War Thunder Review
Flying High
You’re
given the choice to fly through the skies in classic aircraft or stick to land
and drive hulking tanks across large battlefields, though I found the
air-to-air combat much better paced and fun. [Correction: there
is a mode that allows both land and air combat on one map.]
Whether
in the sky or on the ground, the 16v16 matches are filled with beautiful
vehicle models that bring these classic machines to life. Creeping across the
vibrant landscapes in a tank was great but my favorite moments would occur as I
crested a mountain and rays of light would wash over my aircraft.
Game types range from Domination to Ground Attack, and each has multiple
objectives for different roles to complete, so you aren’t stuck doing the same
thing repeatedly. Often times I would fly my Boston Mk1 bomber during
Domination maps to lay waste to NPCs on the ground with hefty 500lb bombs,
while my allies in more agile fighter planes handled base capture. Proper team
communication, like calling for allies to shoot a fighter off my tail, is
essential for success – especially true when playing in one of the harder
modes.Most of my time was spent in the action-packed Arcade mode, where vehicle
damage isn’t as severe and you have unlimited ammo and multiple respawns. I
found War Thunder’s flow and pacing to be at its best here, but two other modes
exist for the more hardcore enthusiasts: Realism mode increases the difficulty
by adding limited ammo and harsher damage penalties, while Simulation takes it
to the extreme, where a single mistake can spell doom, and you’re given no
extra planes to respawn with.
Helping lift War Thunder even higher is the audio. The planes sound terrific as
their engines rumble to life on the airstrip, and the the sound of gunfire is
deep and satisfying as bullets rain from the skies and bombs crash into
fortified emplacements. In fact, some of my favorite moments stem from times
where I've been able to hear an approaching aircraft and pinpoint its location
just by the sound as it buzzes from ear to ear.
Using
the mouse to handle all the steering of your vehicle on PC goes a long way to
help a newcomer learn how to fly or drive, and even after several hours of play
I found myself still using this basic setup with only minor tweaks to the
layout. War Thunder doesn't leave the hardcore hanging either, offering a
plethora of options for flight sticks or other peripherals. The PlayStation 4
version uses these standardized controls, with a single stick handling all
movement of your aircraft. I found the system was less effective on PS4 due to
the lack of precision a mouse and keyboard offer. It wasn’t until I dug into
the menus and altered how the joysticks controlled my aircraft that I began to
feel like I could fly with the same precision as the PC version, but it's
doable.
Unfortunately War Thunder begins to drift off course once you leave the field
of battle. Between missions you are thrust back into the cluttered menus, where
little is ever done to explain them or the meaning that lies behind them. It
took me a long time of exploring just to find out how to change my research
options and upgrade my crew. This left me feeling like I had constantly been at
a disadvantage in combat, due to my lack of knowledge on how to properly
upgrade and outfit my aircraft.
The sparse in-battle HUD stands in harsh
contrast to the overly abundant and cumbersome menus between them, and this
absence of information made things more difficult. Upon death, almost no
information is given to you to help explain why your enemy was able to knock
you from the sky.
This lack of information even affects the currency, of which there are three
types, but at no point was there ever a clear explanation of what each does.
Spending them can even prove bothersome, and it isn’t until the post-battle
screen pops up that I even got any hints. The one plus side is that at no point
did War Thunder make it feel necessary to purchase anything, as my time was
rewarded with generous amounts of research and currency. For a
free-to-play game, that’s the most important thing behind
actually being fun to play – and War Thunder generally gets both of those
right.
Verdict
War Thunder gives us lots of reasons to get
behind the stick, or wheel, of a ton of great World War II-era vehicles. With
strong visuals and convincing audio backing it up, I thoroughly enjoyed the
time I spent inside my P-36 Hawk, and its generous free-to-play model never got
in the way. It’s mostly the moments in between battles that bring the whole
experience down, as a lack of information and poor menus tarnish this flying
ace.