Ready for takeoff!

Of course, each game is unique, distinctive, and completely different from others. When talking about a game, all others can only be mentioned in passing, noting that this little circle in the interface looks just like in Diablo. The only exception could be, perhaps, sequels.

And ‘[World of Warplanes](/games?search=World of Warplanes)’.

No, of course, one can talk about it as a completely new project, but who would believe me? Even the small detail of the account clearly hints that this is not a separate game, but part of a big project that will eventually combine tanks, planes, and ships. If you haven’t yet understood – the account for ‘[World of Tanks](/games?search=World of Tanks)’ and ‘[World of Warplanes](/games?search=World of Warplanes)’ is the same. So, moving forward, I’ll talk as if you have played at least ten thousand battles in ‘Tanks’. Well, okay, a thousand. Fine, fine – a dozen. At least one, alright?

So, the process of downloading the client, launching the client, selecting a server, and logging into the game is no different – the torrent is as slow as ever, the client still delights with news, and there are still… wait. Beta test – only one server. And thank God, there aren’t too many players right now anyway. So, you log into the game. I swear, I was ready to cry from delight and happiness – they did it! Finally! There is training here! Interestingly, you have to pay for training, so the likelihood that someone will skip it drops to negligibly small values. Well, anyone who does skip it is their own enemy. The control, let’s say, is not exactly trivial. Another thing is that it would be nice to squeeze in a little combat practice, not just flying in the clear blue sky, in the training.

You finished training and are eager to kill? Well, since you are confident in your abilities… Oh, did training cause some doubt in you? Well, let me cheer you up. Now, you don’t have to find out for your credits that the T-95 under artillery lives sadly, shortly, and slowly. Finally, a training mode with bots has appeared. Of course, training with a friend is more interesting, but this <censored> nasty person is usually busy, and when he is not – he urgently needs to check if your T-95 penetrates the left rear hemisphere and whether it will catch fire if it does. The bots, in turn, are always free and sufficiently dumb to let YOU check rather than them. Unfortunately, the bots are always level one. For someone like me, who is clumsy, trying to see how a level ten fighter flies and shoots with them is quite difficult. No, I could probably ram them…

Tired of shooting at dumb bots and have gone into battle? First of all, remember that you are in a beta test. Waiting a few minutes is normal. Secondly, remember that these are airplanes. Airplanes fly in three dimensions and are much, no, MUCH faster than tanks. The entry threshold for a person who hasn’t played simulators before is much higher, so be prepared to endure. Those who have played simulators complain as well. Moreover, the phrase “tangled in a knot” perfectly fits most battles, and team damage is severely punished. And also – tanks cannot self-destruct by running into a wall. An airplane – easily. Into a wall, into a hill, into the ground, into an enemy, into an ally… In short, anything except for clear sky.

In general, “remember that this is a beta test” – is the most frequent thing I told myself during the game. Development is still elementary – no modules, though there’s a placeholder for them. There is no crew. No statistics. No medals. One chat. But there are hangar filters. And again there’s no option for “did not receive double experience”, that’s so sad… However, there’s no double experience either. There are no platoons. In one day you can fully upgrade a branch. There are only two branches in each nation. In a week, you can get all the planes. Will you be surprised by the wipe? I won’t.

But there are additional goals in battle. And, unlike everything listed above, they will remain when the game leaves beta test phase. Theoretically, you can win without shooting down a single enemy plane – just destroy ground targets. Actually, there are planes that do only one thing well – destroy ground targets. Well, they can fight off fighters if a drunk paraplegic is piloting the fighter. However, when flying over the bay of El-Hallufo, they can bring the team more points than an ace in a great fighter in five minutes of combat.

What? Points? Oh right, did I forget to mention that now instead of capturing the base – it’s points? You can shoot down all the planes, yes, but you only have fifteen minutes, and these bastards, can you imagine – they fly! And diligently dodge from fire. And the initial level machine guns, of course, deal decent damage… assuming all rounds hit. For which, in turn, it requires getting closer and keeping the enemy in the sights. A couple of seconds. At a speed of three hundred to four hundred (at least) kilometers per hour. In turns. In general, an attempt is certainly not a cause… But you can earn more points than your opponent by the end of the match. Such is the base capturing variant.

When you start to develop, first of all decide what you prefer – chasing the tail of the opponent or raining death from the skies. Piloting planes of high levels from different branches is very different. After a fighter, a ground attacker seems slow, unwieldy, and defenseless. But it has bombs. After a ground attacker, a fighter seems fast, maneuverable, and… damn, can’t be, how – is everything already behind?! What about shooting?

About development. Yes, it’s exactly the same here as in ‘Tanks’. The gameplay doesn’t differ in excessive variety, although the number of buttons to remember is more. Fight to gain experience, to get a higher level machine, to encounter stronger opponents, to fight.

The new project from Wargaming.net is more interesting and varied than ‘[World of Tanks](/games?search=World of Tanks)’. More varied in the sense that different machines have completely different tasks in battle, and ignoring them leads to defeat. For now, each of the three nations has only two branches, but we all know how quickly they can be replenished if desired. Yes, it’s harder to play, but that’s where the interest lies, gentlemen virtual pilots!

And in this variety and interest lies the wolf pit. Drinking half a liter and going into battle will not work – gunfights like “we stood facing each other and shot” cannot be arranged here. Playing, leisurely sipping beer, also won’t work – for the same reason. Roles are set much more rigidly – if in tanks a light tank dying in the first minute doesn’t bother anyone much, then here an attacker trying to shoot down enemy fighters can very well be the cause of defeat. In short, this game is not ideal for the office worker a bit over thirty, looking to relieve stress after a workday. As far as I know, it was these mentioned above that made up the main contingent of ‘[World of Tanks](/games?search=World of Tanks)’ in Russia.

Summary. The game is interesting, but the entry threshold is too high for the target audience of the previous project. To everyone who liked ‘Tanks’ – it’s definitely worth a try, but don’t be surprised if anything. Virtual pilots can give it a go, but remember – this is not a simulator. The graphics – you have seen it, there aren’t many changes. The music – who doesn’t turn it off? The sound design is at a level.

Thanks for the proofreading to Surt and Soth

Thanks for the opportunity to kotovsky