War Thunder

 PC
User Score
3.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1908 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 590 out of 1908
  2. Mixed: 203 out of 1908
  3. Negative: 1,115 out of 1908

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. CactusReviews
    Jun 24, 2014
    9
    One of the best Airplane FPS shooters I have ever seen. Offers different view modes and a variety of different planes. Ground Forces (Tanks) is now in OBT (Open Beta Testing) and has a few bugs but is not bad. Naval Forces are coming soon.
  2. Alsmir
    Jun 16, 2014
    0
    Once a very interesting game that continues to get worse and worse.

    The worst problems are: Completly messed up matchmaking. The system that used to be clear and simple got replaced and now we have MM based on BR (battle ratings) of each plane. The spread is way too big and on top of that we have ridiculous modifiers. For example players that perform really well in a couple of games    Once a very interesting game that continues to get worse and worse.

    The worst problems are:
    Completly messed up matchmaking. The system that used to be clear and simple got replaced and now we have MM based on BR (battle ratings) of each plane. The spread is way too big and on top of that we have ridiculous modifiers.
    For example players that perform really well in a couple of games in the row will get matched against opponents with better planes. No, you won't get matched agains more skilled players, but rather vs more powerfull planes. Similarly, after a few bad games you will get enemies in weaker planes.
    The system is basically rewarding bad players and punishing good ones.
    It's not unusal to see players crashing their planes on purpose to eventually get matched against really bad opponents and dominate them.

    Secondly, money-grabbing system.
    It gets more and more ridicculous. The grind keeps getting worse and playing without premium account that speeds up your progression gets pointless after a certain level. We also have premium planes. Those can only be obtained with rl money. Way too often when they get released they offer incredible performance with low Battle Rating. The only downside, seems to be their price. Then, a couple of months later, their stats get significantly nerfed. But don't worry, there's new premium plane available - limited offer - great performance, great cost.

    Russian bias.
    Russian developers work really hard on making russian airforce the best one available. Realistic approach towards plane's stats is only used for other nations.
    Some tech trees (Japan) aren't completed and require a lot of work, but devs keep on adding new overperforming russian planes. It's been like that since the game got released so it doesn't seem like anything's going to change.

    Lack of communication between devs and players.
    Appearently devs have a clear vision what they want to achieve with this game. Player feed back is irrelevant. Positive feedback is allowed, neagative one - not.
    Mods go as far as removing posts, editing them, bannig people and locking+deleting threads that contain the posts they'd rather not see.
    Latest bigger patches (1.37, 1.39, 1.41) that brought many negative changes caused a lot of pople posting it on the forums. Needless to say, all of the official topics where ppl discussed changes got deleted because there was a lot of negative feedback.
    Asking (politely) why my posts got edited to the point where no longer made sense got me a warning - without any explaination.

    I strongly advise to stay away from this game.    … Expand
  3. Lil_Meerkat
    Jun 11, 2014
    5
    Probably the most realistic flight-sim game available for the WW-II era, and free to play, so as a simulator it's pretty good. But as a game it kinda stinks, since game-play is totally repetitive (go into battle; shoot things down; get shot down; repeat; see the same map; use the same planes; repeat again; get bored; repeat again again) and since imbalances in favor of certain nations /Probably the most realistic flight-sim game available for the WW-II era, and free to play, so as a simulator it's pretty good. But as a game it kinda stinks, since game-play is totally repetitive (go into battle; shoot things down; get shot down; repeat; see the same map; use the same planes; repeat again; get bored; repeat again again) and since imbalances in favor of certain nations / airplanes are never addressed by the developers. The community of players is rapidly learning to shut up about the game's weaknesses, because negative feedback leads to immediately falsified records which support bans or similar control-the-community measures. Try to submit a bug report? Get banned! Ask in public why you got banned? Get banned again!

    Wait? What about money? Can they ban you if you paid something? Yes. See, War Thunder claims to be in perpetual Beta, but it'll take your money! And then change the game so that the cool new plane you just bought is no longer half as effective. Pay at your own risk ... a funny but futile attempt by members of a rather non-market-oriented culture to create "market friendly" goods, by DEMANDING that the market be SUPPLIED with their product. See, supply-and-demand? Right ... you silly Russkies, that's NOT how it's supposed to work!

    I think it could be a great game because it has such a great simulator-engine running behind all the airplanes. But because the people making the simulator don't know how to make a decent game, the only thing they've got is an excellent simulator masquerading as an annoying game that will slowly die because of their dreadfully abusive attitude toward their player-base. Pay money? Get banned! Oops ...    … Expand
  4. Pannon
    Jun 10, 2014
    5
    Title: Free To Play as a Cannon Fodder

    I was hoping War Thunder doesn't fall down the same slippery slope pay-to-win game like World of Tanks, but it seems like they are thinking about money more than gameplay. The game claims to be a "open beta" stage for quite a while now. If you'd do some research, you would find out that it's part of the money making scheme. Since being an open    Title: Free To Play as a Cannon Fodder

    I was hoping War Thunder doesn't fall down the same slippery slope pay-to-win game like World of Tanks, but it seems like they are thinking about money more than gameplay.
    The game claims to be a "open beta" stage for quite a while now. If you'd do some research, you would find out that it's part of the money making scheme. Since being an open beta, while taking cash like a fully patched-finished platinum title encourages them to keep the game in a beta-stage and dodge complaints by claiming "hey, it's a beta"! "What did you expect?"
    I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but logically thinking- and just counting how some companies trying to find a way not go under funded and loose money, the logical answer why this game is still in beta stages is: Because it's profitable. If you haven't figured this out yet, maybe you will in a year or 2. You can carve it in stone so you will remember that I said it first.
    So, Back to this free-to-play game.
    The pluses I give to credit where credit is due is just the game engine, graphics, and finding the compromise between realism and playability, when it comes to controls. The planes feel real. Medium/heavy bombers feel heavy and cumbersome, fighters feel agile - according to their tech level and design. You'd expect a bi-plane to be highly manouverable, while you'd expect a mid-tier late '40s fighter to be fast and well armed. You'll find these in the game and it's done just as well as in many previous Russian-origin simulator titles, such as IL2-Sturmovik or the predecessor of WoT- Wings of Prey.
    The game can be quite addicting...for a while. The graphics, the sense of speed and satisfaction after a good bombing run or a well placed burst taking down an enemy bogey can make you want more.
    Unfortunately, my list of positives coming to an abrupt end, since the gameplay will get quite repetative, especially if you think, you can get away without paying for a premium account.
    Again, I'm not revewing this game as a typical game, which usually go for 40-50 dollars, but the free-to-play "beta" game.
    Let me state this: You won't get too far without a premium account. And if you won't believe me, ask others, who played it forever. Watch youtube videos, read the forums. You CANNOT progress too far without a premium account, unless you are ready for the punishment of grinding for quie a long time and being stuck in the same aircraft, that you "may" not like or end up facing superior - upper tier crafts, which will shred you to pieces within the first 30 seconds.
    For those who have no idea what I'm talking about.
    1. The game set up, so there are ties- depending on the aircrafts available for axis and allies. Starting with pre-war airplanes with similar capabilities put into categories, you can fly them (regardless of nationality or historical alliances) to do a team-battle against each other in arcade mode. (the simulator mode and historical modes are different, I'm writing about the arcade type of game, which is by far- the most popular part). After you return from the battlefield, you gain experience by shooting other planes or ground targets or completing game objectives (bomb the airfield, land and take the airfield etc). Once you gained some experienced, you have to "research" the next tier aircraft available and then buy it. After buying the next tier aircraft, you may be put into battles with planes with similar capabilities in the next tie.
    The problem is, that you may have worked on and spent and researched 1 aircraft, while you had 3 or 3 "free" tier 1 craft and now you got 4 aircraft , with one being tier 2, while the others are tier 1.
    And that will force you to either send your tier 2 craft to "holiday" - and keep fighting with your tier 1 planes against tier 1 planes and you won't be able to fly your new tier 2 plane. If you decide to step up, then you gonna have to face the reality, that you got 1 tier 2 plane and 3 or 4 tier 1 planes, which are far inferior to be played on the map- designed to be played by tier 2 planes. And planes go down fast, I mean, you want to stay in the game for at least 10 minutes, then you need at least 3-4 planes available for each battle. If you are stuck with only one capable craft and 3 low-level planes, then you gonna end up struggling until you earn enough credits to replace all 3 - tier 1 planes with something better. If you can think you can play anyway - be my guest- I have done it. I have gone the hard way to earn my tier 2 crafts and it took me forever, not mentioning that many times my gameplay on a battle was no longer than 2-3 minutes, due to my tier 1 craft being a target practice dummy for superior aircrafts on the map. Just think about it flying against BF109 or Spitfire with a bi-plane from the 30s. If that sounds hilarious, you're right. But this game will force you to do that, because - drumroll- you don't have a Premium Account to buy planes for real $$!    … Expand
  5. Useful1d1ot
    Jun 10, 2014
    8
    A spectacular visual, some of the finest ww2 era combat, it's not without flaws but it gets you hooked and you just keep coming back. A free to play title that isn't pay to win (but it is close)
  6. LaughingSam
    Jun 8, 2014
    4
    A great game but a terrible f2p model. It could be much better if the microtransaction system was less blatantly greedy. Personally I found it very frustrating trying to get into, and issues with matchmaking ensure that you'll feel it if you havent spent any cash.
  7. Drlk02
    Jun 6, 2014
    10
    War Thunder is really good game, it isn't pay2win game. Many maps, planes and tanks, rly good optimized, beautifiul graphics. This is best simulation of World War II
  8. Michael_J_Wall
    Jun 1, 2014
    0
    This is a good game and its very addictive, but STAY AWAY its a money grabbing cash cow. Don't even consider playing you will end up spending far more money in a few weeks than you would normally spend in a few years on computer games. These types of games should be banned, what ever happened to paying an up front £39.99 for a game then play for as long as you like. Something should beThis is a good game and its very addictive, but STAY AWAY its a money grabbing cash cow. Don't even consider playing you will end up spending far more money in a few weeks than you would normally spend in a few years on computer games. These types of games should be banned, what ever happened to paying an up front £39.99 for a game then play for as long as you like. Something should be done about this very worrying trend of paying more & more to play.
    People will argue that its free to play but what they don't tell you is that if you want cool things in the game and to be able to compete with other players you will have to start regularly paying money to the developers & they constantly bring out new missions & campaigns that have to be paid for.    … Expand
  9. LD9000
    May 21, 2014
    9
    As far as P2W games go, this is one of the best - quick, adrenaline filled battles and affordable premium currency. The core game mechanics of high intensity air combat is fun across all tiers.

