or pace and more about--as your youth coach probably told you every week--letting the ball do the work. AI teammates now make more frequent and intelligent runs to give you greater options when you're on the ball, and players' first touches keep the ball closer to their body, finally making driven passes a viable option in the attacking third. Unfortunately, however, non-driven passes remain as limp as before: long passes and chipped through balls still slowly float towards their target before inevitably getting cut out, and ground passes are similarly weak, rarely possessing enough zip to carve a defense open.
Many attacks end in your wingers or full backs crossing the ball into the area or an attacking midfielder having a pop from the edge of the box. It's a good job, then, that these are the areas that have seen most improvement. Shots carry a little more weight than before and are responsible for the game's most satisfying moments--seeing a volley fly into the top corner is a great feeling, and it happens far more frequently in FIFA 18 than last year. Crosses, meanwhile, have been reworked, dropping the old low cross in favor of a new three height system: holding R1 / RB while crossing produces a driven, ground cross; L1 / LB creates a floaty ball similar to FIFA 17's efforts; and just the standard X / Square input whips the ball behind the defenders with pace. Crucially, unlike last year, it is now actually possible to score by crossing it into a target man or poacher, and doing so feels better than it has in any FIFA to date.
Players' continued slow turning circles and lengthy animations can feel like there's a split-second of input lag
That doesn't translate to set pieces, however, which are still useless--even if penalties are slightly less complicated than FIFA 17's approach, which felt like trying to solve a Rubik's cube with your hands tied. They're still unnecessarily obtuse, requiring you to be mindful of shot power, direction, and height, as well as your run-up, all at the same time, but at least you now have time to think about your approach, rather than the run-up being mapped to the same stick as shot direction.
Elsewhere, EA has finally got the balance of individuals' pace just right--slow players feel slow and fast players feel fast, and utilizing the latter no longer feels over- or under-powered. However, despite the numerous small-but-important enhancements, there a number of lingering flaws holding FIFA back. Different players still don't feel unique enough: other than Ronaldo and a handful more of the world's elite, every footballer in the game feels roughly the same, the vast majority of them displaying the same animations and only feeling different in their heights and speed stats. This year's gimmick, quick subs--which allow you to press R2 / RT during stoppages in play to substitute a player without having to pause the game--are a nice touch that is limited by the fact you can only apply it to three pre-planned changes organized before the match or go with the game's suggestion. That suggestion is rarely a good fit for the situation at hand, and mapping it to the same button as sprint meant I was constantly activating it by mistake.
If FIFA 18's on-the-pitch showing is inconsistent, its presentation--the area in which the series has progressed most over the past few seasons--continues to set the standard for sports games as a whole. While it may sound like a boring, granular change, the prettier and more versatile lighting really helps make each match feel unique. It's aided by more realistic and enthusiastic crowd reactions, and different kinds of atmosphere depending on where in the world you're playing. Spanish matches are scored with the distant beat of drums and constant, partisan noise, whereas English crowds are more likely to taunt the away team over their lack of support. Club-specific chants are common for the bigger sides, though Liverpool fans may tire after Anfield's 200th rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone.
In addition there's official league-specific branding and graphics, lineups being read out by stadium announcers (even in the lower leagues with less well-known players), and largely excellent commentators discussing real-life transfers and results. Together they make a game that replicates the experience of watching football and interprets the culture around the sport--the media, the fan adoration and anguish, and the obsession with following your team--more immaculately than ever.
FIFA 18 replicates the experience of watching football and interprets the culture around the sport more immaculately than ever
As FIFA continues to almost become a sports channel in itself, it also expands its repertoire of game modes every year. This year sees the narrative-driven Journey mode return for a second season, with Alex Hunter now a world-famous prodigy. The Journey sees few improvements over Season 1 beyond some greater customisation options (you can now change Hunter's apparel and hairstyle, among other minor tweaks), and its cast produces the same mixed performances as last year. It remains a unique mode, but think of FIFA 18's Journey more similar to the second run of a middling TV show than anything else: it's the same, just more of it.
