What is PUBG game?

PUBG Mobile minimum requirements

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile game is a persistent online game, so you'll need a connection to the internet to play - be that via mobile network or Wi-Fi - but the lower the ping the better.

The tech specs for Android are Android 5.1 and higher and at least 2GB of RAM. We've played on a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and experienced no problems.

The iPhone version needs iOS 9.0 or later, so a full range of iPhone models back to iPhone 5s are supported and iPads back to iPad Mini 2, as well as iPod touch 6-gen.

PUBG Mobile: The basics of gameplay

Battle royale basically means all against all, a bit like The Hunger Games where you start with nothing and have to scavenge and collect weapons and equipment. The game is ultimately a battle to the last player standing, with 100 players on an 8 x 8 km island.

There are three modes of play: solo, duo and squad, with the latter letting you team up with three other players for a team of four.

Each is a little different with various pros and cons, the big pro of team play being that have people to support you, revive you and bring an element of co-operative tactics to the game.

The game starts with you parachuting onto the game island. On landing your mission is to gather everything you can to help you win, from clothes to medical supplies to weapons, with a wide range of weapons and modifications for those weapons.

The island is a mixture of urban and rural environments, detailed in the map in the top right-hand corner of the game, and the full area is initially playable, but the play areas decreases in size as time progresses.

This forces the players closer together with ever decreasing circles, those left outside the safe play space will start to take damage and eventually die.

The game reaches its climax when the last few players are condensed down into a small space and one player or team emerges as the victor.

PUBG Mobile controls and experience

The Mobile game provides the same gameplay elements as the PC and Xbox game, but uses on-screen controls. These can be customised for a number of different layouts and elements to suit the size of your device or preferences.

The gameplay is surprisingly good and smooth, although there's an advantage for those with bigger displays and more powerful phones.

There are three graphics settings you can use and the game will automatically select one. It's advisable to close down everything else, turn up the brightness and volume for the best experience.

How much does PUBG Mobile cost?

The game itself is free to download and free to play. There is a rewards system within the game that will let you earn coins for your participation and completing various challenges - like login every day, travel a particular distance or survive a particular length of time.

PUBG Mobile servers and problems


We've experienced some occasional game freezes which we think are server side. As this is a phased roll-out, there's probably still some server optimisation going on.

We've also had freezes where the game is unresponsive. Often it's just a pause that lasts about 3 seconds.

There is a ping monitor on the display and sometimes you'll see a pause in the game followed by the ping rising sharply, which could be down to the home Wi-Fi network demands.

Typically the game runs smoothly with a reported 32ms average ping on our network.

Then there are the times that your teammates just run over you in a car and instead of getting out to revive you, they just run over you again and again until you are dead.

Sadly, we don't think anything can ever be done about people like that.

By default, you move with a virtual control stick on the left, while using your right thumb to control your aim. You fire, aim down sights, crouch, go prone and access your backpack with virtual buttons on the right side of the screen.

you can customize the layout of the virtual buttons by sliding them around and changing their size and transparency. You can even save multiple layout presets.

In the mobile version, instead of simply placing markers on the map, you also have a dotted line directing you straight to your marker from your current location, as well as the distance you are from it

When you hold down your left thumb as you move your character around, a running icon will pop up. Slide your thumb over the running icon and your character will be locked into sprinting mode without you having to continue holding down the button.

While you have auto sprinting on, you can grab and hold the camera/eye icon below your map and drag it around to free look without changing the direction you’re running towards. This is a good tip to help check your horizons for opposing players while making yourself a hard target to hit.