    After playing arcade battles for a few months (and spending like 50$), I'm starting to like this game more and more. The skill gap between players is HUGE, with 3-4 top players getting 90% of    As far as P2W games go, this is one of the best - quick, adrenaline filled battles and affordable premium currency. The core game mechanics of high intensity air combat is fun across all tiers.

    After playing arcade battles for a few months (and spending like 50$), I'm starting to like this game more and more. The skill gap between players is HUGE, with 3-4 top players getting 90% of kills each match. Luckily, I'm one of them. Chances are if you have some experience with mouse flying from other games, you will like the game too. MOUSE FLYING IS AWESOME and joystick is not really needed for arcade battles.

    The scoreboard for most matches lookes like 8-6-4-2-1-1...0-0-0-0-0, with some planes(P39,P63) clearly performing better than others. A lot of players in tiers 1 to 3 seem completely blind and oblivious to the radar, so they get sniped by autocannons from the side at 0.77km.

    My review is based on Arcade mode, as I found Realistic or Simulator battles to have too few players, long waiting times and 5 minute flights to get to the objective. Arcade battles drop two teams of 15 players head on, with pretty nice furballs developing within a couple minutes or so. This is much more fun than World of Tanks or World of Warplanes.

    In terms of country balance, it seems that each nation has good planes and mediocre placeholders. Americans have P-39 and P-63 which seem to insta-chop-off-my-wings very frequently. Russians have IL-2 and I-16. German entire line of heavy fighters is awesome (BF-110 to Do-217 to ME-410). The only country I don't understand is Japan, as their planes seem too fragile and poorly armed.

    The game has a couple of arcade play modes, mostly capture the airfield or bomb out enemy base. Both have ground units that move and can be destroyed with bombs or rockets. There's bunkers, tanks, ships and it seems like in the future each may be player controlled.

    The in-game currency seems reasonably priced, with a month of premium account costing about 15$, comparable to most other MMOs. I personally found that spending just 10-20 golden eagles is enough to raise a plane to 100-150 crew level, required to turn a plane's crew into "expert". Doing so offers in-game bonuses of slower gun overheating, less blackouts during high-G turns and quicker reload times.    … Expand
  10. LoliPoltergeist
    May 19, 2014
    3
    War Thunder, I've been around since before patch 1,25 and I came to learn more people (Alpha testers, Mods, devs, Gaming masters, users, historical consultants etc.) than most people in the game. Initially when I stumbled across War Thunder I instantly fell in love the with idea of an all-out combat 'simulator' and as such I signed up and was surprised by the small user base. I learnt whyWar Thunder, I've been around since before patch 1,25 and I came to learn more people (Alpha testers, Mods, devs, Gaming masters, users, historical consultants etc.) than most people in the game. Initially when I stumbled across War Thunder I instantly fell in love the with idea of an all-out combat 'simulator' and as such I signed up and was surprised by the small user base. I learnt why it had such a small user base really quickly; Gaijin's inability to tackle problems and find solutions in a sensible amount of time.
    Where should I start? Let me do it at with the current existing game modes (Patch 1,41), currently there are 3 game modes; Arcade Battles (AB), Realistic Battles (AB) and Simulator Battles (SB). Tanks have gone into OBT and now all are free to play them, however currently tanks are separated from planes (Why? In the CBT you could play both tanks and planes together) however both tanks and planes have the same type of game modes.
    Let me start with the positive sides of War Thunder, nice graphics (For both planes and tanks), detailed tank/plane models, mostly accurate tank/plane models, some real life based settings and the massively improved Custom Battles. However right here is where I have to stop, there are just too many negatives that plague this game as of late. Currently the Battle Rating (BR) system (The MatchMacker uses the BR to fill games) is completely messed up, a Meteor F3 has a BR of 6,7 whilst it's German counter-part the Me262 has to enjoy fighting Korean era Sabres. You can see this across all the tech trees of all nations, e.g. the F4U Corsair (Late war plane) is rated at a BR of 3,3 and it enjoys fighting early war planes, am I the only one that finds this ridiculously stupid? Then there are other things such as repair prices of planes (My God take a look at the N1K2 for Japan and it's BR whilst it's US adversarie the F6F enjoys a low repair cost and low BR) as well as the damage output of all cannons of all planes/jets. Things like these, the fundamental of the game are broken, they broke it with this patch, previously it worked half fine however now it's simply broken which is just sad considering how much time I invested into the game.
    Now there is another glaringly obvious problem (Not the rotten community) but the corrupted, underage and childish moderation team. One might ask, well how do you know that they are corrupted? Can you show us evidence of this? Go and ask some of the older players that stopped playing the game (Guys from A01 for example) and they can tell you all about the lovely PayPal payments that some moderators received (There are even YouTubes videos about it). The Mods and GMs ban based on the players they dislike that is always fun is it not?!

    So how do we conclude? Well it's rather simple, don't touch the game until its major fundamental flaws have been ironed out and the moderation team has been subbed out for a more mature one.    … Expand
  11. PsychoticAztecs
    May 2, 2014
    8
    (Started playing on 1.37 patch so... i don't know how the game changed.)

    For a F2P "Flight Sim", it's a good/decent game. (+++ Pros | - - - Cons) - A bit too grindy but it isn't that bad unlike other F2P MMO games. - Community is somewhat.... Terrible. *Cough* WT Forums *Cough* + Surprisingly, NOT-ish Pay-to-win, only helps to progress through grind bit faster (though it will cost    (Started playing on 1.37 patch so... i don't know how the game changed.)

    For a F2P "Flight Sim", it's a good/decent game.
    (+++ Pros | - - - Cons)

    - A bit too grindy but it isn't that bad unlike other F2P MMO games.
    - Community is somewhat.... Terrible. *Cough* WT Forums *Cough*
    + Surprisingly, NOT-ish Pay-to-win, only helps to progress through grind bit faster (though it will cost a fortune to get into a decent Tier5) Premium Planes are not OP, it has the same stats as the silver lion planes. *Get a grip whiners, They need to earn money too... *
    + Though there's only a handful of available maps, it doesn't feel repetitive because the weather pattern varies (cloudy, clear skies, haze, fog and my favorite Night/Dusk/Dawn).
    ++ Wide selection of planes, Plane Tactics varies (BnZ, Energy fighting, turnfighting, etc). *Personally i love skill based games, it puts me on edge being a really tryhard.* Cough, Realistic Battles, Cough*
    +++ Very well-optimized game (I have a **** pc, so.... this helps me a lot)
    + Tanks will come out soon. *Merged Planes and Tanks *
    +++ NO HEALTH-BARS, It has damage models
    - Painful grind on Crew Leveling (Tanks are planes a separate)
    - B*ll**** Ground strike mode in Arcade.
    + In-game voice chat (For squads only)
    - Devs doesn't support Sound Mods (It's bannable guys xD)
    + Decent game economy
    + 3 Modes Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator = Baby-flyin/Seasoned/Veteran|Elitist
    + Mini-games *We need turret mini-game)
    + Detailed plane models. Textures are great (For a F2P game)
    - - - Bugs (A lot of game breaking bugs)
    - - - Slight touch on the ground is deadly (Can clip the wing, destroy a tail fin)
    +++ Landing mechanics (Airstrips and Carriers) *I'm a really fan of this*
    +++ Still somewhat playable even with 250 - 310 Ping *Though some hits will not trigger*
    - - - Slow processing of payment on Paypal.

