On this edition of PUBG Journal:
- I explain why we're doing this again
- Brian does what Brian does
- Everything goes wrong - until it doesn't
Unearthing History
For long-time readers of MMORPG.com, you might recognize the name of this column. It's been a minute since I wrote one of these PUBG Journals. It's a bit like unearthing my MMORPG.com history, as I started regularly writing for the outlet back in 2017 with these PUBG Journals. I had freelanced for Bill and Suzie before, off and on, doing Lord of the Rings Online coverage and helping out at shows like PAX West, but the PUBG Journal was the first dedicated column I wrote for this site.
The aim was to try to capture just the sheer insanity that were the games of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds my friends and I were playing at the time. It was a different era of battle royales - PUBG had only just released and Fortnite was still a zombie horde survival game. PUBG was a way for myself, Shank and a few of our friends to wind down after a long day of work and just have fun. We'd even stream the escapades at times, something Shank and I would continue to do when we first took over this site in 2019.
Here's an example of the type of gameplay we'd experience throughout that era.
Fast forward to 2024, and for some reason, Brian and our friend Leif, and I have started to play PUBG again with some regularity. It's a much different game than it used to be, complete with KPOP and Lamborghini collabs, but the core craziness that can ensue is still there, driving us forward in each match.
The only difference is that we are actually better now. Well, relative to the bots that fill each match.
The last PUBG Journal was written in 2017, and I hadn't planned on unearthing this column, content to let it lie in the annals of MMORPG.com history. Yet something happened last night in PUBG that reminded me of the old days and why we started this column series to begin with.
Crashes And Blind Panic
Normally we have video to accompany our escapades in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, but given that I had no plans to actually write one of these again, I left GeForce's Shadow Play and OBS off, and we are worse for it now.
What unfolded last night in our first game of PUBG is classic Tawdry Crew, where a situation presents itself where everything goes wrong, and chaos ensues.
Our friend's son Jack, Leif, Brian, and I found ourselves in Miramar, heading toward the circle Mad Max style. This is where we took separate vehicles, except for Jack and Brian, for some reason. I started out on a bicycle, content to speed my way into the zone until I saw a car resembling a Camaro and took off in that.
Brian and Jack were ahead, with the latter driving towards the zone, leading us ever closer to Los Leones and the circle. We're chatting about life, the game ahead of us, and more on Discord when all of a sudden Brian speaks up in a panic, asking Jack why he's veering off the road.
Jack's PC had crashed, leaving his jeep hurtling towards a nearby gas station with Brian helpless in the passenger seat.
Panic welled up in his voice as he realized what happened. Jumping out of a speeding car would mean death in PUBG, but crashing into a giant building wouldn't be a walk in the park either. Around that moment, to players in a buggy pulled up behind Leif, who was bringing up the rear of our group, and began shooting. I was in the middle, watching the chaos with Jack and Brian unfold, a grin spreading across my face as Chaos started to stretch its tendrils towards our party, recognizing this could be an all-time great match.
Once we had established Jack was disconnected, we implemented the Rule: if a man falls behind, you leave him. I raced towards Brian, picking him up in my Camaro, suddenly happy I had ditched the mountain bike. At that moment, Leif zoomed past us, implementing the Rule himself. This caused the two dudes in the buggy to peel off and shoot at Brian and me.
I zoomed over the landscape, abandoning the road and trying to off-road in the mountainous terrain. At some point I ran a player over (mostly likely a bot by the way he was running), and we hurtled towards a hill. We caught some wicked air, and in any other game, we'd have scored some points Tony Hawk Pro Skater-style for the amount of hangtime we had, crashing to the earth somehow unscathed. Apparently, PUBG's version of the Camaro has excellent shock absorbers.
This did nothing to dissuade our pursuers, however, and they continued to pummel our car with bullets. I swerved, catching a rise the wrong way, causing the Camaro to flip. Somehow, Brian took that swerve as a sign we were staying put to stand our ground. Tempting Fate and the Rule of Three, he got out of the car.
The buggy's passenger immediately knocked him.
Meanwhile, as the Ring did to Isildur, I abandoned my friend - one might say I "betrayed him to his death." I took off, leaving the buggy, its riders, and my friend's crumpled corpse far behind.
Everything Goes Wrong...Until It Doesn't
Remember when I said Jack disconnected? Well, I think by the time that happened and Brian met his demise, everything had gone wrong for us. Leif and I were pretty much safe, though my Camaro had started to smoke wildly. We stopped a little into the circle, and I turned to fight off the pursuing players.
They, however, seemed content to get their kill and then get into the zone themselves and break off pursuit. As Leif and I ransacked a nearby settlement for more attachments and ammo, a voice rang through our headphones.
Jack, help unlooked for, had returned. Somehow, he was still alive, thanks to a Jammer Pack and a relatively early blue zone causing minimal damage. He was also still in possession of his jeep, so he started to make his way to us. Somehow, he was able to get through and heal up, restoring some hope that we could, at the very least, make our standing goal of a top ten finish.
This was the first time I had played any game with Jack, let alone PUBG. And it turns out, Jack is pretty good. We made our way further into the zone, avoiding gun fire as we heard it all around us, inching ever closer each time the circle closed in on us. We found ourselves heading towards the coast, which on Miramar also includes many, many high cliff faces which over look small beach-side real estate. There was a small firefight near a few oil tanks off the coast, Jack and I teaming up to take out one player, while we cornered another, only to see him escape with a well used smoke grenade.
We sat on the cliff top and rained sniper fire down on enemies, dealing damage from afar. Eventually the circle closed in around us, forcing players to come to our group. Standing atop a building near the oil tankers (and, in turn, exposing ourselves to a hail of gunfire from the cliff around us), we fought our way through. Leif racked up a few kills; Jack let his AR do some work while I, for some reason, fired rounds close range with my Kar98k, realizing too late that I hadn't swapped to my AR.
Thankfully, Leif had my back, downing a player who had rained bullets down on me, bringing me close to getting knocked myself.
With just four players remaining, three of them my team, I shot the last player as he skirted around a nearby tree in the blue zone, trying to flank us, thus securing the win.
It was a strange moment. Normally, when chaos takes over, and we have the type of game this turned out to be, it bites us in the ass. Yet, somehow, we won the match - the first of two Chicken Dinners that evening. We were exultant, unable to understand how we had won despite having one of our players disconnect, and another one die needlessly, only to have that disconnected player return and help propel us to victory.
And none of it was recorded, which is the true travesty here. But thank God for Replays so I could get those screenshots.