Elsewhere, Pro Clubs remains largely untouched--save for a Journey-style skill tree in which you need to acquire certain traits before others are unlocked--and Ultimate Team's winning formula has also been left mostly alone. The few new additions include Squad Battles, where you play a number of matches against other Ultimate Team clubs controlled by AI, before being ranked against other real-world players for the amount of wins you manage. They're a perfect alternative to the online FUT Champions for those who don't want to brave the wastelands of online multiplayer, or for those who don't have the time to commit to the latter's grueling schedule of qualification rounds and weekend tournaments. Meanwhile Daily Objectives, in which you're rewarded with coins or packs for, say, winning by over two goals or for scoring with a Serie A player (among other challenges) offer welcome new bonuses, particularly for Seasons players who have traditionally been subject to meagre rewards.
Finally, The Journey's influence has spread beyond Pro Clubs and into Career Mode, whose transfer negotiations have been overhauled--aesthetically at least. Instead of submitting your offer as an email, transfer talks are now conducted in real-time through interactive cutscenes. It's a largely superficial change since the only actual new feature is the ability to add release clauses and sell-on percentages to signings' contracts--the rest of the process is exactly the same, except with a human face rather than an inbox in front of you--but it's at least more exciting than seeing the same offer letter template written down for the hundredth time. Otherwise Career Mode is the same as ever, with the player conversation system feeling most stale--the emails players send to you are identical to the ones they've been sending for years now, and there's still no way to reply. It would've been nice to be able to speak with your team in a similar vein to the transfer negotiation cutscenes, though maybe that's a feature for next year.
Career Mode, Pro Clubs, and Ultimate Team's new features are undoubtedly incremental, but that's largely because what was already there was excellent. They each offer an entirely different way to play, with Career Mode offering the chance to control your favorite team, Pro Clubs being a great way to play with friends, and FUT being by far the most addictive and fun--especially for those who collected football cards as a kid.
It's off the pitch that EA excels. From the variety of game modes on offer and how everything's presented, to the constant updates in FUT's Team of the Week, Daily Objectives, and discussion of real-world happenings in commentary, FIFA 18 captures the world of football and confidently translates it into a video game. On the pitch, however, EA's soccer series is still lagging far behind PES 2018's more fluid, satisfying football. This year's improvements are welcome, but more needs to be done in the coming years if FIFA is to be a world-beater once again.
Playerunknown's Battlegrounds--or PUBG--has taken PC gaming by storm; it's even pushed some to upgrade or build their own PC strong enough to run the game competently. But what specs should you have and what kind of graphics settings and framerates should you expect to get? Here's a quick graphics settings guide with some performance tips.
Talking Specs
While it uses Unreal Engine 4, the game sets a pretty low bar to clear by today's standards in terms of minimum specs. The following list is PUBG's system requirements:
CPU: Intel Core i3-4340 or AMD FX-6300
GPU: Nvidia GTX 660 (2GB) or AMD Radeon HD 7850 (2GB)
Memory: 6GB RAM
Disk Space: 30GB
Of course, you would more power than that to get an ideal experience with this game. So, as we did with our feature and video on the Destiny 2 PC beta's graphics and performance, we tested out what we could get out of a modest mid-range system. This is what we used:
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K
GPU: MSI GTX 970 (4GB)
Memory: 8GB RAM
You should keep in mind that PUBG is still an early access title. Future updates, patches, and drivers will continually change performance across different systems, and even add new graphical effects.
What About Graphics Settings
We're given some straight-forward options, but the game doesn't explain what they do outright. PUBG has garnered plenty of PC newcomers and some may be new to these terms as well. And there are some important distinctions to be made as of these settings can significantly affect how the game is played. We'll walk you through some of the things we noticed with each graphics settings.
