On this weeks Free-2-Play Friday, we’re taking to the skies in an endless dogfight with War Thunder.
Gaijin Entertainment has been known to deliver exceptional combat flight simulator games, and in 2011 War Thunder was announced to the world as the next great combat flight simulator. Of course, in 2011, it was called World of Planes, but the name was changed at the start of 2012 after the direction of the game became less focused on being only a combat flight sim. Later in 2012, the open beta began and by 2013 the game had amassed over 1,000,000 players, and just a few months ago Gaijin announced that War Thunder will be coming to the PlayStation 4 this holiday season.
When you start playing War Thunder, the vehicles available to you are from the early World War II era with Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the USA all being playable nations with seperate tech trees. As you play matches and rank up, you will progress through technology. Currently the military technology available for use in the game caps off at the Korean War, but there is no reason that the game couldn’t expand further and further as time goes on as well as add more playable nations.
Currently, the War Thunder beta on PC only supports aerial combat with AI -controlled tanks and warships, and immediately there can be comparisons drawn to its F2P Combat Simulator competitor World of Warplanes. The gameplay of War Thunder is very similar to World of Warplanes and if you take it for its face value alone, you won’t be able to tell the difference. On the surfac,e War Thunder is just planes vs. planes with tanks, boats, and AA guns serving as mission objectives all over again, but if you choose to dig deeper into the experience you will notice that War Thunder is no World of Warplanes clone.
The first major different between War Thunder and World of Warplanes is that the controls can be very realistic if you want them to be. The default setup is ultra simple mouse and keyboard controls, which work very well for the casual gamer, but for those that want to take it to the extreme you can go as far as playing with complete aircraft controls. Most players will probably choose to stay in the middle ground with a more simple control layout that allows for just enough precision for you to be that hot shot pilot you have dreamed of being since you saw Top Gun for the first time, but the option is there for the flight sim enthusiast to really push it to the extremes.
If you choose to configure the controls manually to fit your play style, then be prepared to spend some time figuring out the menus. The terminology in the controls menu with the current version of the game is a bit confusing and takes some trial and error to figure out. For instance, instead of saying left and right the menu says minimum and maximum value. This is something Gaijin will hopefully clear up by the time the game is released on the PS4.
Another feature that helps War Thunder differentiate itself from its competitors is its RPG elements. You can level up your pilots stats in the game as you gain experience. The stats that are currently in the game are as follows:
Keen Vision – Increases the range at which you can detect enemy targets
Visibility – Increases maximum view distance
G-Tolerance – Increases the amount of G-force your pilot can withstand before passing out.
Stamina – Increases your pilots resistance to fatigue.
Vitality – Increases the hitpoints of your pilot so he can withstand more gunfire.
This stat system allows for you to build your pilot according to your playstyle. If you are the type of pilot who is into flying a lot of crazy maneuvers, then you might want to invest some stats into G-Tolerance and Stamina; or if you are more of a bomber pilot, you might want to increase your pilots vitality in preparation for the beating that your larger and slower plane will be taking. None of War Thunder’s competitors have a system that gives the player this level of customization.
Gaijin Entertainment has said that players will eventually be able to control tanks, planes, and warships all in the same battlefield. This is something that really distinguishes War Thunder from its competitors. Granted, this massive addition to the gameplay has yet to be added, and unfortunately no firm release date for these features has been announced. Only time will tell if the influence of having players controlling all these different vehicles will improve or hurt the game, but the idea of having everything in the battle controlled by players has us at PSU very excited.
The gameplay of War Thunder seems fit for the PS4, or more specifically, the DualShock 4. The effect of mapping the controls out to those dual analogs will be amazing, and the triggers and buttons will make using your guns, cannons, torpedoes, bombs, and rockets more comfortable than ever. The Share button will also give you the ability to show off your skills at any time on the PSN or social media. The ability to share your gameplay easily is going to improve the overall experience, because nothing screams bragging rights more than shooting down three aircraft in one match.
War Thunder still has plenty of room for improvement, especially when compared to other F2P games out there like Planetside 2 and Warframe, but when placed against its competitors of the same combat flight simulator genre, it is looking like it could come out on top. Gaijin Entertainment has done a lot to make War Thunder currently stand on its own as the combat flight simulator in the F2P market and the future release of this game on the PS4 is definitely something to look forward to. With the PS4 and War Thunder, your ability to rule the skies will be better than ever before, just remember one thing—never leave your Wingman!
War Thunder is currently in open beta and can be downloaded onto your PC right here. Have you played War Thunder yet? Are you excited for its eventual release on the PS4? How do you feel it stacks up against its F2P competitors? Let us know in the comments section below.
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If you missed last week’s issue of Free-2-Play Friday check it out right here. Every Friday we will share updates and gameplay details on a different free-to-play game on PlayStation, so stay tuned and be sure to come back for next week’s Free-2-Play Friday.