Casual Gamer Advisory: The Top Trending Game You Want!!

As a man who has to balance his video games with a variety of other hobbies and obligations, I can be quite picky when it comes to selecting my next Xbox adventure. Consequently, I haven’t yet written about any video games during my early career here on Steemit, as none of the recent titles have justified my attention and the steep $60 price tag …until now.

Do you remember that one surprisingly entertaining story your English teacher had you read in junior high titled The Most Dangerous Game? From what I recall, it has this one unassuming dude wash up on an island and meet good old “General Zaroff” who, after some foreplay, proceeds to hunt said dude all over the island the same way the Jurassic Park velociraptors went after those kids with short-lived acting careers.

Obviously the title is referencing there being no more “dangerous game” than a man hunting man. So now that you have such a concept in your mind, throw a computer generated island into the mix, 99 other gamers and a bunch of weaponry and you officially have the latest video game craze: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Terribly named and wonderfully acronymized, "PUBG” (pronounced pub-jee) got its start on PC and did so well, that it made the rare jump from computer to Xbox. Truly a game of survival, PUBG’s appeal may extend mostly from its radical deviation from the many high speed, spray-and-pray games like Call Of Duty, Battlefield, Destiny, etc.

PUBG permits you to play solo or in squads of up to four players, and either way, strategizing and patience is a must in this game. At the beginning of each round, a plane flies everyone across the massive island map, and you and your squad must figure out what isolated (or not so isolated) part of the island you want to parachute into in order to search for weaponry. This first decision is a big one because you go into the game with only two weapons - your meaty left and right hands. If you happen to pick a popular spot, you’re in for a battle while you “loot” for helmets, body armor, energy drinks, Uzis and sniper rifles.

As the game progresses, you see the number of survivors slowly tick down from 100 in the top right corner of the screen as players fall victim to one another. And to further complicate matters (or increase bloodshed), the map is constantly shrinking with the merciless “blue wall” constricting the play area every few minutes. Get caught in the blue zone, and you’re a goner, amigo! This continues all the way until the end when the play zone is no more than a (virtual) 30 yards in diameter and you may have 10 guys still trying to out survive the rest.

As I mentioned above, this game is far different from most on the market primarily because once you get smoked by another ruthless player…you. are. done. No respawn, no extra lives, nada. End of round for you! In truth, this is where the magic of the game extends from because you are consistently trying to decide (or bickering with your equally obsessed squadmate) if you should take a shot and reveal your position, if you should travel by foot or by a loud vehicle, if you should check that house or hold the hillside, etc. With 99 other gamers ready to put your character in the ground, you learn to make these decisions quickly and wisely (or you don’t and upon dying, you go nuts until your wife yells for you to “keep it down and get a grip!”).

The flipside of the game is that if you and your team happen to be the last bad asses standing, then you are rewarded with a stat screen declaring you to be the “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner”. And that’s it, no extra weapon privileges or badges or any casino-effect gimmicks. Just pure satisfaction that, for one brief moment, you were a PUBG champion. Then the next round starts and your humility comes back with a vengeance.

As the game is still in beta-testing, you can download it for Xbox for $30 instead of the normal $60 like other games. The trade off for the discount being that the game does have some kinks and occasional errors during this first phase. However, you should trust in this casual gamer that has been so hooked to this game he has stayed up until midnight on many “school nights”…it’s worth it.

So if you feel like pretending to be a Navy Seal from the couch, or perhaps want to give that crazy "General Zaroff" some of his own medicine, give PUBG a shot and have some fun! In the meantime, feel free to check out the trailer for PUBG here:

Until next time, keep on steem’n!