The tank sim-lite genre of gameplay is saturated with a variety titles to choose from. From ever so popular World of Tanks to recently in beta Armored Warfare. There certainly isn't a shortage of games that provide that tank warfare fix; and these three titles primarily focus on free to play game features. However there is one thing in common with most of them; an arcade-health bar style damage system. One game attempts to stand out from the rest of them; War Thunder: Ground Forces. However, is that attempt to stand out enough?
The first thing you'll notice about War Thunder: Ground Forces is that there are no health bars. Instead, the developers have modeled a realistic damage system. Your vehicle has separate tracks, an engine, fuel tanks, weapons systems, ammunition and even crew members. All of these can be knocked out by enemy players (or in my case, invisible terrain). Having any of these components damaged will hinder your tank in some way. Losing your loader will lengthen the reload time. Losing your driver immobilizes you temporarily until another crew member can take over. This damage system is certainly superior to what other games offer, giving the player a more realistic tank experience. Rather than shooting a couple shells at an enemy tank and watching his health bar go down, you have to use intelligence and skill to carefully place your shots to find weak spots in armor, knock out crew members, or explode engines/ammo to destroy the enemy tank.
Ground forces also features three different game modes. Arcade battles, Realistic battles, and Simulator battles. Arcade battles is the friendliest of the three. It gives players a crosshair which tells you the penetration value of what you're aiming at and where your shell will land (green means highest chance of penetration, red means lowest or the shell will bounce). Enemy tanks also outline as silhouettes when spotted, making it very easy to attack them. There are planes included in this mode, however they are randomized in three categories (fighter, attacker, bomber) and you will not know what specific plane you will get from the categories selected. Realistic battles takes away that crosshair. No longer will you have an indicator of where your shell will hit relative to your aim. Silhouettes are gone and enemy players do not display a name above their tank. Planes are also included in this mode, however you can bring in your own line up of planes. Lastly is simulator mode. The camera angle is no longer wide displaying your tank, instead the camera emulates a tank commander popping his head out of the top of the hatch. Planes are also available but the control scheme follows that of their "air simulator battles". As of posting this review, simulator mode is no longer a separate option but an event in which the developers decide what tanks are available per team.
How Gaijin has gone about implementing the components of ground forces is commendable. It's certainly refreshing to play a game that doesn't rely on health bars, and it is nice that they have adopted a general policy of no "paper vehicles" (any vehicle which was designed, but never built). The issues I have had while playing ground forces however eclipse those positives. The game is downright frustrating to play. The grind in this game is one of the worst I have ever experienced. Simply unlocking the next tank in a tree can take a week, especially depending on how much time you have to devote to the game. Vehicles also have modules which have to be researched, many of which make it incredibly difficult to find success in the vehicle you are piloting. A "parts" module which allows you to repair can require several thousand Research Points (The experience currency in game) to unlock. And until then you are forced to play defensively to avoid getting any part of your tank damaged, because one you do, you are a sitting duck. Another module that requires RP to unlock is Fire Prevention (extinguishers). Once again, if you are unlucky, shot once and the server has decided that shell caught your fuel tank and set you on fire, you have nothing to combat this.
Ground forces also suffers from an imbalance combined with RNG (random number generator) factor. Tanks that were supposed to preform exceptionally well in real life are worthless in game, making use of them is a hassle and has caused me to quit in frustration several times. Other tanks at times seem nigh impenetrable no matter where you place a shell. Ping tends to play a large role in this sytem, as I've found that any match in which I have 100+ ping will result in my quit demise. On the other hand, matches in which I have 60 ping or less usually result in me dominating, destroying several enemies in quick succession.
Map design is also average at best in most of the maps. I primarily played Realistic battles and while my lumbering slow Tiger H1 (accompanied by similar tanks) was halfway to a capture point, the enemy had already been capturing it for 15 seconds. Coupled with that, capture points are set too close to spawns on certain maps, allowing cheap, game breaking mechanics to take place. There was a point where I had outflanked the enemy team, survived an encounter with an Is-1 and several T-34-85s and made it to the enemy capture point. Only to have the top player on the team respawn behind me and destroy me as I was anticipating them to attack from the front. Power creep has become a huge issue for the game with the recent inclusion of the T-10 powerhouse.
