At PAX Aus I had the opportunity to sit down and play the new PUBG Mode, Fight or Flight. Presented by Red Bull and Omen by HP, I was put into a team with some other players and thrust into a game of PUBG. Sadly for my teammates, I had no idea what I was doing.
This new game mode turns the current playstyle on its head awarding points for the way you get kills and perform during a match. So even though you may be the victor of the round you might still miss out on that glorious Chicken Dinner!
PUBG Fight or Flight
Scattered around the map are hot zones not unlike Fortnite’s or Apex Legends pushing players into tightly populated spots early in the game. There is, however, a reward for doing this and picking up max level equipment and weapons here as they are much more common.
Although I was a total Noob and this game mode was my first foray into PUBG, I was placed on a team of broad-shouldered and talented players and got carried to a second-place finish.
The faster-paced gameplay allows players to move around the map and take more risks. Our squad still opted to play it safe taking cover in a cluster of buildings until the map shrunk requiring us to move.
I was more of a spotter calling out the directions of opponents I saw until the map was so small that all the remaining players were on top of us.
Aside from my brief game, PUBG and OMEN were hosting the biggest amateur PUBG Tournament in Australia at PAX Aus. The Red Bull Fight or Flight esports tournament was a huge success with three amateur squads walking away as winners.
In total, there were over 105 squads that competed with the last three emerging victorious. They will now travel to Sydney on November 2, 2019, to compete in the Grand Final at Carriageworks.
The Red Bull Fight or Flight Grand Final will be played on-stage and give these teams a taste of what it’s like to be a pro esports player. Additionally, a prize pool of $45,000 is up for grabs.
A spot at the PUBG Global Championship Grand Finals in California from November 23-24 is also on the line with the winners getting an all-expenses-paid trip to the event.
At the Grand Final in Sydney, OMEN will be giving away four OMEN 15 laptops and other accessories and peripherals.
Joshua Inman, Operations Manager at ESL Australia said;
Battle Royale’s success as a game genre has hinged off its ability to bottle and sell tension, and Red Bull Fight or Flight amplifies this twofold.
The unique in-game settings for Red Bull Fight or Flight definitely levelled the playing field between amateur and seasoned players, with the fast-paced matches resulting in some epic gameplay. This format could easily become the ‘Big Bash’ of esports in the future.
PUBG is an incredibly popular esport, however, without an in-depth knowledge of the game, it’s difficult for newcomers to enjoy watching it. Red Bull Fight or Flight changes that and as Inman puts it, Fight or Flight is the Twenty20 to PUBG’s Test Match.
One final, “last-chance” qualifier will be held on November 2 at Carriageworks ahead of the Grand Final. To register, head to ESL Play before 11:59 pm, November 1, 2019. But hurry, if the spots are filled before then, you’re out of luck.
If you want to check out all the action in person, tickets are $5 for singles or $60 for a four-person squad. Tickets are available from Red Bull.
Below, you can check out Kritikalmotion’s first PUBG Boot Camp video which is designed to help players learn the ins and outs of Fight or Flight mode.
The winning squads from PAX Aus are;
Squad 1 – Friday Winner
- Vasili Varipatis
- Nathan Chung
- Nicholas Elliott
- Jesse Spencer
Squad 2 – Saturday Winner
- Cameron Hughes
- Jack Weinert
- Ben McEvoy
- Billy Upton
Squad 3 – Sunday Winner
- William Purcell
- Djahni Fowler
- Corbin Garner
- Joshua Woods
