Do you ever feel like you are missing out on some big cultural phenomenon? That’s how I felt when I fired up War Thunder. War Thunder is a free-to-play game for practically every console out there, as well as PC. It’s a vehicular combat game that focuses on planes, ships/boats, and tanks from approximately the World War 1 era to the modern day. It’s a host to epic battles and has a massive player base that seems to take the game quite seriously.

I downloaded it and booted it up expecting a free-to-play game and was pleasantly surprised by how deep and engaging the game was. I was also extremely frustrated because I needed to ‘get good.’ The game is crazy deep, and I could easily sink hundreds of hours into this game and likely accomplish very little. With so many vehicles represented, it’s likely impossible to get good with every one of them while maintaining a life.

The big countries like America, China, and Russia are all represented, but so are Finland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and so many more. There is seemingly no end to the tanks and aircraft, and it’s not like Gaijin, the creator, is slowing down on content. The game apparently began as just a World War 2-era simulator and evolved into the behemoth it is now.

Jumping In Feet First

My first impressions weren’t great. You are hit with a ton of menus right off the bat that seems to be built for a mouse to click through. There isn’t a ton of explanation as to what you are doing or what you need to do to start. It can be confusing at first, and you have to slowly figure the puzzle out. Eventually, I was able to jump into a game where I promptly got murdered. I repeated this process, trying my best to fly and fight, but dear god, I felt like a kid in a boxing match with Mike Tyson.

The learning curve is steep. I promptly switched from realistic to arcade and did a fair bit better. I liked flying the planes the most, and the arcade just puts you in the sky with 31 other players, and you can have some real fun. Outside of Arcade, you have Realistic and Simulation, which are where hardcore players promptly stomp newbies like me.

What’s frustrating is that every time I died, I felt like it was my fault. I can’t blame someone camping when we are all in the air. I just got outflown. The controls feel tight, and everything is mapped easily enough to use and get used to. There are no massive issues to make the game hard to play on a controller versus a mouse and keyboard or joystick.

To me, playing as tanks was also a little better than planes. I’m not saying I had a better K/D ratio, but I didn’t die nearly as often, which was nice. I’m convinced Arcade mode is the only way to start this game. This way, I could learn the maps and controls without immediately killing myself or being killed.

Impressive Detail

The more I played, the more I began to read about War Thunder. The developer is super detailed about how the tanks, planes, and boats work and function—not just speed and armor capabilities but down to how fast the turret rotates and how much ammo it can carry. I learned that the size of the munition comes into play, and some are too big to effectively hit vulnerable areas of other tanks.

That’s absolutely insane. I also quickly theorized this was a Chinese spy machine as I read about the various leaks of real classified materials by players. Gaijin made the game so addictive and difficult and so detailed that if they did something wrong, someone would be around to correct it. As a writer, I know it happens. Lord forbid you write AR-180 when you mean BRN-180.

There have been at least 10 leaks of classified information. My theory does fall apart when several of the leaks have been from Chinese players, and Gaijin is a Russian company. Apparently, the company will remove the information from their forums, but that makes me wonder if it’s still implemented in the game for realism’s sake.

It’s About the Moments

I won’t say the game is all great. Most of the gameplay I experienced was frustrating, and it has a huge learning curve I’m not quite over. But the game has its moments. Moments where you or someone else does something awesome, and you want to cheer. It juxtaposes the joy against the sheer frustration of the game.

There is also a massive playing curving to get to modern vehicles. This is a free-to-play game, and like most free-to-play games, there is built-in monetization. I’m sure you can unlock everything without spending a dime, but it seems like you have to be a machine to do so. The game really wants you to purchase the premium subscription. They also want you to buy the premium vehicles, and nearly force your hand to do so.

Your basic vehicles all have repair and upgrade costs, and after each match, you’re sinking the in-game currency into those. The premium vehicles you can purchase with real money have much cheaper repair costs. It does have a pay-to-win component, but if I’m being fair, you can still spend money and suck at the game, too, not to mention the gambling loot boxes that can deliver absolutely nothing.

I’m not spending actual money on this game. I refuse, so for me and players like me, it’s an absolute grind. That grind balances against those moments when you land a great shot onto an enemy tank and win the game or when an ally saves your bacon, and you want to toss them a virtual high five.

Is It Worth It?

As a free game, sure. War Thunder had its moments where I was having fun, and I enjoyed the fact there was never an issue getting into a game. For the price of free .99, I’ll play it. Will I continue to play it? No, not at all. I don’t have the time needed to grind away, and I’d spend the rest of my life trying to earn one of the premium tanks at the current rate I’m playing. One thing I will say is that this is the first game I’ve enjoyed watching other people play. Watching skilled players on YouTube go at it is pretty entertaining. For now, I’m going back to Ace Combat.

Well, maybe I’ll come back for the Mobile infantry event.