World of Tanks

The last few weeks I've been playing a lot of PS4 rather than tabletop games and this game is the reason.  A few years ago me and a group for friends used to play World of Tanks on the PC, now it has just been released on PS4 (and is also on XBoxOne) and we have really got back into it.

World of Tanks is a free to play 15-vs-15 deathmatch style tank game.  There are real money transactions in the game but I personally think they are handled very well.  Rather than offering an advantage they simply speed up earning silver and XP in the game, and offer some unique tanks which are still pretty well balanced.  It is possible to play without putting money into it and even if you do decide to, paying less than the cost of a new game will give you plenty.

The game includes 100's of different tanks from multiple nations.  At the moment the PS4 version only has Germany, America, Britain and the Soviet Union but more are coming that have been on the PC including French and Japanese.  The tanks are split into different types, Light, Medium, Heavy, Tank Destroyers and Artillery, with all provide a different role on the battlefield and having different advantages and disadvantages.

There is also a tech tree for each nation which allows you to earn XP on tanks and then use that to upgrade components like your gun, turret, radio or tracks.  Once you have earned enough XP you can also unlock new higher tier tanks.

Upgrading doesn't stop there.  You can buy equipment and consumables for your tanks which will further customise your tanks so they fit your style of play more.  Your tank crews also improve and once they are at 100% you can start adding skills to them that might speed up repair times or allow them to aim better while moving.

The game play is what really matters and the battles themselves are great fun.  There is no respawn, if your tank is destroyed you are out, but will still get extra XP and Silver if your team wins.  You are not limited to taking HPs off the other side as well, shots can kill crew members, damage modules, destroy modules or even set them on fire,  All of this will reduce the performance of the tanks for the match unless it can be repaired.  The armour mechanics of the game are very detailed, shooting from an angle can cause shots to ricochet off instead of penetrating the armour and hatches, fuel tanks, ammo racks etc are all weak points that increase the chance of doing damage.

The Spotting mechanic is also something I like in the battles.  You can't by default see the opposite team.  However if a member of your team spots an enemy they will automatically broadcast their location via their radio and any tank within radio range will have them appear on their minimap.  This makes good scouts very important and gives light tanks an important role since they are fast and tend to have a good radios and high spotting ranges.  Because there is a camouflage mechanic as well it is possible to hide yourself and when a scout spots an enemy shot at them without them ever knowing where you are.

Since I played the PC version the match making has improved.  You did used to end up in battles against tanks that were so much better than you there was nothing you could do, now each tank has a "plays up to" rating, that this the highest tier opponents you will face normally.  For example a tier VI medium might play up to tier VIII, that doesn't mean you will always only face tier VIII but you will never play against tiers IX or X.  It is possible that medium tank could end up being the highest tank with tier IV or V tanks that play up to tier VI making up the rest of the teams.  It isn't a perfect system and the matchmaking does some weird things sometimes but generally I've found that most teams are petty well balanced with the tiers and make up of the team (an almost equal mix of Heavy, Medium and Light tanks etc).

One of the main advantages though is how quick it is.  The matches are 15 mins long but as I said if you die that is that, but you don't have to sit and watch, you can grab another tank and go play another game while that one is finishing.  The tank that was destroyed is locked in that battle until it finishes but since you can keep multiple tanks in your garage you can play with a different tank until it free to use again.  I think the longest I have spent in the matchmaking screen is about 90secs and even that was using at higher tier tank late at night on the EU server when there were fewer high tier tanks waiting for a match, mostly is its only 10-30secs before a match is found.

Overall I really like this game.  I liked it on PC and I am really enjoying it years later on PS4.  There have been some HD upgrades to the console versions that haven't all made their way back to the PC yet.  If tanks aren't what interest you Wargaming.net have also reaslised World of Battleships and World of Warplanes on the PC.