    Overall: If you love "Flight Sim" definitely worth checking this one out. *cough* 7.2 GB *cough*
    play with a squad, works better that way.    … Expand
  12. D88isaac
    Apr 7, 2014
    0
    Game is decently redundant. The staff are horrendous, to the point I would not advise spending one dime on the game. Unless you want to risk losing everything you purchase if you espouse political views that differ with the Game Moderator staff. Only one of the seven staff-members responded to my questions professionally. I actually was threatened to back off of a question for "my ownGame is decently redundant. The staff are horrendous, to the point I would not advise spending one dime on the game. Unless you want to risk losing everything you purchase if you espouse political views that differ with the Game Moderator staff. Only one of the seven staff-members responded to my questions professionally. I actually was threatened to back off of a question for "my own good". What? Now they threaten me with a blanket statement of possible harm? Ok, done with this game! Do not recommend for anyone pro-US.… Expand
  13. Metalsand
    Mar 17, 2014
    6
    Extremely cool game, but suffers from F2P money grabbing.

    I've played War Thunder for almost a year now. Mostly it has been great, solid gameplay nice variety, etc....up until they changed the research tree to slow down progress of players. Now, instead of choosing how research points are allocated, you choose a plane to begin researching, and even researching a tier 3 plane (out of 5    Extremely cool game, but suffers from F2P money grabbing.

    I've played War Thunder for almost a year now. Mostly it has been great, solid gameplay nice variety, etc....up until they changed the research tree to slow down progress of players. Now, instead of choosing how research points are allocated, you choose a plane to begin researching, and even researching a tier 3 plane (out of 5 total tiers) takes nearly 100 battles to obtain, and because of game mechanics you'll want at least 3 of those planes researched. As battles can take 10-20 minutes each, the game expects you to play 50-100 hours just to go up ONE TIER IN ONE COUNTRY. Yet, it only costs $5 USD to research that same plane with "free" research points. They turned an excellent simulator into an obvious money grab, and it is unacceptable. Playing to unlock new planes is nearly pointless now.

    Gameplay would make this an 8 or a 9, but the money-grab tactics bring that down to a 6. Only get the game if you love pumping at least $100 into a game to make it playable.    … Expand
  14. Anguem
    Mar 13, 2014
    8
    This game is excellent as far as gameplay goes. Don't listen to the whiners who gripe about 1.37 or Gaijin being greedy. They have no clue what they are talking about. My suggestion is to practice a lot with free flights, where you can take your plane out in a calm environment and learn it's strengths and weaknesses, or fly lots of low level arcade battles against new players to improveThis game is excellent as far as gameplay goes. Don't listen to the whiners who gripe about 1.37 or Gaijin being greedy. They have no clue what they are talking about. My suggestion is to practice a lot with free flights, where you can take your plane out in a calm environment and learn it's strengths and weaknesses, or fly lots of low level arcade battles against new players to improve your skills and upgrade your aircraft.

    As far as the forum site, don't bother. It seems to be full of power hungry moderators, whiny petulant children masquerading as adults, and folks who just love to insult and disrespect others.    … Expand
  15. czg
    Mar 10, 2014
    2
    This game is a ripoff. Micro-transactions are actually rather 'macro'.
    If you want to get your crew a bit better you may try to gain experience, but that comes so thinly that after days of fights you may at best progress 1% towards one fully upgraded crew. And you need more than one crew to play. Then there is the experience where free XP can only be used for progression after you pay    This game is a ripoff. Micro-transactions are actually rather 'macro'.
    If you want to get your crew a bit better you may try to gain experience, but that comes so thinly that after days of fights you may at best progress 1% towards one fully upgraded crew. And you need more than one crew to play. Then there is the experience where free XP can only be used for progression after you pay Golden Eagles, which can be obtained for cash only. (unless you are BFF with the developers)
    So I thought £50 would get me neatly ahead. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It was gone in a level or two; I was still stuck with crap planes. But, hell, you can get an F-86 on the end, and I'm no quitter, so I've payed again and again... and I ended up on blowing around £200 on a game that was actually a crappy flight sim.
    Okay at this point you will say that it's just because I am a crap gamer. Which could be true, however the crap community, the returning frustrations proved otherwise. After 3 months one supposed to show some progress after all, shouldn't he? But then, after getting really upset at the game I have uninstalled it. Then, after 4 months I thought I would give it a last try, I would just log in to check my account and see if anything changed for the better. And this is what put me off of this scam forever.
    My crews plane skills were gone. Basically all the planes that I purchased were suddenly non-flyable, unless I spend another £50-100 on purchasing new skills. Due to the constant modifications and 'perpetual beta' all the progress I had were annulled.
    I've learned my lesson. Coming from Hungary I know it's a well-established Eastern European ripoff. You'll end up paying thrice. The 'perpetual beta' is the perfect excuse to constantly hinder players in any progress and rip them off with the promise of better content that will never materialise.
    Do not spend a single dime on this game. It is a ripoff and a scam. Rather try Guild wars 2 or SWtOR; or buy Flight Simulator, X-Plane, or Lock-on Modern Air Combat; all of them way cheaper and better both as games and simulators.    … Expand
  16. ChaosLord
    Mar 4, 2014
    0
    This game f-ing horrible, from the ridiculous grind (where even worse than WOT, the only way to use "free experience" is by paying), the obnoxious russian bias both in air combat and ground combat, it feels like the developers are compesating for something, with russian planes that were a piece of crap in the war being the most undertiered, over armored, best armaments, best speed,climbingThis game f-ing horrible, from the ridiculous grind (where even worse than WOT, the only way to use "free experience" is by paying), the obnoxious russian bias both in air combat and ground combat, it feels like the developers are compesating for something, with russian planes that were a piece of crap in the war being the most undertiered, over armored, best armaments, best speed,climbing and turning compared to other nations and the developers could care less, they will just ban you for stating the obious bias.What else we got, oh right, an cannon centric game where mgs are the most useless weaponry out there, 7.7 feel like BBs and 12.7 even with incendiary ammo fail to do any damage to fighters ( God forbid bombers then) while cannons tear wings and tails in one salvo at best ( unless you deal with horrible networking where all you get is sparkles from hitting an enemy).

    Then we have bombers being **** carrying small loadouts ( unless american or russian), vulnerable, slow and incompetent AI that even with maxed crew can't hit a plane 100 meters behind it and don't forget that if they fire, from the constant "gunner unconcious" to reloading a mg which take more than one minute( even more than BOMBs!).Then you flight models and damage models, some planes downright suck at flying, can't turn, climb or throttle, you are easy picking while there are plenty of UFOs out there (especially russia) that also have a generous DM, granting the ability to soak ridiculous amount of bullets and sometimes cannon shots( just take a look at youtube, it is filled with evidence on it), for instance japan has piss por armor and equipment, can't dive well, can only turn fight good at low atitudes with Zeros( their fighters also suck, with exception with the first one with its UFO nature), can't take one shot from anything and have guns constantly jamming while the glorious slavs with their wooden planes can take any punishment, have miniguns that hardly jam.Another point, this game is very anti-german just like WOT, germans have horrible planes that can only BnZ if you dare try making any turn your plane loses all control( not only that but germans have horrible early tiers, if not one of the worse) while any one faction can with no problem BnZ and turn fight ( lets not count the Stuka and its paper mache tail).

    There is far too many to say, but to resume, this is a scam game, you pay to progress( sometimes it is the only way to get good planes), you pay for "backup" planes( the same op plane can be used twice), you'll suffer at the frustating mechanics as g-force in every turn making your scream go black and losing your target, you'll be ramed all the time by friend and foe, but the worse part is the without a doubt the before mentioned balance, it is just so bad you'll start to see every slav( count WOT with its "Stalin was benevolent" crap) as some sort of brainwashed loony.

