The Lazyhamster says: Let's play World of Tanks

Well, throw in a bunch of history freaks, a few game developers, a bunch of hardcore military fans and you get World of Tanks. Originating from Russia, this MMO tank shooter currently holds the world record for the largest number of players simultaneously online on a TOG server with over 90,000 users online at the same time. So now, this game has infected many other shores gathering combat tank fans alike to join in the fun in shooting the hell out of each other.

You start off obviously at the lowest tier among all tanks and will have to fight your way up by constantly upgrading your tanks and purchasing new tanks using experience and coins that you've earned. So, by the end of the tier, you'll get an elite tank which is a fully upgraded tank at the higher tier which is currently at tier 10. Elite tanks can be obtained in several ways that includes researching all available upgrades for a particular tank or by purchasing using Gold which can be recharged through the game website.

What we have is a rather vast continuously expanding Technology Tree comprising of various tanks from Pre-World War 2 until Pre-Vietnam War. Tanks in particular originate from all the World War 2 major powers which include Soviet, American, British, Chinese, French, Japanese and German.


Tier VI American Heavy tank, the M6


Tier V German Medium, Panzerkampfwagen IV


KV-1 with an 85mm gun

5 different class of tanks put them into 5 different type of roles in a match. Light tanks serve as scouts and usually feature speed and firepower than armor. Whereas Mediums and Heavy Tanks serve as the slightly slower moving Assault Team moving slowly sponging up high amounts of hits while dealing extremely heavy damage on others. Tank Destroyers serve as a rather powerful guns designing to deal a lot of damage to opponents compared to other classes. The tank destroyers would tend to use the element of surprise, speed and firepower as an advantage against opposing tanks. Finally, the heavy weight support which is the SPG or self propelled gun. The SPG served as an artillery unit sporting extremely far range and very high firepower however they lacked the accuracy of most other tanks.

Consumables purchase.


Purchasing Ammo and consumables.

Well, enough talking about the classes, let's take a look at some part of the game play. You play in a squad comprising of various tanks from various nations against other tanks. Most of the time your objective is about capturing bases or defend your base. This game style proved rather difficult if your team does not coordinate well enough and would lead to your squad's downfall. So a core component is good team work. Different tanks sometimes also proved to have their advantage, sloped armor may sometimes save your lives by having the shots bounce off so it is important to target certain weak points of a particular tank. In some cases, certain types of damage may also cause your survivability in game. Engine getting caught on fire will damage your components inside your tank while slowly reducing your tank's health so it is highly recommended to prepare a manual fire extinguisher as a consumable. Module damage also may sometimes lead to a disastrous outcome as such, a good tip is to prepare a repair kit at all times to fix certain damaged modules such as tracks and engines which leads to you not being able to move or damaged gun which may lead to being unable to fire a shot or damaged turret which may cause the turret to jam until repaired.

Instincts sometimes proved important in the game as well as you won't be seeing your opponents most of the time thus not knowing where they are. This can sometimes prove fatal if you fail to predict the enemy's movements.

Skin customization menu.

Applying a skin as trying out.

The customization for the tanks in the game were merely cosmetic and required gold for permanent customization or credits for temporary. There is also an option to choose the types of ammo and consumables in the game which may affect their survivability and effectiveness. While Armor piercing rounds is aimed at damaging vehicles, they lacked the splash damage in Heavy Explosive rounds. So it is wise to have a few Heavy Explosive rounds for certain conditions.

There is little for me to say about World of Tanks except that it is a rather fun and addictive MMO that makes you adapt to various fighting styles using various tanks. The best way is to give it a try yourself to understand the game.