PUBG Corporation has launched the second map for the Xbox One version of its battle royale shooter today. The arid desert and dense urban areas of Miramar create a lot of open space, and that’s one of the reasons why so many players despise the map on PC. Those open spaces are difficult because vehicles are rare and snipers are deadly, and they can see you from a kilometer away if they have high ground and you don’t. For a lot of players, Miramar doesn’t feel like a space where anything can happen — instead, it’s an expanse where you may end up doomed unless you get a favorable circle.
But the problems with Miramar on the PC don’t carry over to the Xbox One version for one important reason: snipers are less deadly in PUBG on the console.
Long-distance engagements in PUBG (and in similar games like ARMA 3) require a lot of finesse and a lot of recalibration. That’s because the game renders bullets into the physics of the world, so you have to account for gravity and player velocity. And hitting a moving target is difficult enough, but at 200 meters or more, you have to account for a lot of bullet drop and for your target to cover a lot of ground.
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Put simply, firing at any distance in PUBG is difficult. And if someone with a sniper or assault rifle sees you running across an open field without any cover, it’s not a death sentence. In fact, firing without a sure shot is dangerous because you may not get the kill, but you will give away your position.
I still want developer PUBG Corporation to tweak the map to give it more vehicles and cover — something it’s done on the PC version. But I think the console-only audience for PUBG may not come out of Miramar with the same hatred for it as their counterparts using a mouse and keyboard.
