Online game "War Thunder"

The authors of War Thunder initially had a broad scope: they wanted to combine in one action game battles of tanks, planes and ships under the control of gamers. Gaijin Entertainment also benefited from their experience in creating simulation games - the team worked on the Il-2: Sturmovik series and created the aircraft sims Apache: Air Assault and Birds of Steel. With such a track record it is high time to take on an MMO action game. As we see, the studio has succeeded: released in early November 2012, the game for over ten years has been attracting audiences from around the world and is not lost against the formidable rivals in the face of "World of Tanks" and "World of Ships".

You don't need to pay anything to take part in battles - just create an account on the Gaijin website and download the game client. And then you only need to enter your username and password - and you can begin to carry out combat tasks. If you reduce the War Thunder to a concise formula, here you can choose any model of military equipment, whether it's a tank, SAU, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, fighter, bomber, UAV, helicopter, boat, destroyer, cruiser or battleship to fight with other players for control of the map. Locations, of course, are not designed for all vehicles at once - you can't shoot a ship out of a tank. But there are matches with the simultaneous participation of ground and air vehicles, as well as naval battles with aircraft.

It doesn't take long to get lost in the menu at first, but there's really nothing complicated about it. The main button you'll need is "Into Action! - is highlighted in red. And the panel below it with the mode is interactive. By clicking on it, you can choose in which format you wish to fight. The choice here is also wide, but if you look closely, it's easy to see that all the battles are divided into three types:

• Arcade - a simplified version, where machines have increased speed, ease of guidance and other TTX, provides for several revivals during the match (if desired - on different types of equipment), and over allies and enemies necessarily have markers. Naturally, the simplifications apply to all areas. Fighting in the sky, you get automatic ammo replenishment and overload protection - your plane won't fall apart in flight from a dangerous maneuver. You also can't take out important vehicle modules, and you've got aiming and redirection markers at your fingertips - in short, you're good to go and shoot without any unnecessary hassles.
• Realistic battles - a competition for thrill-seekers: the vehicles here are as clumsy as in reality, and even one shot, if successful, can destroy any vehicle. In general, every tank and plane in the RB must be adjusted, and the crews must be saved - for example, you can not control the tank if there is only one person inside. Planes in this mode are forced to replenish supplies at the base, there are no markers above the enemies, and the indication of prejudgment shooting is only on the fleet (at the same time, the adjustment for the range for the ship's guns still have to do manually).
• Simulation - the name says it all. No indulgences, everything is as hard as it is possible, the view is only from the first person, there are no markers even above your allies - accidentally knocking out your friend here is a usual thing. Suffice it to say that in this mode the developers advise to use special manipulators - pedals, joysticks imitating a steering wheel and other similar equipment.

Naturally, the more difficulties, the less willing to overcome them. Therefore, the bulk of users crowd into the arcade, those who have already mastered for a month or two - go to realism, and avid fans demonstrate their skills in the simulator. Another feature of War Thunder is that the combat rating (a key indicator of the player's effectiveness) is assigned to each machine and each difficulty level. And when picking up equipment in a particular match, the dispersion of BP in the opponents does not exceed one - no one will come out with a badly familiar tank or plane against a well-prepared enemy. And every mode must be learned properly - even the masters of arcade battles in realistic battles begin with the nursery group.

There is a huge amount of vehicles in the game, and the samples are divided by features, from the old/worst to the new/best, by weight, rank, as well as by country of manufacture. Ten countries are represented: USA, Germany, USSR, Britain, Japan, China, Italy, France, Sweden and Israel. If you take, for example, the Soviet medium tanks, in the research tree is available range from the T-28 of 1933 to the T-90A modification of 2004 - the more advanced the model, the more time and resources are needed to unlock it. The same applies to aviation and navy: no matter what branch you progress, the development goes from the worst to the best. But if you rank equipment by difficulty of mastering, helicopters will undoubtedly be at the top of the ranking - they are the hardest to control.

Separately, it is worth noting the variety of locations. You can fight in the desert, in the mountains, on the edge of the forest and among the ruins of the city. The maps are impressive in scale, which is both good and bad at the same time. The good news is that you get the tactical space - you can take advantage of the situation by making surprise attacks from shelters that are plentiful here. And the downside is that anyone runs the risk of running into such a "camper" - and being dropped out at the start after traversing half of the map without a single shot. Maps, as well as equipment, should be carefully studied, learning their weaknesses and strengths.

