PUBG vs. Blackout: Which Battle Royale Game is Better?

PUBG vs. Blackout: Which Battle Royale Game is Better?

Graphics

If this were a decision to be made between the launch-day versions of these games, the decision would be easy: Blackout. When PUBG first launched (as an actual game and not a mod), it was rough around the edges on virtually all fronts. The buildings were easy to clip into — same goes for other objects on the maps, especially trees.

The grass, the cars, the streets, the everything: all of it was rough, but, the game has been out for quite a while and it looks significantly better than it did on launch day. The environments are sharp, the houses detailed and the foliage finally looks real. PUBG isn’t quite yet a looker, but graphically, it’s gone from a 4 to a 7. Hell, with a beefy PC, you can get the game looking like a solid 9.

Still though, Blackout not only has the money of Activision behind it, but the masterminds of Call of Duty, Treyarch, on its side. On launch day, Blackout came out guns hot. Everything but the foliage looked like what you’d come to expect of Call of Duty. That is, when everything loads.

Blackout looks great for about 100 yards. Anything beyond that is stuck in low AA (anti-aliasing) land until you get closer to it. Fortunately, the game focuses on enemies so no matter how far away they are so you’ll have no problem seeing them, but that house they’re in, or that tree they’re hiding behind, won’t be looking so pretty.

With all of this in mind, this is a tough call. PUBG maintains it’s graphical quality three, maybe four times, farther out than Blackout does. Despite that, though, the immediate vicinity of your surroundings in Blackout looks a lot better than PUBG ever does. It’s a shame it can’t maintain that quality farther than 100 yards, though.

PUBG sacrifices graphical quality to maintain a solid draw distance. Blackout sacrifices draw distance to maintain solid graphics.

Winner: Tie

PUBG vs. Blackout: Which Battle Royale Game is Better?

Map

PUBG’s original map is, and forever will be, a classic. It is the grandfather of military sim battle royale maps. That doesn’t make it the superior map, though.

It features a few different terrains, but up until recently, it was a tad lackluster. It had houses, but not enough. It had foliage, but not enough. It had unique locations, but not enough. That’s been remedied with patches and updates, and for those still not happy with the map, there are other maps to play on now. That’s something Blackout doesn’t have and possibly, won’t ever have. Who knows?

Blackout’s map has a few things going for it. First off, and most importantly, nostalgia. It’s a mosh pit of some of the best Call of Duty maps ever made. Your favorite Black Ops maps are mashed together in Blackout to create a memorable map. There’s Nuketown, Estates, Firing Range and more.

On top of nostalgia, there’s also zombies on the map, which sets Blackout apart from the rest in the genre, not just PUBG. Not only does the Blackout map force you to focus on taking out enemy players, but a few careful missteps and you could find yourself running (or killing) the undead. Either way, it’s a fun and unique distraction from killing enemy players. How you handle that, though, is up to you.

PUBG gets some bonus points for being the blueprint of military sim battle royale maps, but at the end of the day, everything the PUBG map does, Blackout’s map does better, and with more (zombies). It doesn’t help PUBG that Blackout does this by using maps engrained in the heads of longtime Call of Duty players.

Winner: Blackout

PUBG vs. Blackout: Which Battle Royale Game is Better?

Gameplay

More important than anything else on this list is gameplay. The graphics and map can be excellent, but if the gameplay isn’t fun, the entire game crashes and burns. Fortunately for both PUBG and Blackout, neither fail to deliver fun and engaging gameplay that keeps players coming back again and again.

At their core, PUBG and Blackout play the same way. They’re both military sim battle royale games so this makes sense. They do have some key differences, though.

Let’s face it: Call of Duty is the best-feeling first-person shooter out there. Perhaps Halo can compete, but even then, they’re so widely different that I think it’s okay if they’re both the best. PUBG simply isn’t Call of Duty so the shooting mechanics don’t feel as good. They lack the polish and punch Call of Duty has been delivering for years.

PUBG, though, has a significantly better user interface, which one could argue is king in a game like this. The inventory system is more intuitive. The UI is less busy and easier to understand. Blackout’s inventory system, on the other hand, is quite difficult to use. It took me hours to understand not only how to use the inventory system, but to use it effectively. Even today, I struggle to drop a teammate some ammo.

Blackout has zombies, which is something PUBG will (probably) never have. Zombies provide a fresh and unique firefight engagement on the battlefield and they drop some of the best loot in the game. Who doesn’t love zombies (and if you don’t, you can just stay away from them)?

PUBG handles what’s happening on screen better: the loot is easier to pickup, the inventory is easier to manage, and the UI is less of a distraction. On the other hand, Blackout simply feels better to play. It also has zombies. In a battle for gameplay, what matters most is how good the game feels to play. Is it fun? Is it responsive? Is it engaging?

Winner: Blackout

PUBG vs. Blackout: Which Battle Royale Game is Better?

Who Wins?

If you’ve kept up so far, you know who the winner is. On all fronts (even the ones not discussed here like dropping in, communication, guns, etc.), other than graphics, Blackout is the definitive winner. You know what that means.

Blackout is the new king of military sim battle royale games.

While many were hesitant of this take on battle royale when it was first announced, it only takes a few matches in Blackout to understand that Treyarch didn’t phone this mode in. They clearly looked at what works in the genre and what doesn’t, and then created a uniquely Call of Duty battle royale experience that will keep players engaged for hundreds of hours.

Its map pulls on our strings of nostalgia. The gunplay, like the rest of the series, is first in its class. They even added zombies, something Treyarch has perfected over the years. Graphically, there’s major room for improvement, but if other games in this genre, like PUBG, are any indication, a year from now, the problems with Blackout’s graphics will be nonexistent.

This isn’t to say that PUBG is bad. It is to say that this could be the start of its decline though. Blackout is PUBG, but Call of Duty. It’s PUBG but better. PUBG was first in this race and because of that, it will always have a place in this space. To its detriment though, being first allowed others, like Treyarch, to see its faults and capitalize on them.

Maybe one day the tides will change, but for now, you can catch me in the lobby of Blackout when I’m in the mood for a military sim battle royale game.