World of Tanks

[Diddums 4,305]

 

Bout time I did this. I played the hell out of this when I was big in to PC games, I was a premium member, had loads of tanks and upgrades, some crews were maxed out, I was an artillery player and was ridiculously good at it. Suffice to say when I found out it's on PS4, I got a little excited and forgot about it, until I installed it last night and put a couple of hours in. Here are some thoughts:

 

 

Game model:

 

It's free to play, but you can become a premium member for a monthly fee. All this does is accelerate the rate at which you gain XP and credits. There is no requirement to pay at all, the game is just as fun for free as it is when premium. The game has been ported extremely well to the PS4. In fact, I'd almost go as far as saying that it runs smoother on the PS4 now than it did on the PC for me a few years ago. There is loads of conflicting information regarding the frame rates, but it certainly felt smooth, I wouldn't be surprised if it's running at 60fps. The graphics, whilst not earth shattering, are very good and more than adequate for the game.

 

Game type:

 

It's a shooter, but not as you know it Jim! First off, the pace is quite slow depending on what class you play. There are various classes of tanks and you have to play to your class' strength or you'll get shat on. Rushing in to battle with a medium tank will get you blasted to bits before you can rotate your turret. Likewise, hanging back with a light tank will just make you artillery fodder. A light tank that isn't moving is a dead tank. Their strength is their speed, they're hard to hit but take little damage so a good hit will take them out. Artilleries are made of paper. They're slow, cumbersome, can't hit anything that's close to them, require light tanks to spot enemies for them, but when they hit, they hit from above and can literally penetrate a tank and kill the crew inside, and a good shot will devastate all but the toughest tanks. Tank hunters / killers can only shoot in an angle of about 30deg in front of them, so flanking them and hitting them from behind will allow you to shred them. Just make sure they don't get you in their crosshairs or you're screwed. Heavy tanks are the brutes of the game, these guys don't have much firepower or speed, but they can take one hell of a beating, so you need to focus fire on them. The game requires thought, wit, and teamwork. A disorganized team is a dead team, and a well organized, communicating team will just faceroll all but full teams also on comms.

 

Combat:

 

Combat is slow and you have to think before just pop shotting at enemies. Firing a shot will reveal you on the map so if you're going to fire, make it count. Hiding in bushes and shrubbery will add extra cover making you harder to spot. This is where you'll find most artilleries and tank killers. You can use buildings and terrain to your advantage. Tanks can't shoot down so if you're an in-the-face combat tank, use that fact and the terrain to your advantage. Tanks standing on the edge of a hill are exposing their bellies, where they have no armour, so a good shot will ruin them. You can aim for specific parts of tanks: fuel tanks will possibly cause a tank to explode, tracks will disable them for a bit, engines will cripple them, and ammo racks will take out a chunk of their ammo and possibly cause the tank to explode / catch fire. You have various types of ammo, HEAT (high explosive anti tank), AP (armour penetrating), HE (high explosive), and a few more if I remember correctly. You can start with a couple of different rounds and swap during battle, but this takes time. Ammo is finite, upgrading your ammo rack will allow you to carry more and it's not unusual to run out of ammo during a hectic fight, making you nothing more than a spotter. If you get killed, you are done. That's it for your round and for that match. If you have more tanks in your hangar, you can simply leave the fight and join another one in a different tank. You don't lose any XP bonuses from the match you left.

 

Upgrades, progression and unlocks:

 

The unlock tree is fantastic in this game. It's actually quite realistic too, in that you can't just research a new tank, you have to go through another tank's tech tree before your engineers go "aha!" and tell you there's another tank to research. There are loads of upgrades for tanks, from engines, to reloaders, turrets, radios, and more. Each upgrade provides its own improvement, but weight is something you need to take in to consideration. Nothing worse than a slow tank that takes an eon to get up a hill because it's got fifteen Brownings on top. There are different nations, each with its own tech tree. China, Russia, England, USA and a couple of others. You earn XP which can be spent on research, but you can't jump trees - if you have loads unlocked on the English tech tree for example, and you want to go to Chinese kit, you start from scratch again. Your crew also learns and improves the more you use them. A gunner will aim faster, a reloader will reload faster, an engineer will put out fires and repair quicker, etc etc. You can send them to an academy which puts them out of commission whilst they train but they will come back better and faster than before. You can hire people from all over the place to form your own crews and you really learn to appreciate the guys you have. The amount of times I've thought "that wouldn't have missed if Sterling was aiming" is insane, it really adds a great dimension to the game. 

 

You can purchase additional hangar slots for more tanks so you never have to wait. Once a tank is in combat, it's in that fight until the end of the match, even if you leave with it at 100%, so it pays to have extra tanks so you're never waiting. This also forces you to try different tanks and classes which is great. It gave me a greater understanding of what the enemy tanks were doing and their capabilities which is a huge advantage in a fight. Knowing exactly how far an artillery can shoot means that you can stay out of its range. If it misses you, you know exactly how long you can stand still before it fires again, so you have to move. Intel really is the name of the game here and the more you know and learn, the more effective you'll be. 

 

Maps:

 

The maps are brilliant, there are some with cities in them, there are some which are just open fields, there are some with water which catches small tanks out (the amount of times I've drowned a small tank is silly, thinking I could just go across), the variety is excellent and provides for a great experience.

 

Game modes:

The only game mode I know of is where you have to either eliminate the enemy team or cap their base, but I believe that there are more now.

 

Noob friendliness:

 

When I played this on PC, the game basically went "have tank, kill stuff" and that was it. The PS4 has a few tutorial missions to get you to grips with the basics, but it doesn't hold your hand which is great. The upgrades have also been split in to packs so instead of spending hours trying to figure out what the hell is going on, the game gives you a pack option which upgrades a few bits at once, although you can also buy stuff individually if you want.

 

Closing thoughts:

 

I'd love for you guys to try this. It's not a time sink, it's not a game with an end game or missions, it's a PVP only shoot out game and the best team wins. It's immense fun and there's no pressure. There are no campers, no head glitchers, no Mida multi tool twats, every tank has a weakness so exploiting that will give you the upper hand. Knowledge and experience is the name of the game here, and the game will never throw you in a game against vets, if you're a noob, you're playing against noobs. 

 

 

Give it a shot, it's free and fun!

 

 

Vids:

 

 

[phil bottle 9,584]

I'll join you for a game over the weekend if you're about Dave.

Tonight is Rainbow 6 most likely but let's see!

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[The3rdWalker 1,263]

zZz

[Diddums 4,305]

zZz

 

 

[GazzaGarratt 10,878]

^and this is why i love this place and all of you.

Banter. All re-useable too.

[The3rdWalker 1,263]

From now on I will only respond to you via copy pasta from your own posting history. It's on, David.

[tronic44 3,628]

gah i deleted this the other week as i didn't have enough space on my ps4, damn you Dave!