FAU-G First Impressions: This Is No PUBG Mobile Rival, But Got Some Potential

FAU-G first impressions: Everything you need to know about FAU-G, a mobile game based on the Galwan Valley incident that happened a few months ago

When I first heard about FAU-G — so-called India’s PUBG Mobile rival, I wasn’t as excited as much as other Indian mobile gamers. And after seeing the first trailer, I was apprehensive towards the game, to say the least. Since then a lot of time has passed and with me being provided with the opportunity to be one of the first people in the country to try out the game I jumped at it. And initially, I was surprised. But the more I played the game, the more I found its flaws. Here’s are my detailed initial impressions of the game. 

Before I start, keep in mind that BGR India was provided with an initial build of the game, due to which some of the issues that I faced, could have been taken care of in the final build, which is available on the Google Play Store. 

FAU-G FIRST IMPRESSIONS

FAU-G will at one point offer gamers three modes: Campaign, Team Deathmatch and Free for all. However, for now, the nCore Games is only offering gamers the Campaign mode. Both the Team Deathmatch 5v5 mode and Free for all battle royale mode, will be made available at a later date with updates. 

I played the game on Android in the highest graphics setting, the game comes with the medium graphic setting enabled as default.

Starting off with the graphics, the game certainly managed to surprise me. Considering that it has been developed in India, and the earlier trailer was just too bad, the company has managed to deliver a decent game. The graphics were not as good as Call of Duty: Mobile but did manage to look realistic and good enough for a mobile game.

The version we had did have a lot of mechanical bugs, which were noticeable from the get-go. For example, if you were in a tent, you could hit the players trying to get inside. Some other bugs included, AI players not hitting you at all in the beginning stages, and them retreating back if you come back to the entrance of the stage. These bugs could have been fixed in the launch release, if not they are simple tweaks that the company can make.

One thing I missed a lot while playing the game, was the ability to set difficulty levels of it. The game started off extremely easy, with cinematic looks and a narration of the recent Galwan border incident. But as you passed the checkpoints it became more and more difficult to cross the stages. And considering the time constraint that is put on players, it is very difficult to finish all the stages. The game is indeed so difficult, that none of my colleagues or me have been able to pass the first chapter as of now.

The lead character, a Sikh army officer has to take on the Chinese Army to get to his crew. And while doing so he keeps on narrating dialogues like “Ek FAUG mission pure kiye bina waapis nahi laut taa,” which is fun at the start, but becomes annoying as you keep playing the game. However, this is understandable, as the game is also meant for kids to play, who find such stuff engrossing. While I was playing the game, the Chinese Army men were taunting the lead in English, however, while a colleague found them narrating dialogues in Chinese. This could be a bug, considering that the game has been made available in multiple languages. Design for the Chinese Army characters is also on point, with characters having facial structures similar to the China region.

One thing, I think nCore Games should add to the game is the ability for players to carry health packs. Sitting down near a bonfire just does not cut it. Players should be able to heal themselves on the go, as it would save on precious time and would not require them to keep on trying to go back to the last bonfire or unlock the current stage’s bonfire.