A Search for the Best Free to Play game: Episode 3 – World of Tanks

In day 3 of our search for the best free to play game, we went back to strategy in a good old-fashioned game of World of Tanks.

Starting out

To begin you’ll run through a short tutorial course which teaches you how to move, aim, shoot, and lock on your target.  It’s possibly one of the quickest tutorials out there and it really gives you all the commands you need to know.  After competition of the tutorial game, there is a 3 minute video that goes in-depth should you want to watch it.

Getting Ready for the World of Tanks

The game starts you off with an assortment of tanks to choose from.  Simply pick whatever you want to play with, but  keep in mind you’ll probably want to keep 2 tanks in your garage ready at all times.  Once you die in one battle you can’t use that tank until the match is over, however you can still leave the match once your tank is destroyed, go back to your garage, and start another battle while that one continues.  Once you finish your 2^nd battle, your first tank should be out of battle, ready to be repaired, and resupplied.

Tank types

 

There are 5 different types of tanks in this game all with their unique specialties.  Note: There are currently over 200 tanks to choose from, and that number increases as they continue to release more.

Light tanks – These are your low armor, fast-moving, and low damage tanks.  These are ideal for scouting for enemies and taking out larger tanks by getting behind them.  A light tank can often take out a medium or large tank if they get the advantage of coming up behind them.  The larger tanks are unable to turn their turrets as fast as the light tank can move.

Medium Tanks – The medium tank is a balance of about everything.  Their damage, range, armor, and movement speeds are often in the middle ground, making them ideal for any beginner.

Heavy Tanks – Your heavy tanks are very typical in relation to heavy tanks, they are high damage, slow movement, and high armor.  While most people will shoot for a heavy tank, I really would suggest learning the smaller tanks before jumping into a heavy.  You’ll find yourself swarmed very quickly and unable to attack your targets if you don’t understand how the game works.

Artillery – There is artillery in this game!  So if you’re the type that just can’t get the hang of using a tank, perhaps you should focus on using a tank that allows you to research the artillery in the tech tree.  This will give you the opportunity to hang back and knock out enemy tanks from afar

Tank Destroyers – Tank destroyers are a very unique type of tank.  They don’t have turrets like other tanks that can freely rotate in a 360.  Instead you need to keep your tank pointed at other tanks, as your turret will only go in the direction your tank is facing.  Also the tank destroyer has a heavy plated front armor which can often take direct hits without taking damage.  This is a fun tank type to play, however I rarely had much success due to the limited mobility.  The damage on this thing is incredible however, it can really make someone’s day a bad one.

 

So now that you have two tanks in mind that you plan on using, you can simply just hit the “battle” button up top.  The game will instantly match you up with other players waiting to join a game.  There is an abundance of players waiting to join a game, so wait times are typically only 1-10 seconds long.  The longest wait time I had while playing was 40 seconds.

Gameplay

This game really feels like a polished game.  The developers put a lot of hard work and thought into its development.  The only true drawback I’ve seen is the need to pay real money for a lot of the items.  However, with a little patients and some hard work, I felt confident in my tanks abilities without feeling the need to invest any money into the game.

You start out with a 30 second timer for the match to start.  I suppose this is so all players can load up the map and all start at the same time.  Once the timer has reached 0, everyone scatters into bushes, behind buildings, on top of hills, and a few brave tanks will charge into the enemy lines.  I choose to take a high ground, or hide my tank within a tree line, and wait for the light tanks to scout out enemies.  Once an enemy has been spotted, you can press the shift key to zoom in on the target, and right-click to lock on.  As long as the enemy tank is spotted, you can freely move around the map, and your tank will remain locked on that target.

The game play is a great mix of realism, and good game mechanics.  You can choose to hide your tank in a bush, in a thick of trees, or behind a house.  However, by firing or moving your tank, you are much more visible to enemy scouts and will often find yourself in a barrage of tank rounds if you don’t move out of sight quickly.

To keep things balanced, world of tanks matches players based on their level and development stage of their vehicles.  So you won’t find yourself getting completely demolished too often.  As long as you keep your wits and don’t go firing at the birds in the sky, you should be alright.

 

The Crew

So just because you have the best tank in the world, it doesn’t mean you’ll perform like the best, unless you have a trained crew.  Each crew starts out at 50% trained and gains experience as you battle with that crew.  You can pay 20,000 in-game currency to raise their level to 75%, or you can pay real money for gold and train them up to 100% instantly.  You can exchange crews from other tanks by placing them in the barracks and assigning them to another tank, so they aren’t limited to just one tank.

Tank items

Your tank can be equipped with a few items to give you an edge over an enemy.

First aid kits – These are to heal your crew, should they be damaged in a fire fight.  Losing a particular crew member can result in decreased accuracy, slower tank movement, and a few other issues I haven’t experienced.

Tank Repair Kits – Repair kits can quickly repair a damaged tank in the middle of a battle.  These can really save you should you run into some trouble, but they are rather expensive.

Ammunition – Tanks don’t just use one type of round.  You can purchase alternative types of rounds depending on which tank you’re going against.

Match Completion

Once a match is completed you will be rewarded depending on your performance. Rewards include both research points to upgrade your tank, or research new tanks, as well as in game currency to purchase those upgrades after they have been researched.  Rewards are given out whether you win or lose, however you’ll receive a greater amount if you win the match.

World of Tank Customization’s

Another perk to the game is the ability to customize your tank with words, emblems, or camouflage.  Permanent customization’s must be purchased with gold, however you can do 7 or 30 day leases by purchasing the customization’s with in-game money.

Overall thoughts

While both the game and your tanks start off a bit slow, the game increases in fun as you begin to understand how to use each tank to its full potential, and learn areas of maps that are good for cover or protection.

The game play is quite possibly the smoothest I’ve seen in a free to play game.  The tech tree, tank upgrades, and all the choices that can go into a tank are just simply amazing.  The developers behind this game really put a lot of thought in to what they wanted in a game, and executed it greatly.

For Episode 1 where we play the free to play MMOFPS Warframe click here.

For Episode 2 where we play the free to play FPS Artic Combat click here.