    Do a favor, stay far away from this time consuming, frustating scheme    … Expand
  17. Billy_Benoit
    Mar 2, 2014
    7
    War Thunder is a great game solely for the fact that it is free to play. It is probably the best aerial World War 2 game out there. Realistic dog fights and fun to play for a time. Not a game you will see yourself playing for any more than a few months. Regardless, if you enjoy World War 2, or dog fighting games, this is definitely worth a try.
  18. sealclubbering
    Mar 2, 2014
    8
    People say this game isn't fun. They say its a grind(well you're right now that 1.37 rolled out and screwed some things up). Somethings are right, while other things are wrong. So let me give you an analysis from a person who's played this game since patch 1.27(yes, that was about a year ago).

    Progression This game's former progression system was pretty good. Getting to the jets    People say this game isn't fun. They say its a grind(well you're right now that 1.37 rolled out and screwed some things up). Somethings are right, while other things are wrong. So let me give you an analysis from a person who's played this game since patch 1.27(yes, that was about a year ago).

    Progression

    This game's former progression system was pretty good. Getting to the jets wasn't too tricky, and money was never a problem for me. Now, things are slightly different(or very). With this new system, you have to grind each plane one by one, just like WoT, which I don't like, but have gotten through. Its not as good as it used to be, but its not as bad as some say.

    Planes

    This game has a massive selection of planes, and soon, tanks. All major countries of WW2 have their lines of aircraft. You will be able to fly Yak 9s, Mustangs, Zeros, B17s, Spitfires, Typhoons, Bf 109s, Fw 190s, etc. and even jets. Its competitor, WoWP, doesn't even have british planes, and misses many great aircraft, like the P47, the F6F(which is the reason I won't play it until), the Fw190(which is intolerable). But, as always, there is always some ridiculous things that are in this game. There is a common joke that the USSR has OP planes(which is somewhat true at points, but at the time of writing this, I have just finished a 7 game losing streak in russians). But there are tons of aircraft, and they mostly are good.

    Game modes(multiplayer)

    There is a arcade mode, which is a simpler game mode for everyone, realistic mode, which is for more seasoned pilots, and then simulator battles, which is the joystick land of War thunder(which I've never played in). Its like 3 games in one. Not only that, there is even a singleplayer, but it's not the greatest.

    Money

    Yes, many people say that this is pay to win, but let me tell you straight, they just are bad a flying. If you are a good pilot, you can beat anyone you face. Prem planes aren't expensive compared to WoT($10:$50, yeah, $40 dollars cheaper than the best Wot Prems, hooray), and they DON'T give any advantage besides more money. And when it comes to repairs and ammo, they aren't the money suckers like in WoT. You can play this game completely free(I did until all my countries were tier 3).

    So in short, this game is great, and like every game, it has drawbacks. Some days, you will be pissed at it, and others, it will feel like you are jesus, bu overall, this game is great, and is free, sooo,

    see you in the skies!    … Expand
  19. TheNewYorker
    Feb 14, 2014
    0
    This game will forever be in "beta". Developer Gaijin relies on funding by an impossible grind where you are forced to fly certain planes in an esoteric order, and to do that you will either be stomped a lot or pay. The more they patch it, the more bugs get introduced, could have been a good game. Get Wings of Prey instead.
  20. spacepirate369
    Feb 12, 2014
    9
    An excellent FTP game, gameplay is superb. Like all FTP titles, the problems come with the in-game economy. Grind times are horrendous, even if you choose to pay money for a "premium account", but the game is fun enough to start out, so that that isn't really a problem. The game does get boring after the first 400 or so hours, though.
  21. ddddddddddddddd
    Feb 6, 2014
    7
    Pretty fun for 100 hours each faction, then it starts to sort of bore out a little. This is no doubt a good game, but the fact that it's essentially a freemium dumbs it down for me. Physics and graphics definitely better than WoWPs.
  22. RobCO
    Feb 4, 2014
    8
    For all the people giving negative reviews because they "randomly die instantly", i had the same problem. Except, i Googled it. Instead of doing nothing and running out of ideas. Turns out you just increase the pilots vitality, and/or get a covered cabin and it's solved.
    Awesome game, i don't think it's really PTW because, it really does reward Human player skill level. And being a well    For all the people giving negative reviews because they "randomly die instantly", i had the same problem. Except, i Googled it. Instead of doing nothing and running out of ideas. Turns out you just increase the pilots vitality, and/or get a covered cabin and it's solved.
    Awesome game, i don't think it's really PTW because, it really does reward Human player skill level. And being a well seasoned gamer on all genres & platforms, i know my way around a game. This is what i Love about it, if you are actually good at aiming a mouse and tracking people, then you hit and kill regardless of the other guy spending $1000 bucks. With the exception of fully upgraded AI guns on Bombers, which are tough.
    I give an 8 for the Beta bugs and very complicated (but eventually understandable) menus.    … Expand
  23. Haineko
    Jan 27, 2014
    5
    Used to be good, but now the research trees have been **** royally.
    Unlocking anything beyond Tier 2 is tiresome and time consuming, trying to fly a stock plane against fully upgraded ones, which you have to do all the time, is painful and brings you to the brink of just uninstalling.'
    Going from Tier 1 to Tier 2, or Tier 2 to Tier 3, is going to give you a kick in the teeth, as your    Used to be good, but now the research trees have been **** royally.
    Unlocking anything beyond Tier 2 is tiresome and time consuming, trying to fly a stock plane against fully upgraded ones, which you have to do all the time, is painful and brings you to the brink of just uninstalling.'
    Going from Tier 1 to Tier 2, or Tier 2 to Tier 3, is going to give you a kick in the teeth, as your amazing planes, fully upgraded, from the last Tier, are now useless, and you also have a just as useless new, higher tier plane.

    This game used to be fun (still is fun at most times) and something I'd love to sink some time into, even on my own. But nowadays.. Eh, not really. The balancing is horrible, the progression is horrible, and if you want to be in a good plane, you have to play Russians.

    P.S: All of this is in regard to Arcade battles, not Realistic or Simulator.    … Expand
  24. Vunguard
    Jan 26, 2014
    2
    This is a game that makes me want to cry with frustration, because every fiber of my being WANTS to like this game. To get some perspective, I am a long term flight sim fan who has played everything from Air Warrior to Aces High to IL-2 Sturmovik to the old Jane's sims and more. I LOVE flight sims and at first glance this one looks to be everything I could ever want. Healthy stable ofThis is a game that makes me want to cry with frustration, because every fiber of my being WANTS to like this game. To get some perspective, I am a long term flight sim fan who has played everything from Air Warrior to Aces High to IL-2 Sturmovik to the old Jane's sims and more. I LOVE flight sims and at first glance this one looks to be everything I could ever want. Healthy stable of planes? Check. Wonderful physics and plane handling? With one or two low-tier examples, checkaroo. Well-detailed? Holy mother of heaven this makes IL-2 Sturmovik look like a mod of the original source engine and runs amazingly well. Mission structure? While I'm not a big fan of furballs, it does them well and I can respect how it has it set up, so call that a check. The levelling system, while in need of tweaking, is still a decent enough system that takes the general World of Tanks/Warplanes formula and makes it a little less unpleasant when an un-liked vehicle stands in the way. They had literally everything going for this game, but it slips up on one little detail but one so vital that they basically slipped and fell into a pit of poison tipped spikes: the camera.

    I am utterly convinced that deck chairs have gained some semblance of sentience, because sweet mother of Heaven, there is no other explanation for how atrocious the camera was designed here. See, the issue here is that the camera was designed for a mouse and keyboard interface, which is nice and all but you need to also have a system that functions for the joystick and game pad crowds--the former of which will be HUGE groups attracted to this. So why it is that they've been given the cold shoulder BAFFLES me. Your common flight sim uses a hat-switch-based system to turn your pilot's head in each of the forward directions with the forward hat button being for up and forward and another button to act as an upward modifier and--if you really want it--another for down. This is a simple system that covers all of the appropriate directions and gives you a perfect spherical view within your cockpit, barring any obstructions that the actual plane would have had. So instead what joystick users have is a bizarre thing that tries to make a hat switch mimic a mouse, removing the entire rear-right quarter of your view, a fair chunk of the left rear, severely limiting the up-left/right views, and most criminally of all, doesn't even have a forward-up view. I sat down and compared it to IL-2 Sturmovik's camera (which eschews the direct rear just to show that it's your character looking over the shoulder) and it is missing seven head directions! Seven!

