War Thunder

War Thunder
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Developer(s)	Gaijin Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Gaijin Entertainment
Composer(s)	Zakhar Antonov Georgy Zheryakov Jeremy Soule
Engine	Dagor Engine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Mac OS X PlayStation 4
Release	Microsoft Windows November 1, 2012 (Open Beta) PlayStation 4 Mac OS X September 16, 2013 (Open Beta)
Genre(s)	Action, Realistic Combat flight simulator to Arcade-style Combat flight simulator, Realistic Tank Combat Simulator to Arcade-style Tank Combat Simulator, Planned to be added Realistic Naval Combat Simulator to Arcade-style Naval Combat Simulator
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer MMO

War Thunder is an online multiplayer combat game developed by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation 4. It is currently in the open beta testing phase with players able to give feedback on any bugs before initial release of the full game.

Gameplay

The game is set to contain aircraft, armoured vehicles, and ships from the Spanish Civil War to Korean War time period. However, the full game currently only contains aircraft and a limited number of ground vehicles, with further aircraft and ground vehicles, as well as ships, to be implemented later. Most maps in-game are either directly or indirectly based on real-life battles of the era.

The average size of maps in the game currently range from approximately 65 km x 65 km to 100 km x 100 km to 200 km x 200 km, although the engine powering the game is likely to achieve larger map sizes in the future. Estimates are said to be about 300 km x 300 km.

Arcade battles

In arcade mode, the game draws two teams of players (up to 32 people) with planes from different nations of similar level. It is possible to see vehicles of the same type on different teams. Damage and physics are greatly simplified (e.g. in very high speed dives planes do not have their wings ripped off and are still controllable), but retain some realism (e.g. bombers are not as maneuverable as fighters, limited ammunition but able to reload midair). Multiple views are available, from third person view, cockpit view, gunner view (if the aircraft has a gunner) and virtual cockpit view (if the aircraft does not have a cockpit model the virtual cockpit will be used). Arcade Mode games are played in either "Ground Strike," where in order to win players must destroy all enemy ground units, shoot down all enemy aircraft, destroy the enemy airfield and bombing points, or "Domination", which consists of seizing enemy airfields by touching down on them for about five seconds, causing the enemy team to lose points. Also, to help simplify aiming, a 'leading marker' appears when an enemy plane is in range. This shows where the enemy plane will be by the time the bullets arrive if the plane continues its current trajectory, greatly improving accuracy.

Realistic battles

Previously called "Historical Battles", this mode is designed for more advanced players. More realistic damage models makes long-range "sniping" difficult, and there is no 'leading marker' to assist with aiming. Also, due to realistic g-forces, making tight maneuvers at high speeds can cause pilots to black out or their planes to rip apart, and the views available are the same as in Arcade Battles. Once ammunition is used up, players will have to return to their airfield to reload and repair. In this mode, unlike arcade mode, players are selected for each team's nation, making it possible to recreate a real scenario, such as the Battle of Stalingrad between the Soviet Union and the Third Reich, although this possibility has decreased after several patches due to the introduction of premium prototype planes and alternate history setups as well as the match-up between planes determined by their "Battle Rating" rather than historical date of operation thus the name of the game mode was changed from Historical Battle to Realistic Battle.

Simulator battles

This mode is based on the more realistic simulation settings; only the first-person view in the cockpit or external turret gunner views are allowed, and flight physics are at a somewhat more realistic setting. The story mode is similar to the realistic battles – two teams of different nations are fighting each other for dominance in the sky, but the realism of the game at this level is slightly higher. Full Real setting also requires players to play with a joystick as opposed to a mouse and keyboard, whilst still possible to play with a mouse and keyboard it would be very difficult to control the aircraft under such circumstance.

Development

The development of the game as World of Planes began in 2009. Gaijin Entertainment used its experience with its previous flight games such as IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, Apache: Air Assault, and Birds of Steel in its development. The name was later changed to War Thunder due to confusion with the similar competitor World of Warplanes, as well as other reasons due to Gaijin wanting the game to not just be focused on aviation anymore.

Nations

There are currently five nations available to choose from in War Thunder. These nations are: USA, Germany, Soviet Union, Great Britain and Japan. Each of these nations have planes that flew in their air forces (some planes within War Thunder are prototypes or so called paper aircraft, such as the J8M, known in game as the Ki-200, a prototype copy of the German rocket interceptor, the Me 163 Komet) in the mid 1930s to the late Korean War era, with the most advanced planes in the game being the F-86 Sabres from the USA. With the recent 1.39 patch, variants of the F-86 can be used by Germany and Japan and the MiG-15s from the Soviet Union can also be used by Germany. All of these nations are available to all players, and they can be switched between at any time.

