War Thunder (english)

Free to play at land, air and sea

'Massive Multiplayer' is a term that is almost a perpetual motion machine by its own right. The idea to throw a huge number of people to the fights against each other guarantees every game is different. Human opponents make errors that no computer opponent wouldn't. MMOs are also the hotbed of discussion between kids and parents, latter not always understanding why 'five minutes more' would be good. War Thunder is a strong competitor with the World of Tanks, World of Airplanes and World of Warships-series of games. The content is , and development is active, for example, submarine game Silent Thunder is currently on closed testing. Thanks to the review code of the Helicopter addon, I'm focusing on this review on the flying machines more than naval or army assets.

Game information

Name: War Thunder v. 1.85 Developer: Gaijin Entertainment (2013,2016)
Platforms: Windows, Steam, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Shield Type: Massive multiplayer
Age rating(s): PEGI 12, ESRB: Teen
Review: Rami Sihvo
Pictures and Videos:
Helicopter-trailer
Wildcat 
War Thunder Naval Forces first impressions
War Thunder vs World of Tanks -- Which to Choose? (2018 Updated)

From the perspective of the gamer?

At first, the starting player is gifted with a month worth of premium time, so the microtransactions are not offered that actively.


The most significant difference with World of Tanks is how tanks and other fighting machines are eliminated. Simply put the shot should connect with something important inside, unlike World of Tanks hitpoint-based gameplay. Wart Thunder offers three different flight modes, arcade, realistic and simulation.

Arcade mode in World of Warplanes is slightly more realistic than Word of Warplanes, although it is still possible to shoot down better Tier aircraft. When flying the realistic game mode is a bit more pleasant with differences with the airplanes being more apparent. The most common view of the game is over and behind of the machine, though one technically could play from the cockpit or VR-cockpit.

The missions are well founded in context and players can win the game other ways than shoot every opponent. The possibilities of capturing zones or bombing enemy bases bring more tactical variety to the gameplay. For example, bombers have a strategical job, and fighters that can climb to their attitude are given a clear target.

The player can research playable tanks, ships, and airplanes in a linear way, though it's up to the player what he or she researchers. Every Tier needs a certain number of the warmachines researched and bought to advance to next Tier.

While newbie players start from the first Tier, they don't have access to jets or other modern equipment, this means the player needs to play a rather long time to get to the modern battles. Although the player can choose from many countries, one should notice that not all countries have useful wargear in certain phases of the research Tiers. For example Germany starts with poor tanks and airplanes but gets quite heavy gear at the next Tiers. Studying real history, tactics and wargear also helps, because the game is more about proper tactics than fast reflexes. The heavy fighter can't out-turn the agile dogfighter, so the player needs to play wisely. Sometimes one gets lucky even with lower tier fighter.

The crew has skills, and vehicle training and player can develop their skills throughout the game. The player can have a maximum of five (or six, if you use real money) crews in one battle. In practice, this means games usually last about fifteen minutes. In theory, there's a 30-minute time limit in Arcade and one hour in Historical battles. 

Some countries have long research trees with 1.85 version supporting the jet fighters. Previous additions have focused on the helicopters and naval assets. 

The player can buy premium fighters and tanks with real money. These are not overly strong, so the game balance is pretty well. Packets require that player is experienced enough, for example, helicopter packages need that player has researched 5. Tier fighter jet. Much like in real life the helicopters are indeed game-change in modern battles. 

While "all in one"-client makes playing easy I am left to wonder maybe all this is a bit too much as the player has a bit too many game modes and countries to choose from. While I was testing, I found out PT-Boats being just right stuff for me, although I had already invested a lot to the warplanes so I couldn't just start over with practically another iteration of the same game.

Perspective of the ratings?

2016 Gajin Entertainment added feature to shoot crew from the vehicles. This did raise the game age rating to the PEGI 16, but as the feature was removed the age rating was lowered. Currently, a player can hit the crew, but their wounds are not rendered. For example, gun turrets have a crewmember, but the wounds do not show, the player is just notified with the text that gunner was knocked out.

Thus, the violence is implicit although clearly so. For example during the tank hits player is shown with cutout how the round fragments inside of the vehicle. The airplanes can be shot violently down and hit to the pilot usually eliminates it.

Parents and game education?

The game is clearly Teen-rated violence. The community isn't half bad, the language filters are quite accurate and the game tries to push players to co-operate with many kinds of missions and rewards. The player is often rewarded of saving the teammates and co-operating with the wingman.

Twenty days of premium-account costs seven and a half euro. If a player is dedicated to unlocking the planes I would say the cost isn't that bad. Additionally, the player can play by premium fighters and tanks, but they are more potent than freely unlocked gear of the same Tier. This means that the game feels rather fair.

I want to comment on the slight issue with the sign in rewards. The boosters are pseudo-randomly given to player what seems like slot game or lottery. The boosters are quite useful and experience boosters give +10% for the experience points to the planes. The money of the game, Golden Eagles, can be purchased with the real money and one can spend them to speed up the research or get a spare plane.

While microtransactions are there, they should not be scary things for the players' parents. Instead one can teach his kids value of money this way. So, if they want to use the weekly allowance to game they are spending so much time with, I wouldn't have anything against that.

For the perspective of families, the battles are nicely short, usually about fifteen minutes. Many players are interested in history and have studied armor penetration and maths, so the game seems to generate positive learning experiences. Then again, the game does fit to parents, because of the requirement is on tactics rather than reflexes.

During the game, you can talk about...

• What the historical context of this warmachine?
• What are the historical strengths and weaknesses with this machine?
• What things affect to the armor penetration?