    For those who are not privy to flight sims, this basically leaves you wildly open to enemy attack--you don't know where the enemy is coming from and as such can not react quickly enough when, say, an enemy is diving on you from an angle behind you. And these are COMMON situations. Hell, I have a hard time keeping track of planes that I'm chasing at times. As such, I am utterly incapable of effectively fighting because I'm always getting mulched by assorted pilots hitting me in one of my far too numerous blind spots.

    There are a few other little problems, such as the sort of 'advisor' in the radio chatter being a touch grating and some of the early biplanes being a bit heavier-feeling than they should be, but all that pales in comparison to the simple fact that this game should have been glorious, and instead found itself murdered by such an easy and proven portion. All they had to do is throw in a hat-based system alongside the mouse-based one, that's it! I have nothing against mouse pilots, there are some good ones and I respect anyone that can do it, but as a game designer you need to think of all the factors! I'm not about to relearn how to fly for one game and when the people playing tell me that that's the only way to properly experience the game, then my response is that I'll find somewhere else to fly.

    I hope to God that someone gets their brain in gear over at Gaijin Entertainment gets their brain in gear and fix this, but as of right now my only emotion around this game is pure exasperation and rage. This game should have been one of my favorites, instead one tiny aspect has shattered the whole thing. It is a very good thing that this game isn't a physical copy, otherwise I'd have to explain to my plumber why there's disk parts in my garbage disposal.    … Expand
  25. Utheriz
    Jan 17, 2014
    0
    This game has nice graphics yes but the gameplay is terrible. It is so unbalanced and such a scam. Its not f2p its p2w (pay to win). Even after this its a graphically nice game but the logic and balancing is just terrible and they just make it worse. Not to mention such a waste of time. The amount of time you have to put into it, its not worth the "fun" your supposed to have...

    I    This game has nice graphics yes but the gameplay is terrible. It is so unbalanced and such a scam. Its not f2p its p2w (pay to win). Even after this its a graphically nice game but the logic and balancing is just terrible and they just make it worse. Not to mention such a waste of time. The amount of time you have to put into it, its not worth the "fun" your supposed to have...

    I love ww2 era history but this is just a big money scam and a waste of time.

    There is no ingame options to change graphical settings and not much towards any hardware configuration in game. Even for a beta phased game this is a must have instead of closing it down and changing settings on the launcher.    … Expand
  26. Ciemnoczarny
    Jan 12, 2014
    3
    +physical model of flight and damages,
    +quite realistic airplanes performance [in realistic and historical mod] (specific for each plane, it makes player closer to real, historical technical specification of each plane) - some mistakes are still there, but I hope they will be solved during game progress.
    +graphics/sound, - bad research model (after last patch), - bad economy model -    +physical model of flight and damages,
    +quite realistic airplanes performance [in realistic and historical mod] (specific for each plane, it makes player closer to real, historical technical specification of each plane) - some mistakes are still there, but I hope they will be solved during game progress.
    +graphics/sound,

    - bad research model (after last patch),
    - bad economy model
    - it is still beta and it seems that it will stay like that for a long, long time...

    I'm giving low rate only because of research/economy model which is very annoying now.
    Anyway, it is F2P game so all of us can check it and decide if it is worth of playing and paying for premium content or not - that is positive side I guess.

    Thank you for attention    … Expand
  27. miguezc24
    Dec 29, 2013
    10
    Hello,

    I have seen a lot of negative reviews. In my understanding it was due: - Old reviews (before game was polished) - WWII freaks complaining about plane X was designed to work against plane Y and it doesn't work in the same way in the game. - People complaining about this is a pay to win videogame Absolutely false! These people are suc*kers. I can guarantee I have finished    Hello,

    I have seen a lot of negative reviews. In my understanding it was due:

    - Old reviews (before game was polished)
    - WWII freaks complaining about plane X was designed to work against plane Y and it doesn't work in the same way in the game.
    - People complaining about this is a pay to win videogame Absolutely false! These people are suc*kers. I can guarantee I have finished first or second a lot of times and I have not spent a single euro.

    Now... What we have in War Thunder:

    - Impressive graphics (And I don't have NASA computer).
    - Best dogfighting EVER and with that I mean memorable and sometimes absolutely epic fights between other players
    - Plane parts enhancements
    - Crew enhancements (G-force tolerance, vitality, visibility, etc...)
    - A ton of planes
    - Best mouse aim system in years
    - Even in "arcade" mode, quite realistic behavior

    Closure comments: Plz, give it a try. I cannot say about realistic and simulation modes (joystick needed) coz I haven't played them but the "arcade" mode is THE FUNNIEST THING IN AGES!

    MUST PLAY! IT'S FREE! GIVE IT A TRY!    … Expand
  28. NoMoreChillies
    Dec 26, 2013
    7
    War Thunder is a great free to play WW2 flight game
    It is friendly to new comers learning flight for the 1st time
    there are more sim like game modes for those hardcore, but Arcade Battles hold the largest playerbase no Joystick needed, can fly with M+KB Graphics are awesome Gamplay is tight and fun, still with some balance issues. Gaijin are a USSR dev company and show some    War Thunder is a great free to play WW2 flight game
    It is friendly to new comers learning flight for the 1st time
    there are more sim like game modes for those hardcore, but Arcade Battles hold the largest playerbase

    no Joystick needed, can fly with M+KB

    Graphics are awesome
    Gamplay is tight and fun, still with some balance issues.
    Gaijin are a USSR dev company and show some obvious bias to their national machines, hopefully they can overcome this if they want the game to be an international success.

    Tanks are in CBT atm with ships planned for future release. Yes all 3 will be in the same battles.

    gave 7/10 just because of the russian bias, once this dissolves the game becomes 9/10.    … Expand
  29. antjay
    Dec 26, 2013
    1
    Recent patch has turned a once fine FTP game into an horrendous grind Broken matchmaking compressed tiering systems and very miserly reward for effort have turned it into a strictly pay to progress exercise.
    Blatant greed on the part of the developers have turned this once brilliant game into a cynical money making exercise
  30. Juke16
    Dec 25, 2013
    5
    Good graphics and good simulation of WW2 aircraft, but the game has been ruined as of recent patches and focuses heavily on time intensive grinding in order to force players to buy in game currency from the company.
  31. WilliamZHL
    Dec 25, 2013
    1
    patch 1.37 destroyed a good game.

    It cost over 500% more to get a new plane. It takes over 200% more time for a new plane

