Lightning Strikes: War Thunder Moves Into Open Beta
I'm not much of a pilot. My piloting endeavors are often met with disastrous results and usually consist of my plane's flaming carcass charging towards the ground. So you can understand why I usually shy away from any game that requires a joystick. All of this changed when I got a taste of Gaijin Entertainment's World War II combat MMO War Thunder.
War Thunder seemed to understand that there are those who enjoy the high flying acrobatics and complexities of WW2 fighter games but suffer from the "I'm terrible at flying" syndrome. The game was able to grab my attention right off the bat with its friendly beginner interface coupled with incredible depth. Suddenly I could enjoy a very "realistic" fighter sim without having to feel like I couldn't use a keyboard and mouse to be competitive. Plus War Thunder offers realistic modes for those seeking a much more accurate sim, complete with managing engine fuel mixtures and even pilot fatigue.
It's no wonder then that over 600,000 players participated in over 60 million matches during the game's closed beta. Players spent literally millions of hours competing in historically accurate WW2 battles involving dozens of planes along with Naval and AA ground support. With the update to Open Beta, War Thunder is now open for everyone to enjoy. The closed beta saw over a thousand updates and open beta is no exception. The open beta comes coupled with the latest major update which includes:
· Updated interface: All menus, hangar elements, planes, stats, and achievement screens were changed and upgraded with additional data to be more informative and user-friendly.
· Communication functions: General game chat was added, as well as all necessary communication functions such as private channels, friend lists, and blacklists.
· Team play: The long-awaited combat wings formations are now available. Teaming up into groups of 2 or 4 pilots, players will be able to join regular battles together and use team play tactics to bring victory to their brothers in arms.
· Realistic battles: This new third mode of War Thunder’s regular PvP battles includes cockpit view only, no markers on enemy ground targets, a simulator difficulty preset, and specifically designed levels and combat scenarios.
· New flight models: More than a hundred flight models were completely reworked and fine-tuned. Gaijin has also introduced several new aircraft in the British and German beta technical trees, and added a number of bomb, rocket, and fuel modifications for dozens of planes.
As you can see, War Thunder has something to offer for pilots of all experience levels. If you're interested in checking War Thunder out you can download the game now from the official site here.
Related Articles
About the Author
Michael Dunaway has been part of the MMOBomb team for years and has covered practically every major Free-to-Play MMO title since 2009.
More Stories by Michael DunawayDiscussion (26)
Read Next
New maps and characters are on their way to District 187: Sin Streets in the game's largest update since launch.
You May Enjoy
Solo offline mode will be available if you own the title, but you better grab it soon if you want it.
Elixir and Transcendence changes are indeed included.
It's a little bit of a "something for everybody" update.
It should be a pretty decent year for MMO fans!
2) Tutitorial super easy and rewards points after each segment. Doesn't last long. Keyboard controls are perfectly fine.
3) Game has great selection of planes and builds. You played WoT you know that adding pilot crew etc aides in stats and performance etc..They break the game into 3 battle modes - Instant arcade; it is basic flying, and attempt to destroy each others base. You have "3 lives", or 3 different plaes to burn through before your out of action. Like WoT, you can quit and get mission rewards later after everyones done fighting, or you can spectate. - There is a Historical Battle Mode that lets you re fight classic battles and a difficulty turned up. Basically: You have to chose between one of two warring factions (in arcade your team can be mixed with whatever, so that is the difference) and difficulty up a bit like limited fuel and wings break off at high velocity falls. - And then full Sim mode where you must account for all the flight details.
- ALL modes have working ground targets to take out, vehicles, and it is not easy tag and spray...it is aim; and come back later to finish the job,,,,and they shoot bacK... You can land anywhere...if you do it right...
There are TWO tabs in the hanger one PLANES - TROOPS - FLEET: Planes are your plane selection, and the other two are 'coming soon" - omg...I want to be a troop! LOL
What I did not like: Troll crashes head on into 3 of us on own team...then threatens to report us (in game report function). -
Trolls lose a few trucks start of game so they LEAVE the match...
- Some movements not really felshed out well. When you rudder turn left and right, the camera is like angled in a weird arc. The tail guns camera is super wonky and ultra fast making it hard to move.
- The biggest complaint is the match selection. Not allot of people playing the other modes, everyones in arcare XD. Instant battle is like league of legends log in. You wait an estimated 50 seconds and it takes 2 min to go in. Not a bad thing, and I prefer it over lobby. But no map selection so far, I played all morning and same rocky map thing, but there is so much to do and allot of open space that it doesnt matter.
Those worried is to complex, the easiest it gets in the basic piloting is Crimson Skys for Xobox...BUT it is not limited to that. If you want to enhance your game, you can. You are useful no matter how you play... Ramming is hard to do so it is not abused to much. However, if this game REALLY is difficult for you, then it might turn you off, as no one likes flying for 3 min shooting nothing, then suddenly slam into a rock wall... So for sure not for all. Sorry ZhaoYon, youll have to not log in if you dont like flying. But if they add playable ground support, you can come be artillary support XD
Dabomb for it!!!!!!!!
Oh boy that was frustrating to start with the reserve plane and get OS because the game match you with the high tier xD
Population has picked up a lot over the last couple of weeks so for Arcade Mode you should only be waiting in the queue for 10 secs to maybe a couple of min max.
Ass bomb for a small portion of the playing community whom deem it offensive for you to shoot them down and therefore like to send expletives your way via the 'all chat' function. Highest rank plane I have is 5, regardless of me even using a rank 0 plane, it seems I'm not allowed to shoot down or attempt to attack some of the opposition as I'm a Noob or an 'Expletive...expletive'......otherwise it's good fun.