Experiencing the Thrill of World of Tanks
A tank rolls into a pristine French village square with bell towers and fountains. Explosions erupt, the sky darkens and is filled with dirigibles. In a German town, legions of tanks navigate through the streets as West Berlin devolves into chaos. Amidst the palm trees of a Cuban beach, tanks speed between missiles which are poised for launch. These are just some of the landmark moments in the history of modern war. World of Tanks offers the chance to relive or even rewrite history. The experience of playing this game is like nothing before. Overwhelming to the visual and auditory senses, World of Tanks is free to play and available on PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, macOS, and other platforms. This multiplayer online game revisits the moments which directed the course of the modern world and international relations of present day to ask us, “Would you sculpt a world that resembles our own?” There’s a great deal to unpack with this premise and the creators of this video game have manifest a presentation that has no equal. World of Tanks provides the closest gaming can offer to actually being in the middle of these conflicts.
The premise of World of Tanks is intriguing but, without question it’s the visuals that are the primary draw. Rumors are that the requests to be beta testers of this game exceeded 40,000 after gamers got hints of the appearance of this game. Servers crashed within the first twenty-four hours of its release in Russia. The praise and embrace of World of Tanks is evidenced in the critical gaming community with its abundant nominations and awards such as “Best New Concept” from Massively.com, “Gold Award” from the gaming portal Gamers Daily News, a BAFTA Game Award, the Record for the simultaneous presence of players on one MMO game server according to the Guinness Book of Records, as well as a host of others. World of Tanks has proven to be one of the most exciting and enduring games of the current decade.
In this game, players take over the control of a single tank which is dropped into a variety of scenarios ranging from training to random battles. Playing group sizes range from individual to as large as thirty participants (of two opposing forces). Success is defined by destruction of the opposing team’s vehicles or capturing their base but the manner in which one achieves this is what truly makes this game so exciting. The visual language and aesthetic personality of World of Tanks is parallel to any big budget Hollywood production. It testifies to the blurring of lines between cinema and gaming, at least in regards to the high level of production value. World of Tanks achieves a look that is only made possible through the work of the most skilled artists like Nadya Butylina. One of the most respected and talented 3D artists in the gaming industry, Nadya threw herself deeply into this project. She informs, “I spent a lot of time visiting museums of military equipment and on excursions to places of military operations. I wanted to see up close and in person how battle effected the appearance of these vehicles. I studied the damaged metal and tank armor to see how the explosions and impact altered it and its appearance. It was my task to create the 3D models of German, Russian, Japanese, French and Spanish tanks for the game. We took no shortcuts in making this the most honest and accurate game of its kind.” Ms. Butylina’s contributions for World of Tanks have been verified accurate by respected historical experts.
Gamers are like sports fans or music enthusiasts in that they know what they want and are deeply committed to it. World of Tanks is not yet a decade old and it perseveres because it looks and feels like an immersive experience. This game is a classic. You could take the awards and recognition it has received as proof, but discovering this for yourself by playing World of Tanks is more fun.
Writer : Winston Scott