    i had a lot of fun in the game and i paid premium account, but now they are like day time robbery
  32. william63
    Dec 25, 2013
    6
    The game could be great, but the grind is so bad it's being called Grindthunder(tm). Playing for free isn't an option if you want to ever fly a jet, so it's not really beta.This another Russian-made MMO money grab. Also the forum is heavily CENSORED.
  33. death_above
    Dec 24, 2013
    3
    War Thunder started in 2012 with good intentions. Great graphics and clouds lots of clouds. I played it through 3 major upgrades(patches). Each patch version has degraded the original game. Lately they have consolidated the competition levels and increased the dollar cost of playing while nerfing plane and bomb performance. What was a fun game has suffered a greedy makeover. Players areWar Thunder started in 2012 with good intentions. Great graphics and clouds lots of clouds. I played it through 3 major upgrades(patches). Each patch version has degraded the original game. Lately they have consolidated the competition levels and increased the dollar cost of playing while nerfing plane and bomb performance. What was a fun game has suffered a greedy makeover. Players are up in arms. If you haven't already bought into this game avoid it. There will be better games soon.… Expand
  34. Brenn3r
    Dec 20, 2013
    4
    This game had a lot of potential last year, but the developers have ruined it.
    +good graphics
    +different game modes
    +a lot of planes
    +really nice mouse aim
    -grind
    -pay2win
    -no end game content, just endless grind
    -grind again with new economics and progression system
    -matchmaking and balance
  35. Gared
    Dec 20, 2013
    10
    The best session MMO and the easiest way to learn how to fly, with getting small history lesson. After WarThunder flying school, you would not have any trouble with some hardcore sim, like BoS, or DCS.
  36. Octu
    Dec 20, 2013
    10
    I think, the main feature of the game is rather detailed phisical model wich generate various interesting situation.
    War Thunder isn't the most easy game I've been played. But if you spent some time to acquaint with it You won't regret.
  37. FoxRONy
    Dec 20, 2013
    9
    I love this game. One of the few games that can attract and to keep the player for a long time. Superb graphics, great gameplay, good optimization a lot of fun.
  38. Schpulke
    Dec 20, 2013
    9
    I played IL2 Sturmovik online and I can say if you think WT will beat IL2 in sim field you're wrong. But that ok because frankly i think IL 2 rather boring. Too much sim to my taste. So overall I find WT better than IL 2 (sim part not included)
  39. Ext
    Dec 20, 2013
    9
    I`m addicted to this game! Very nice graphics and air battles in the setting of WWII. Game is still in development and changes very quickly. Tanks will be added soon!!!1.
    No pay2win.
  40. Aivendil
    Dec 20, 2013
    5
    If you are searching for something more than Arcade and less than a sim to play online you came to the right place! There is still much work t be done and the game is on open beta yet, but even now this is a great place to spend your free time.
  41. alexneverlate
    Dec 20, 2013
    10
    Warthunder is a "dream game" for anyone who likes the ww2 aviaton but is not serious enough to be a pro-vurtual pilot. Its easy, simple yet deep to play, has a 100 gameplay variations with single and multiplayer options. Plus... its free and there is no pay-to-win. (those who say otherwise are quite dumb andor havent played the game). I especially like the "realistic battle" setting. ^^Warthunder is a "dream game" for anyone who likes the ww2 aviaton but is not serious enough to be a pro-vurtual pilot. Its easy, simple yet deep to play, has a 100 gameplay variations with single and multiplayer options. Plus... its free and there is no pay-to-win. (those who say otherwise are quite dumb andor havent played the game). I especially like the "realistic battle" setting. ^^ Higly recommended… Expand
  42. Pbs
    Dec 20, 2013
    0
    Version 1.23 War thunder was a really promising game.
    Version 1.27 Things getting worse
    Version 1.29 Beginning of the End
    Version 1.37 Rest in peace, WT. Rest in peace...
  43. SmitingEvil
    Dec 20, 2013
    10
    Excellent game, that will include 3 forces: air, ground and naval, fighting with each other on one map. Great graphics, sound, gameplay. Have 3 levels of difficulty: from arcade to simulator. This amazing game already have air forces, but tanks will come out soon. Also this game is free to play.
  44. trollmster5556q
    Dec 20, 2013
    10
    Nice game. Very easy to start playing and find a plane for comfortable game. You start with a biplanes and you can get some other planes fast. You can make setup that best fits your game style without spending a lot of time or money.
  45. Xqutr
    Dec 20, 2013
    10
    Good physics and graphics. It all works with fine optimisation.
    Not like world of tanks, which give zero graphics and zero physics and demands ultra-high-end computer for that crap
  46. Synd
    Dec 19, 2013
    6
    It was a good game, but think twice before spending money on it. It seems Gaijin became more greedy, no surprise if you follow their other game, Star conflict.

    With the1.37, Gaijin implemented a MatchMaking very punitive for the low tiers. It's sad, because this new MM reminds me World of Tanks. Oh, and more level grinding, too. You should take a look at the official forum and see how    It was a good game, but think twice before spending money on it. It seems Gaijin became more greedy, no surprise if you follow their other game, Star conflict.

    With the1.37, Gaijin implemented a MatchMaking very punitive for the low tiers. It's sad, because this new MM reminds me World of Tanks. Oh, and more level grinding, too. You should take a look at the official forum and see how this patch is disastrous.    … Expand
  47. niklopolisz
    Dec 18, 2013
    9
    There can be either World of Tanks or World of Warplanes, even they are better too, THIS is THE BEST war simulator I have ever played and will play, tho.
  48. Jane_Air
    Dec 18, 2013
    2
    Don't like this game at all. Arcade mode is poor and others are complicated for me. Interface is awful!!!!! Girls would not like this game.............
  49. rasken
    Dec 14, 2013
    10
    A great product that does not have today in the marketplace, which could provide comparable quality, relevance and optimization of the game engine. Keep it up.
  50. dmctrollz
    Dec 14, 2013
    5
    I have been playing this game for a few days and have loved it... until now... When i wanted to play full real battles mode i started the tutorial to find that the tutorial is TERRIBLE... your taking off in a field and there are houses all over and it does a terrible job explaining what to do. And when you have to try and get off the ground which is a realer hard part, it doesn't say whatI have been playing this game for a few days and have loved it... until now... When i wanted to play full real battles mode i started the tutorial to find that the tutorial is TERRIBLE... your taking off in a field and there are houses all over and it does a terrible job explaining what to do. And when you have to try and get off the ground which is a realer hard part, it doesn't say what to do, it only says "Time to get in the air!" I have been raging over this tutorial for like 20 minutes now, and i'm so close to quiting.. I seriously minimized the game, made an account here, and wrote this review because i'm so pissed. Get the game if you want, but be prepared to get extremely pissed off.… Expand
  51. Raptor2410
    Dec 12, 2013
    8
    This is one game, I will not uninstall from my computer, graphically it looks beautiful, the models, animations, physics, all very very good. I can't say i'm a hardcore war thunder player but whenever I do find the time to play it i'm always finding it enjoyable, the 3 different game modes arcade/historical/full real battles is just what I think a lot more games should have as an option.This is one game, I will not uninstall from my computer, graphically it looks beautiful, the models, animations, physics, all very very good. I can't say i'm a hardcore war thunder player but whenever I do find the time to play it i'm always finding it enjoyable, the 3 different game modes arcade/historical/full real battles is just what I think a lot more games should have as an option. most tend to have a "hardcore" element but yet just seem to be a harder version on arcade, not realistic like war thunders historical or full real battles. This game is free, so there is no obligation to spend money on it if you end up not liking it just simply uninstall it, no harm no foul. Like world of tanks I do not have a premium account and have only recently used real money to buy a couple of their premium tanks, and I will be doing the same with war thunder.… Expand
  52. Opmouse
    Dec 10, 2013
    3
    Some good elements but the fun ends quickly when you are constantly getting destroyed by your own team-mates or suddenly have your pilot knocked out without any apparent reason. Needs a lot of polish to controls, menus, and general game play.. Too often will you rage quit this game because sudden death that occurs without explanation or without any apparent warning.
  53. saucyhaas
    Dec 2, 2013
    9
    Started playing out of curiosity and was thoroughly impressed. Large selection of planes as well as five nations to play as well. Haven't paid a cent and it seems the only point of paying is to speed up the time to level up and increase your planes capabilities. I prefer just earning it the old fashioned way. Can't wait for the army and navy portions to become available.
  54. Yoh-lo
    Dec 2, 2013
    1
    Fun game, nice graphics, well optimized but let down by expensive pay to win content (crew training, qualifications) which are a must-have in higher tier games. Good for maybe 20-50 hours, any more and you will need to choose between paying or losing. Pretty abusive community/staff too.
  55. punch3870
    Nov 30, 2013
    1
    i have spent 25 minutes, just trying to get into the game. 13 minutes went to waiting for the stupid thing to download the patch. 10 minutes went to some stupid thing called an outdated video driver. 2 minutes went to being speechless.
  56. Shiloh17
    Nov 24, 2013
    0
    No way is this the best war flight simulator. I bought the Steam package to get access to the 2 campaigns offered there. The "campaigns" are just cut scenes from a movie. "Cut scene" before mission. Take off, "cut scene", before engaging target "cut scene". Tired of having my flight interrupted by this nonsense.

    To be able to fly certain aircraft for a side such as the U.S You start    No way is this the best war flight simulator. I bought the Steam package to get access to the 2 campaigns offered there. The "campaigns" are just cut scenes from a movie. "Cut scene" before mission. Take off, "cut scene", before engaging target "cut scene". Tired of having my flight interrupted by this nonsense.

    To be able to fly certain aircraft for a side such as the U.S You start with a lower tiered aircraft such as the P-26 Peashooter. You gain "XP" as you successfully complete mission etc, When you have enough xp
    for a level you gain a new level, unlocking a few new aircraft you can fly.

    If you want to fly for the British, Japanese or Russians you have to start at level 1, just as above, and gain
    xp one level at a time until you unlock all the aircraft.

    If you want to fly full real battles, be prepared for a wait.

    If you want to gain xp faster, you can pay to get premium account usage which will gain xp faster for you.

    When I logged on to write this, there was maybe 35 people on, mainly in the arcade battles. If you want
    arcade action this is the game for you.

    Had this been a paying mmo, with all the cut scenes taken out of the campaigns, xp done away with, and all the planes opened to the player base, even keeping the arcade, historical and realistic aspects of flight,
    maybe I'd have subscribed, but I'm forever done with this frustration.    … Expand
  57. Laetima
    Nov 18, 2013
    0
    Pay to win, got robbed, stopped that stupid game.

