Video Game Review: World of Tanks

http://www.mmofront.com/world-of-tanks.html

Well I have been giving World of Tanks a whirl thanks to the insistence of my friend Ralph (random_player).  Its sort of fun and definitely worth your while as a free game.  You control a tank battling another group of tanks in world war 2 Europe.  So far I have not gotten to the full featured version of game play that my friend showed me at his house. But that's OK, I have no idea what I am doing and don't really need further complications like managing crew skills and extra expendables.  I just try to wait back until someone who knows whats up does the work.  I guess that is the best for the newbie even a newbie with a Jaegerpanzer.

This game really is going to appeal to world war II buffs as it includes tons of tanks from the era.  You can work your way up unlocking more and more powerful tanks until you are driving a land behemoth like the German Maus tank. A bit wonky aspect of the game is unlocking the tech upgrades that power up your tank.  You can upgrade your track, engine, turret and gun in most cases.  What I find interesting is you are researching and upgrading in two steps.  One you purchase with experience and the other with cash.  The cool part is upgrades that are similar across tanks are available to all.  So the maebach engine I researched for my Bison tank can be purchases for many of the other tanks I have.

I find myself a fan of the self propelled guns.  They allow for some indirect fire options, though line of sight comes in somewhere.  You are sort of the sniper of the game using your indirect fire to drop ordinance on targets at extreme range.  The tank hunters like the Jaegerpanzer are fast direct fire sell propelled guns.  I suck so those were the only two tanks I got kills with.

I like the fast nature of the games being over and done in twenty minutes was a nice change from Dungeons and Dragons online.  But I have to say I am a little mystified by the game strategy and my computer runs pretty slowly.  I don't have a graphics card worth anything in my Dell, I have been waiting on an upgrade I may have to do it sooner than expected. 

One aspect of the weekends gaming that left me a bit sour on World of Tanks was returning to DDO for a Harry run.  I just move so easily and can jump around getting anywhere I want.  Getting the killing blow on Arraetrikos sort of summed it all up.  It felt epic and I felt epic.  Being primarily a bard I don't get kills on raid bosses, so being a barbarian now I feel so much more bad ass.  That is missing from the tank game.