So many sadsacks commenting here who've clearly never played it, for the flimsiest of excuses. Games too long? 30 mins
maximum. Shorter than your average Battlefield round and a
lot faster loading. God-Awful game? Big words for someone who confesses to having 'no idea' what it is. The way to win is essentially not to do anything? Not possible. The whole point of the circle is to keep everyone on the move towards each other- even campers cannot stay put for long. Unimaginative assets? Haha holy cow dude get that stick out of your arse.
It's in a league of its own. You can start fast and furious and treat it like an arena shooter, which is fine. You can grab a car straight away and race off to a safe area to loot. That's also fine. You can drop in a remote spot and slowly build up your arsenal and stalk other players from the fringes, and that works too. It has quiet moments of methodical searching and collecting medical supplies punctuated by sudden, vicious confrontations, with absolutely zero of that indication UI bullcrap that riddles all the AAA multiplayer shooters these days. You learn something about how to stay alive better from every death you have. If you headshot someone on the other side of a meadow- do it right and they won't even know what hit them. Stealth, quick reflexes, map reading and positioning strategy... it's all here.
And that's just solo play. Try it with 3 friends in a squad and you have basically the greatest co-op shooter of all time. Play it like a professional SWAT team or hoon around the countryside loaded up in a minivan, it's up to you. Each story that unfolds as you play is different, and completely organic. This game tells a better story than actual scripted co-op games. Left 4 Dead doesn't hold a candle to this.
And the first time you make it down to the top ten... when 90 others have perished out there... knowing the ones left are heavily armed and armoured and hiding somewhere out there within a circle that has by now shrunk to the size of barely a carpark...
then you will feel adrenaline the likes of which you haven't felt since the first time you dropped into an Unreal Tournament match.
Then you will understand why people play it. 3 million at any one time, in fact.