    For some reasons I though this one was different when free to play tries to become less pay to win and for some reasons WT decided not to listen... Like they do with their community...
  58. metacritiq
    Nov 18, 2013
    5
    It's okay, I can play for about 30-60 minutes at a time before getting bored. The community is a lot of angry children with neckbeards "omg my team sux!" kind of comments. The planes are diverse, lots of customization can be done, guns, paint, upgrades, ammo, etc. Can play as bomber or fighter or both in the same round. World of Tanks is more thrilling gameplay for me.
  59. Snudrid
    Nov 16, 2013
    9
    Several game mods from arcade with simple physic, to full realism, where you are bound to and all target markers are off.
    + Don't have joystick? Not a problem, mouse control is easy as well, maybe even better.
    + Every plane has its own behavior starting american fighters are worst in the game, but their flying fortress is a best. + Premium planes are NOT better than other, all of     Several game mods from arcade with simple physic, to full realism, where you are bound to and all target markers are off.
    + Don't have joystick? Not a problem, mouse control is easy as well, maybe even better.
    + Every plane has its own behavior starting american fighters are worst in the game, but their flying fortress is a best.
    + Premium planes are NOT better than other, all of them have good and bad sides someone have good speed, or maneuverability, or guns, or armor.
    + Slight level difference means nothing even zero level biplane can become a serious weapon in right hands.
    + Tanks are on the way.    … Expand
  60. Grimtester
    Nov 15, 2013
    5
    My only positive experiences of this game is the realism and the history, the game play is really fluid, however the balance of the different factions is really bad,

    If you play as the Japanese, your guns will be very limited until you upgrade them, which takes a long time. Other factions will have cannons that use 37 mm rounds, while you will be using 20 mm. Your heavy fighters are    My only positive experiences of this game is the realism and the history, the game play is really fluid, however the balance of the different factions is really bad,

    If you play as the Japanese, your guns will be very limited until you upgrade them, which takes a long time. Other factions will have cannons that use 37 mm rounds, while you will be using 20 mm. Your heavy fighters are the only air crafts that supports 37 mm rounds early, sadly they maneuver really bad and if you meet fighters that has 37 mm cannons, you're usually dead the second they shoot at you.

    This is a rage game, unless you go with the unbalance and play as one of factions that utilize 37 mm cannons.    … Expand
  61. sir_raph
    Nov 12, 2013
    6
    The graphics lack. The simulation is not bad, but not innovative, exciting, or exhilarating. The game does not appeal to me at all, the enjoyment when playing the game, and the looking forward to playing with friends online, on a Friday night, is non-existent. These are the key areas that battlefield strives in. Honestly, not worth the play, however is still in Beta. Give it a try when theThe graphics lack. The simulation is not bad, but not innovative, exciting, or exhilarating. The game does not appeal to me at all, the enjoyment when playing the game, and the looking forward to playing with friends online, on a Friday night, is non-existent. These are the key areas that battlefield strives in. Honestly, not worth the play, however is still in Beta. Give it a try when the Beta's closed, things might get a bit more exciting.… Expand
  62. MutantBlood
    Oct 31, 2013
    9
    This Game is one of the best (if not THE best) free simulation of WWII. The graphics are stunning, ultra-realistic game-play, and if you love war games, I recommend this one. The only down are the Golden Eagles (Premium money to unlock planes). It is overpriced, but other than that, a great game.
    P.S This game is in beta, so be on the look out for tanks and naval ships.
  63. dralian
    Oct 28, 2013
    10
    Excellent game. Great visuals, sound, and gameplay.

    Extremely small learning curve mouse control is simple and straight-forward. You do not need a joystick. I played for hours before even trying the tutorials, which are really not necessary but they give you points for completion. It is helpful to modify your DPI settings depending on what type of plane you are flying (higher for    Excellent game. Great visuals, sound, and gameplay.

    Extremely small learning curve mouse control is simple and straight-forward. You do not need a joystick. I played for hours before even trying the tutorials, which are really not necessary but they give you points for completion. It is helpful to modify your DPI settings depending on what type of plane you are flying (higher for fighters, lower for bombers).

    I have not spent single penny and I am able to compete easily with other players at my level.

    The game is pretty historically accurate, which is why the "factions" (a.k.a. countries) are not perfectly balanced. That is part of the fun.

    I love other comments about dogfighting with bombers... they are bombers and are not designed for dogfighting. They are designed for bombing, hence the name. Bombers are great fun and extremely easy to aim/drop and destroy targets.

    All plan types are easy and fun fighters, heavy fighters, dive bombers, bombers, etc. If you spend a little time messing around with maneuvering your plane you will quickly learn how to handle yourself in a dogfight. I find it quite enjoyable inventing new maneuvers on the fly, and pulling of a ridiculous move to evade an enemy fighter.    … Expand
  64. ptrac2
    Oct 23, 2013
    10
    War Thunder is a very realistic and fun multiplayer game. I am constantly excited during the gameplay and the flying is amazing. The range of vehicles improves on the game so much. The game will never leave you bored with a large variety of goals to strive for. Overall I LOVE IT!
  65. Enduro
    Oct 21, 2013
    9
    For a F2P game, it excels in every aspect. The game is not pay2win like some others have stated and you don't need to pay anything to enjoy the game. Paying gives you exactly what you expect from a free2play model, faster progression. The game is a WWII simulator that has 3 different styles of accuracy. You get an Arcade system which is user friendly and easy to learn. Then there is aFor a F2P game, it excels in every aspect. The game is not pay2win like some others have stated and you don't need to pay anything to enjoy the game. Paying gives you exactly what you expect from a free2play model, faster progression. The game is a WWII simulator that has 3 different styles of accuracy. You get an Arcade system which is user friendly and easy to learn. Then there is a historical mode which makes it a bit harder but still forgiving. Then there is full real battle which sticks you in view with the need of a joystick (or mouse as joystick) and is much more simulation based but not as much as say the DCS series.

    The use of money allows you to get premium planes which are typically a bit better at their tier however with the way the game works where you can have multiple planes per game you can still excel. It is not hard to kill something 1, 2, 3, even 5 or more tiers higher than you once you get into the middle of the game. It does not work like World of Tanks where if you are 5 tiers lower you don't stand a chance in a 1v1, here you can still get your kill albeit tougher, you still have a chance.

    The plane costs are fair and most cost under $10 to buy, even higher tiers. Some are more expensive but if you buy the packs they offer you get more then your monies worth. Some people have complained about the time it takes to upgrade each plane/crew however this isn't that type of game. The game isn't about getting to the max level and tier as fast as possible as you should enjoy each tier thoroughly. Gaijin does this in a good way where you learn each plane, its advantages/disadvantages and thus making you a better pilot as you progress.

    I have 100+ hours in the game thus far and it has me coming back every day wanting more. I can tell you that I sucked hard for the first 10-15 hours of game play, then as you continue to play your skill increases drastically. The game is still in beta and each month, more and more content is released. They still have kinks to work out but for a F2P game you can't ask for much more. It's not like it will cost you anything to give it a chance, just don't expect to be an ace pilot without putting a solid amount of time into the game.    … Expand
  66. Hotfighter
    Oct 19, 2013
    10
    War Thunder Gaijin Entertainment. 2009 War Thunder World of Planes. 2011 World of Planes War Thunder, World of Planes World of Planes War Thunder. 2012 года.

    Как War Thunder War Thunder War Thunder У-2), War Thunder техники.    War Thunder Gaijin Entertainment. 2009 War Thunder World of Planes. 2011 World of Planes War Thunder, World of Planes World of Planes War Thunder. 2012 года.

    Как War Thunder War Thunder War Thunder У-2), War Thunder техники.

    После War Thunder War Thunder сражаться.

    Но War Thunder PvE, PVP-режимов. War Thunder.     … Expand
  67. Jappp
    Oct 16, 2013
    8
    Great game, aerial combat is top notch, handling of the large array of planes varies greatly which is of course how it should be.
    Few minor complaints, its not as fast paced as it can be. Flying to the "battle zone" takes way too long imo, plus, the only indication that you are flying fast is some low volume sound effect.
    Any complaints in negative reviews as: the planes aren't balanced    Great game, aerial combat is top notch, handling of the large array of planes varies greatly which is of course how it should be.
    Few minor complaints, its not as fast paced as it can be. Flying to the "battle zone" takes way too long imo, plus, the only indication that you are flying fast is some low volume sound effect.
    Any complaints in negative reviews as: the planes aren't balanced or the Japanese have fewer planes than the Germans. Yeah well that's because they did. I believe Gaijin did an excellent job of recreating the actual planes and their specs.
    Matchmaking is fine, sure you might come across one or two tier 10 planes when you're flying a tier 6, but that's because you have a tier 8 or 9 plane somewhere in you're "hangar". That's what the matchmaking does, it's takes your highest level plane. Thus providing a challenge!
    Also, this is not a Play2Win game, I've never paid a dime and I still kick *ss ;-)
    Last but not least, the mouse aiming is vastly superior to every other type of control, hence I would suggest to ditch that. It's still a fair battle now that everyone is using it but it would make the game more difficult, which is good.

