I’ve always been fond of tanks for some reason. Maybe their impact on the battlefield along with the German’s Blitzkrieg tactics back in the WWII made me a fan, or maybe it’s because of those 1 mil documentaries I watched in my free time. But hey, I am not alone and there is a pretty good niche market that Wargaming is exploring now with their latest game: World of Tanks.
World of Tanks promises to be a team base MMORPG Game dedicated to armored warfare. As tank commander you will experience some of the most action packed tanks battle, while having the ability to buy and drive over 150 armored vehicles from Germany, America and Soviet Union plus some from the allies tanks (from Churchill up to Matilda, there are all there)
As young promising tank commanders players begin their career within a light tank division. From there three subdivisions will be opened for future paths: Self Propelled Artillery (SPG), Tank Destroyers(TD), moving up to Medium Tanks or going for the big boys like Tiger/IS, Heavy Tanks.
After each battle the tank commander receives experience and credits based on how well he helped the team, by scoring hits, scouting, capturing bases and so on. With the experience he can then research for better modules, ranging from tracks, radios, guns, turrets and the next tier tank in line. As a part of armored division, commanders can own multiple vehicles from any subdivision as long as they researched those vehicles and bought them.
Each tank has a fixed number of crew members and abilities which are increased after each battle. These abilities, ranging from accuracy to speed and reload, can play an important factor in the heat of battle. At 100% development a special ability can be unlocked for each of them: fire department, camouflage and repair.
Battles take place on instanced maps and at this moment only 4 maps are available due to Closed Beta tests. These maps are big enough to hold over 30+ players at a time and they are filled with houses, trees and other obstacles that can be used for cover, or destroyed if you chose to. For the release Wargaming announced a persistent battlefield feature available for Clans, where each clan will fight each other for territory and resources.
One of the best features World of Tanks has, is the possibility to play multiple battles. For example if you have 2 tanks or more, and you died in the current battle, you can exit the game and play with the other tanks. The first tank which was destroyed will remain in battle until the end, and you will receive credits and experience like you were there, and a special log entry to know how things went.
Controlling the tanks is very easy like in every decent third person shooter. While speed and turning speed vary for each tank, there are also some realistic factors to take into consideration like slope armor, ricochet, front and rear armors, so these translate into tactical elements the player must always be aware of. You can even ram a tank that is smaller than you and make it blow or break his tracks.
Since the game entered closed beta several months back, WOT is in a very good shape at the moment: it’s polished, it has good GUI and good graphics, and also there are no complaints regarding performance. Although it’s missing a basic tutorial at the moment the official forums are full of guides.
The game is planned for release this fall with a free to play model, but with a possibility to buy gold (in game premium currency) to extend your account to premium which gives you in turn 50% more experience and credits.
If you ignore the cheesy title, you will find that World of Tanks is one of the best action mmo to be released to this date. It’s a great hybrid between action and realism, easy to play, moderate to master and very addictive even at this early stage. Take my word for it: this is not something you want to miss out on.