Matches differ not only in the degree of realism, but also in the rules. Most battles involve capturing and defending points on the map, but there are variations as well. For example, in "Supremacy" you must capture and hold three points on the terrain as long as possible to win, in "Capture" the winner is determined by the time of holding one central point, and in "Battle" it is enough to be the first to break the enemy defensive line. There are also battle conditions that are unique to this or that type of equipment. For example, the air "Operations" replicates real World War II raids, and during the naval "Clash" the way to victory is to control the point and destroy the entire enemy squadron in its vicinity.

On the other hand, there are purely arcade "Assault", where you have to destroy all the opponent's air forces, and "Front Line" - here, on the contrary, you have to burn the ground equipment of one of the teams. Clearly, there is no reference to historical events in such battles. But if we still talk about the historical aspect of War Thunder, the interest is the "World War. This is a thematic mode that allows you to play one of the battles familiar from the history books, and only on a realistic complexity and with the very equipment that was really used in this battle. For example, you can fight for Crimea, repeating the Kerch-Eltigen operation, which involved T-34 tanks, Yak-9 and La-5 fighters, as well as SU-76M self-propelled vehicles and even anti-aircraft units based on DShK machine guns.

Stand out in the game is the Confrontation mode, which is fully dedicated to air battles. There's nothing to be surprised here - after all, the studio Gaijin Entertainment knows a lot about flight simulators, so this entertainment is performed in glory. To take part in these matches, you must select the menu under the caption "In Combat!" item "Events and Tournaments". "Confrontation" is characterized by a huge size of maps and a long duration of battles that can last for three hours. At the same time, revivals are active, and victory and defeat conditions are determined by different mechanics and objectives from other modes.

Finally, it makes sense to add seasonal challenges to the modes, which become available with the release of each new combat pass. Tests can be weekly, for opening levels, and unique, one per season. As a reward for completing these tasks you can get premium equipment, decorators for cars and other elements of personalization, as well as, of course, various game resources. For example, currently relevant ninth season called "Scent of Victory" - for the success of it the gamer gets a fighter A-1H Skyraider, a tank Churchill Crocodile and LCM boat "Zippo", and a lot of decorations, united by the theme of the Vietnam War.

Conventionally, the entire progression in War Thunder can be divided into two parts: research and development of the already open. The first is helped by experience points, which are denoted by the light bulb symbol and accrued for any activity, whether it's regular matches or completing combat skip tasks. The menu has different branches for countries, types and subspecies of vehicles - nothing prevents you from dealing exclusively with German tanks or Soviet ships, if that is what you are interested in. And to collect the researched sample of equipment you can get silver lions - game currency received for the destruction of enemies. The same coins are spent on repairs, ammo, vehicle modifications, and crew training.

The second aspect of development is to improve the crews and individual units of acquired vehicles. Inside each tank, ship, and plane there are people - pilots, drivers, commanders, gunners, loaders, gunners, observers, and other specialists. They all go through stages of skill development - from novices to experts and aces. The highest level of skill is achieved either through constant practice in battles, or acquired for gold eagles - premium currency that can also be spent on the highest quality equipment. There are three ways to get these coins: trade them for silver lions, buy them for real money and earn them on the battlefield.

The game is impressive in its thoughtfulness. In addition to the fact that it has a mode with a full simulation of military equipment, each vehicle is drawn to the cogs, and after its loss you are shown exactly where the enemy shell hit and how the shrapnel hit the crew members or important mechanisms. Moreover, War Thunder uses real models of damage and ballistics - according to the developers, they used the table of firing of guns and machine guns, published in the XX century. The samples of equipment, by the way, are also real - unlike "World of Tanks", there are no prototypes that existed only on paper.

On the other hand, the company's project Gaijin will attract not only a fan of design finesse, but in general any person who likes the idea of large-scale battles involving armored vehicles, aircraft and navy. If suddenly it becomes difficult, you can always turn on the "Training Flight" or fight in arcade mode. In short, the project is multifaceted - and every gamer, whether he's a fan of historic battles or just beautiful explosions, will find something of his own in it. And it's free of charge.

Zarium. January 2023