Ground and naval forces

Gaijin has planned to add playable ground and naval forces to the game with players being able to play all forces types (Air, Ground, and Naval forces) in one battle. As of now, ground forces such as AFVs (tanks) have been added into the open beta with update 1.41. Currently, only two nations have ground forces, those being Germany and the Soviet Union. Ground forces are, however, planned to be added to all the remaining nations. The most advanced tanks within the open beta as of now for Germany are the Tiger II PzKpfw VI Ausf. B armed with the 105 mm KwK 46, the Panther II, and the Jagdtiger, with the Soviet Union getting the IS-4M, T-54 mod 1951 and the ISU-152.

Although naval forces are not currently available for player control, due to development, players can take off from carriers in certain 'Arcade' and 'Realistic' mode battles. Naval Forces are in development, but not much is known about them. What has been confirmed is that the main ships types are going to be battleships, Aircraft carriers, Cruisers, and Destroyers. There is much speculation as to whether Submarines are going to be added with naval forces not.

Timeline

• April 1, 2011 – The World of Planes project is announced. Some game and broadcast media took this announcement as an April Fool's joke. However, Gaijin Entertainment confirmed the development of World of Planes, which was planned to be a multiplayer simulation of military equipment (ships, tanks and aircraft).
• October 6–9, 2011 – World of Planes is shown at IgroMir 2011. All guests were given the opportunity to play in the alpha version of the project at the stand. In early October, the closed alpha test was launched. Virtual pilots from Russia, CIS countries, from Europe and North America took part in testing. Gameplay videos shot in the alpha version of some testers were allowed to be published by the developer.
• December 24, 2011 – The developers announce the beginning of the World of Planes project to be started in the first quarter of 2012.
• January 9, 2012 – Edition of the popular British game magazine PC Gamer includes World of Planes in its list of the "Best Games of 2012", in the category of MMO.
• January 24, 2012 – Game publisher and developer Gaijin Entertainment announce a change of name of the project to "War Thunder" due to the fact that in future the game world will be expanded beyond the flight simulator to make it possible to manage land and marine equipment in one battle (also to avoid confusion with the game World of Warplanes made by Wargaming). On the same day, the official website was revamped.
• November 1, 2012 – Open beta test of the game begins.
• March 5, 2013 – War Thunder reaches one million players.
• March 19, 2013 – War Thunder releases update 1.29. This update introduced customizable ammunition belts, a new economy system, a new interface, an updated damage model, new planes (B-25 Mitchell, G5N and G8N, Tu-2s, Do-217 and the Gloster Meteor Mk. 8) and numerous other bug fixes.
• March 21, 2013 – War Thunder's US cluster is released.
• April 1, 2013 – War Thunder had a one-day event for April Fools in which players could fly around "little ponies", this was a reference to the large Internet fandom of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic; It was removed the following day.
• May 14, 2013 – Gaijin announce that the game will eventually be released on the Sony PlayStation 4 "in time for the holiday 2013 season". On the same day, Gaijin released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming ground forces.
• June 11, 2013 – Gaijin release the 1.31 Update for War Thunder adding in lots of new features such as Enhanced graphics and more.
• July 19, 2013 – War Thunder reach 3 records: one billion units destroyed, over 600,000,000 sorties flown, over 30,000,000 hours flown in War Thunder.
• July 25, 2013 – War Thunder reaches 3 million players.
• August 7, 2013 – Gaijin release the 1.33 Update for War Thunder adding in lots of new features such as new modification system and more.
• August 15, 2013 – War Thunder is released for Steam.
• August 20, 2013 – War Thunder is officially announced as a launch title for the PlayStation 4.
• September 26, 2013 – Gaijin release the 1.35 update featuring the new Events Mode, additional aircraft, new maps and other features.
• At Igromir 2013, Gaijin releases a demo of War Thunder's Ground Combat that visitors could try out.
• November 29, 2013 – Gaijin releases War Thunder for PlayStation 4 as a free to download game in the EU region. U.S. release will be at a later date TBA.
• December 18, 2013 – Gaijin release the 1.37 update. A new interface, aircraft, point system, and game mode names changes.
• April 14, 2014 – Gaijin release the 1.39 update.
• May 15, 2014 – An open beta for Ground Forces is announced with Update 1.41.
• June 3, 2014 – War Thunder is released on PSN in North America and is announced as being cross-platform between PS4 and PC.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	PC: 82/100 PS4: 76/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
Eurogamer	9/10
GameSpot	8/10
IGN	7.2
PC Gamer (US)	78/100

Award

Publication	Award
Gamescom	Best Simulation Game (2013)

At release, War Thunder was well-received with generally positive reviews. It was praised for its variety of airplanes and high-quality visuals.However, the user interface was criticized for being "overly abundant and cumbersome" in contrast to the "sparse in-battle HUD".

Since the 1.37 patch, the game has been criticized by the community, pointing at a disorganized tech tree and excessive usage of the in-game premium currency to the point that the game can no longer be played properly.

The Ground Forces update was negatively received by PC Gamer, calling the tanks "plodding and fussy. ... War Thunder consistently overestimates my interest in managing a tank's manual transmission. It's like coaxing a slug."

See also

• IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad
• Birds of Steel

External links

• Official Website