War Thunder is a game developed by Gaijin Entertainment. War Thunder is a cross-platform MMO which emphasizes on World War II era aircraft and tanks. On this game, various aircraft from different era and countries combat each other on a massive map.
Gameplay:
War Thunder has hundreds of historically accurate aircraft from various countries. The main countries include United States, Great Britain, Germany, Soviet Union, and Japan. Each countries have various aircraft and tanks at disposal throughout the game, from the B-29 bombers of United States to the Spitfires of Great Britain.
Initially the player starts with aircraft from as early as the 1930s. This means starting with biplanes until the player moves to higher tiers. The higher tiers however include various post-war aircraft such as early jet fighters.
The game modes are distinguished between three choices: Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator Battles. On the arcade mode, the difficulty is set to the easiest wherein you point and shoot where you want the aircraft to fly. The aircraft also self-adjusts to provide a smooth level flight such as automatically controlling rudders and ailerons during a desired flight manoeuvre. In this mode, mid-air reloading of bullets and bombs are possible as well. Provided you have a number of planes in your arsenal, you can easily go back into battle using a different plane when the plane you used either crashed or shot down.
The next difficulty is the realistic battles. In this difficulty, flight characteristics are much more realistic than the arcade mode. The player has to account various factors during flight such as stall speeds, and high load manoeuvres. The plane can disintegrate if a manoeuvre exceeded loads on the aircraft. Aircraft control can also be lost if the pilot passes out due to high g-forces during certain manoeuvres. Once ammo or bombs are depleted, the player must head back to base and land the aircraft for reloading or repairs. Unlike arcade battles, the player can only use one plane for realistic battles.
Simulator battles on the other hand is for serious enthusiasts. As the name suggests, the difficulty of this game mode is on par with simulator levels. This translates to players accounting various flight characteristics such as take-off speed, maximum height, stall speeds, and many more. Playing with a mouse or controller is extremely difficuly in this mode. A proper simulator setup such as joysticks and rudder pedals are needed in order to fully enjoy this game mode. On this mode there are no assistance and the view is only restricted to the cockpit. Therefore the player must rely on the surrounding view of the cockpit to fly and shoot enemy aircraft.
Verdict:
Overall, War Thunder is exceptionally addicting especially if you have interests in historical aircraft. The satisfaction it gives for moving to higher tiers of aircraft is exceptionally makes you want to play more. With five countries to choose from that means hundreds of aircraft to fly and experience.
The game has an addictive gameplay with stunning graphics; it even has VR support for increased immersion.
Despite the amazing graphics, lower spec computers can also easily run the game. The game is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and PS4. The great thing about this is everyone can play with each other whether you play on a computer or PS4 due to cross-platform possibility.
The game can be downloaded from Steam or warthunder.com
Featured Image Credit: (warthunder.com Photo)
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