First off, we're using 1920x1080 (1080p) for our resolution. PUBG does offer native 4K (3840x2160) support, but it's very demanding for our machine, and even some higher-end systems can have trouble with this game.
Anti-aliasing smooths out jagged edges around objects. Turning this up will clean up the overall image, but you will take a sizable hit in framerate. We recommend having some form of anti-aliasing, and we afforded to use the "High" setting. There isn't much of a difference between "High" and "Ultra" visually.
Anti-aliasing smooths out edges, but it'll cost a few frames per second.
Shadows determines the fidelity of shadows, of course. But it is important that you use the "Medium" at least. "Low" and "Very Low" will not render a player model's shadow. Being able to see a player's shadow is key to tracking opponents indoors and anticipating enemy movement. It can make the difference between death and survival, especially if you see their shadow move before the actual player model. You should note that "High" and "Very High" will tax your system heavily, however.
Player shadows will not render at "Very Low" and "Low" settings.
Foliage changes the detail of brush and grass, but it does not affect the amount that shows up in game. It also doesn't affect the distance at which grass pops up. You won't gain an advantage by turning it down.
View Distance should be maxed out to help make sure you can see as many objects as possible off in the distance. It's key if you're using high-powered scopes or trying to watch activity from a high vantage point. It does not affect the distance at which player models appear.
Post-processing encompasses effects like ambient occlusion and dynamic lighting. "Low" will give you ambient occlusion, which is a notable visual improvement. "High" will add a sort of depth of field, and Very High will add dynamic lighting effects like bloom and god rays.
Effects determines the number of particles used to render visual effects like gunfire or explosions. The more, the better, but your system will take a performance hit when fire and explosions fill up the screen.
Texture improves the detail of surfaces. It's simple enough, but we'd suggest at least "Medium" since "Low" is a very noticeable downgrade.
Screen scale is supersampling. If it's set above 100, the game will render a higher resolution image and downscale it to fit your display. While it makes the game look better, I'd avoid it in this case since we prefer to keep our framerates higher.
Motion Blur creates a blur effect when moving the camera which adds a sense of speed, but this is mostly up to your preference. And you'll want to keep V-Sync off, unless you're getting unbearable screen tearing.
After some careful thought and experimentation, these were our preferred graphics settings:
Anti-aliasing: High
Post-processing: Low
Shadows: Medium
Texture: High
Effects: Medium
Foliage: High
View Distance: Ultra
With these settings, you're probably wondering what kind of framerates our modest system was able to produce. Through an entire solo match during normal in-game weather conditions, the framerate stayed between a high 50 FPS and a high 70 FPS. It seems that with our system and settings, we hit a sweet spot between graphics quality and performance.
The 60-second warm up phase before the match starts is a good indication of a worse-case scenario when it comes to performance. So, if your system can handle that sequence with a playable framerate (around 40 FPS), you should be able to enjoy this game smoothly.
If you watched our video on the cheap gaming PC we built, you'd recall that we tested it in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. With a quad core AMD Ryzen 3 CPU and a GTX 1050 at 1080p and medium settings, we roughly got high 30 FPS to low 50 FPS. Higher-end systems, equipped with either AMD's RX Vega cards or Nvidia's GTX 1070 and up, you'd still want to take into consideration how shadows and anti-aliasing impact your framerate, especially if you have a high-refresh rate monitor or want to do 4K.
Again, PUBG is still in early access and will go through changes and optimizations. There's still occasional random hitches and stutters, and quirks to how textures load and how effects are rendered. PUBG isn't the best looking game, but it's still a bit graphically demanding; the game will have some hiccups with optimization.
Hopefully you found this helpful and learned something about the graphics quality settings in Playerunknown's Battleground, or at least got some context as to how the game runs. If you want more in-depth explanations, check out our series on PC graphics settings. Newcomers to PUBG might also want to read through our beginner's guide on how to survive and get that coveted chicken dinner.
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