World of Warplanes

Game overview

World of Warplanes is an MMO developed by Wargaming and joins the ranks of older title, World of Tanks. The game puts vehicles and land aside to focus on what happens in the skies, putting the player in the cockpit of numerous aircraft.

The game is extremely accessible and you will find yourself making air manoeuvres like a pro in a matter of minutes. The driving mechanics are very intuitive and allow easy and complete control over your craft with just a handful of keystrokes.

Graphically the title is well done, even if it falls short of true excellence. As players who have played World of Tanks might already expect, aircraft are highly detailed and modelled to a level of accuracy that, in some instances, approaches photorealism.

World of Warplanes is a great title and an important addition to Wargaming’s trilogy, soon to be completed with the upcoming World of Warships.

Full review

Anyone who has fought clothed in the metal armour of World of Tanks will be familiar with developer Wargaming – this team deserves high praise for creating a highly enjoyable arcade simulation with both depth and accessibility, which continues to entertain millions of players on their servers.

Wargaming’s plans for arcade warfare, however, are not limited to landed behemoths of steel, but rather encompass a trinity of tanks, planes and warships. In World of Warplanes, you control combat aircraft, cleaving the air at high altitudes and discharging streams of bullets at your opponents.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a Terminator

It may take a while to play competitively in World of Warplanes, though that wait comes only from the time it takes to load the game. As per tradition, Wargaming has staked everything on accessibility and immediacy, transforming something as monstrously complex and cumbersome as flying a plane into a comfortable safari ride on autopilot.

A couple of keys and your trusty mouse: this is all you need to play. Performing various manoeuvres in the air requires merely moving the pointer to the desired direction, and your plane will head directly to the determined goal. The control system is so simple and intuitive that it makes anyone who thinks pilot simulators are meant for a select few look decidedly ridiculous.

This automation eliminates the whole problem of having to worry about maintaining the aircraft in flight, allowing the player to focus on what players are more likely to prefer: making it rain lead on anything marked with a red indicator.

Keeping carefully in an enemy’s wake until your target explodes in a mass of flames and black smoke is as simple as it is challenging and rewarding. If the previous sentence sounds like an oxymoron, it still perfectly captures the essence of this game. The value of World of Warplanes is that, despite simple game mechanics and controls, gameplay is a lot less superficial than it may seem. The intuitive controls are not enough to trivialize gameplay, and succeeding in your aim of killing an opponent will get you smiling with satisfaction every time.The cherry on top is that Warplane’s progression system is really well done , including dozens of different aircraft models and plenty of upgrades to give an edge to your vehicle.

Damn competition!

World of Warplanes worst sin doesn’t lie in gameplay, graphics, or any issue within the game itself. Instead, its biggest flaw is being released so close to another great title dedicated to air combat - the excellently reviewed War Thunder - making avoiding a direct comparison between the two titles practically impossible.

Given the very high quality of both, the battle for supremacy takes place in the dangerous (and often unfair) scope of the "details". Both have similar mechanics, demonstrate an undeniable accessibility and boast truly amazing graphical reproduction of the planes. However, Wargaming loses out slightly in its game modes and controls – putting aside the excellent beginner modes for both, World of Warplanes cannot compete with the range of War Thunder’s settings, which offer the option of an even higher level of realism and simulation for hardcore sim fans. War Thunder’s staggered difficulty options thus provide interesting variations on the theme that break the monotony, something World of Warplanes just doesn’t have.

Furthermore, the highest level in scenarios and environments in World of Warplanes also fails to match the complexity and beauty of the arenas in War Thunder, being always good, but never as great.

Conclusion

World of Warplanes is a fantastic game; entertaining, exciting and a truly worthy successor to World of Tanks. Its greatest defect coincides with its greatest misfortune - represented by a rival who, though only by a whisker, still manages to claim the scepter of best MMO wargame of the skies.

Ready to enter the world of World of Warplanes? Click here to play now!

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Review summary

1. Float like a butterfly, sting like a Terminator
2. Damn competition!
3. Conclusion