Physics for the most part functioned well; though there are many bugs and glitches in maps. Several times I will find myself coasting down a hill and hit an invisible rock. This can either damage my track and transmission or knock out my driver entirely. Your tank can also brush up against the side of a building and stop entirely, or get caught on a tiny trench that is no wider than a person.
Graphically the game is gorgeous. Gaijin have done a wonderful job with presentation and the recent addition of a Findland map showcases that they are proficient at making a good looking game. For example, snow will leave tread marks from your tank on Finland, or on maps with grass and dirt, you will leave tread marks there, and your tank will slowly get dirtier. Once you get up in there however is where it falls apart, as the render distance is abysmal. Typically if you play as a dive bomber or any other bomber you will have to be within one kilometer range of your target or they will not render on your screen. On land I was also experiencing rendering issues; with enemy players showing up one moment and disappearing the next. The biggest issue graphically is in regards to how the engine treats foliage and player settings. While I may be running my game maxed out, another player could be running on lowest settings. If we were to encounter each other in a forest, I may see a dense lush forest full of trees and bushes, and he might just see a barren minimal forest with myself sticking out like a sore thumb. There are many times where having my graphical settings on highest gives me a disadvantage. And there is no reason I should be disadvantaged because I can afford a system that can meet those settings.
Overall, while War Thunder does offer many good concepts, it fails at delivering them properly and offers more frustration than fun. As a free to play title, the grind is horrendous and tiresome (I've been working on unlocking the Panther D for a week, and I'm a decent player on the ground). As stated previously, I seem to spend most of my time frustrated cursing the game rather than enjoying it. If you're willing to deal with all the issues I have mentioned in this review, then give it a try. Just be wary before spending any money on the game.
Addendum:
I would like to add some additional information regarding graphical qualities of this game. An "ULQ" (ultra low quality) setting is available for those who do not have powerful computers. Unfortunately what this graphical setting does is not render certain foliage at an X amount of distance for those using that setting. That means that certain players can "cheat" to effectively see you while you cannot see them.
Kurtis: "War Thunder Ground Forces is a game of two minds and while it already brings about a choir of trying to figure out if the Ground Forces portion of the game is an expansion or a work in progress, that's actually not what I'm referring too. The visual attraction that the game strikes you with thanks to it's accurate details, vehicle models, dense terrain, and superb quality textures, suck you in and play on the part of your mind which tell you that "Pretty games are good games".
I completely disagree with your review.
I have been playing Ground Forces since the beta.
Fun fact:
I play with all factions and all of them are very well balanced.
- German tanks are not death traps. They are pretty much as they were in reality. The lower level of German tanks like Panzer 1-4 Ausf H and J are weak because the have very thin armour and any shell can penetrate it.... And because they have the ammo very close to the side armour it can result to a ammo rack most of the time. German higher level on the other like the Tigers, Panthers, Jags are very hard to beat and very fun to play.
You need to understand your tank, calculate your armour, your distance, your shell range and how you position yourself on the battlefield. This what makes Warthunder very FUN for people who really like and understand tanks. So for the fun factor is pretty much a 9/10. This is not WOT or Armored Warfare with their health bar and disappearing tanks. (hide behind a huge rock creep out shot a tank then go back behind the rock disappear again.)
As for Russian and Murican tanks its pretty much same situation. You need to understand what you are playing with.
- Sound: I think gun sounds are spot on. from Engine, gun and track metal griding sound. The different tones in every tank is significant and very accurate. Unlike WOT were the engine sound is copy paste from tank to another. (headphones)
- "allowing multiple spawns makes the game feel cheap"
In realistic mode there are no multiple spawns. So i don't how you can write a review without playing the whole game.... :/
- As for maps. I think maps are pretty much HUGE compared to other tank games like WOT. And the level design is good overall. Especially after learning each map.
"Rubber banding is also a prominent issue."?
I don't know what Rubber banding are you tanking about. But there is absolutory ZERO Rubber banding.
I have been playing 32 player match never had any lag what so ever. I think this depends on how good your connection is....