    So in short, if you're looking for a an fun, REALISTIC WWII dogfight, this game is for you.
    If you can't get your head around the fact that a British Spitfire is better than Russian La-GG than you shouldn't be playing games like this at all.

    PS: why is every negative review here coming from users with only negative reviews, troll or just sourpuss?    … Expand
  68. MBCuss
    Oct 10, 2013
    7
    There are many pros and cons to this game. The pros would be the battle types along with maps. The planes handle well with keyboard and mouse but not perfect. Joystick is best when doing for real battles. There are a large verity of planes for all kinds of players. They are adding ships and tanks but that will not be for a while. Tanks probably by December. The cons are what lot of gamesThere are many pros and cons to this game. The pros would be the battle types along with maps. The planes handle well with keyboard and mouse but not perfect. Joystick is best when doing for real battles. There are a large verity of planes for all kinds of players. They are adding ships and tanks but that will not be for a while. Tanks probably by December. The cons are what lot of games face. The match making is a little bad but is ok most of the time. There are some control problems. Also there are some planes that are very unbalanced at high tier and low. For example Russia has a tier 8 fighter that has a 40mm on it that can one shot any bomber almost. This is good if you like historical authenticity but bad in some game modes. These are all fine problems which you can easily get over and in time they will have little effect on you. The Worst problem is ranking up. It takes along time to get jets unless you pay for xp conversion and a premium account. So it will require a lot of time. It is not pay to win however because you can shoot down just as many fighters as the people in premium planes. It is based on skill rather than money. The only pay to win is crew. If you buff your crew with say max gunners you can shot down many players fast but still if they enemy players are good they will know what angle to attack form in which they take almost no damage. Also again some fighters can one shot bombers by taking out wings. Not a lot of fighters can one shot but there are some which in a good pilots hands could make some go 10 and 0. Overall good if you invest time and effort into this game and practice you will overcome these problems. Hope I see you on the battle field.… Expand
  69. Falrinth
    Oct 7, 2013
    8
    Great game. Historical Battles difficulty makes it so rewarding when you learn it. It still lacks maps and better objectives than simply what it seems to be always team deathmatch, and thats why i dont give it 10/10. But its still under development so i expect it to improve.
  70. Forvale
    Sep 28, 2013
    9
    People going into this expecting a true simulation may be underwhelmed,
    but it's not the true intention of War Thunder.
    This is about WW2 dogfights and providing air support for the ground units, it's both casual, deeply engaging and well detailed. WarThunder captures the feeling of flying each plane beautifully, with looks, sounds, handling and tactics that showcase that each plane    People going into this expecting a true simulation may be underwhelmed,
    but it's not the true intention of War Thunder.

    This is about WW2 dogfights and providing air support for the ground units, it's both casual, deeply engaging and well detailed.
    WarThunder captures the feeling of flying each plane beautifully, with looks, sounds, handling and tactics that showcase that each plane was unique and special in WW2
    .
    This is a very fun game, and far from pay to win like some "critics" are complaining about. Of course there are benefits for paying for things, as some planes cannot be obtained through gameplay alone but the majority can, and quite easily depending on your skill level. The plane unlock progresses seemingly along the path mirroring how technology advanced as WW2 raged. With more planes, weapons and parts, coming available as you rank up. All planes are fairly historically accurate with their equipment, so naturally some will be better than others, but every plane has a purpose and can hold it's own.

    The controls are whatever you choose, k/b and mouse, pad, or joystick, and all work quite well. Mouse and keyboard use for a flying sim, has been strangely butchered in flying games in the past, but in WarThunder it makes sense and is still a satisfying flying experience. People voicing negativity at the mouse being 'superior' to use in arcade mode, are missing the point completely.

    The maps are varied and many are based off real WW2 air battle-spaces, like Guatamala or the skies of The Battle For Britain, Iwo Jima and many others.

    This is a great game, easy to get into, with optional tutorials for when you need them (such as your first bomber being bought) the menu system is not perfect but it's still fairly intuitive and friendly.

    My only criticisms are; the music can be a bit repetive after a while, but it is still not "annoying" and maintains the WW2 'flavour', the sounds of the planes and explosions are quite satisfying.

    Perhaps this will be patched soon, but a small oversight in some of the "suicide" mechanics, especially in arcade mode. I would like to see is bigger penalties for those "kimakaze" attacks some people have no shame in doing, although some do make sense (if your heavily damaged and outnumbered, better to take an enemy to the grave with you)

    There is also a small oversight, in that if you shoot down a bomber and the bomb the ground before they hit it (the explosion kills/damages them) you are completely denied a kill due to simple bad sportsmanship. There needs to be penalties to discourage this kind of behaviour. Even in the real WW2 air battles, they had a certain level of respect for each other, and they [i] were [i/] trying to kill each other, or a least destroy their plane.
    People complaining excessively about bugs need to remember that this is a BETA! I am yet to encounter any serious bugs either, and I have put in 30 hours. Possible the smoothest beta I have ever seen.
    The fantastic code optimisation means some great and silky smooth visuals are the norm for this gem.

    The best free to play I have experienced, ever, WarThunder is up there as a solid game in it's own right even if it was a full price title. I wouldnt indeed buy this game for $50

    Graphics 9.5 Sound 9.0. Gameplay 9.0 Longevity 9.0 Total 9/10

    If you like air combat, WW2 or PC multiplayer games in general, I can recommend giving this a go.    … Expand
  71. Ghua
    Sep 22, 2013
    8
    Excellent game and it is slowly getting better and better. Flight physics and controls are really good and let you feel like you control real plane, not a tank (like in rival World of Warplanes). Game allows to play without spending any money. Unfortunately premium options are expensive as usual this is why I gave it 8 instead of 9. Dear developers take a look at "humble bundle" schemeExcellent game and it is slowly getting better and better. Flight physics and controls are really good and let you feel like you control real plane, not a tank (like in rival World of Warplanes). Game allows to play without spending any money. Unfortunately premium options are expensive as usual this is why I gave it 8 instead of 9. Dear developers take a look at "humble bundle" scheme and make game much cheaper.
    Another thing which I didn't like are menus they feel very crude and I had problems figuring them out. Fortunately once you get a grasp how they work it is rather ok (still menus could be better). Good thing is you don't have to spend much time in front end in-game is where War Thunder shines.
    Overall I can highly recommend it to everyone who likes planes and multiplayer really nice experience, even if sometimes frustrating due to highly skilled opponent     … Expand
  72. duckteller
    Sep 21, 2013
    1
    Another Russian pay to win game just how freaking fabulous is that?

    They simply copied the greedy wargaming games down to a tee business model and all even nailed the website it really is pretty hilarious and make no mistake about just because there's no gold bullets or other insane whale extravaganza this time around does not make it any less of the same old pay to win core mechanics    Another Russian pay to win game just how freaking fabulous is that?

    They simply copied the greedy wargaming games down to a tee business model and all even nailed the website it really is pretty hilarious and make no mistake about just because there's no gold bullets or other insane whale extravaganza this time around does not make it any less of the same old pay to win core mechanics to the bones so this will without doubt make the pay to win crowd a bunch of sad little whales.

    The imbalance between tiers nations gold planes premium accounts is at the very best incompetent at worst it's the same old you'll get so frustrated getting owned by horrendously overpowered whales that you'll pay up in the hope that the game will even out for a while or get better sometime down the road but it wont I promise you as it is in fact broken by design as generating maximum profit is what pay to win games are all about while hiding out under false pretences.

    It's quite funny how they get away branding these games as MMOs when all they are is first person shot em ups only close resemblance they ever had to any MMOs is the massive grind and the price point is straight up fairytale like now take Guild Wars 2 a real MMO that you can do for like 40 bucks which is a very fair price point while you'll have to pay infinity more for this half baked copy pay to win title if you don't like to waste double infinity time as whale fodder that is and yes you the player happen to be the actually game content remember thou it's just a money game in the end and that's no fun.

    One XP point granted for single player missions.    … Expand
  73. Madcat207
    Sep 18, 2013
    9
    This is what a great F2P game should be. Plenty to do, all of it free, with the people who pay only saving time and not getting an unfair advantage.

    Graphically, the game is beautiful, and the engine feels very well optimized. Playing with a steady 50-60FPS, even on the high settings is no problem, and overall the experience is smooth. Terrain in the distance looks particularly good,    This is what a great F2P game should be. Plenty to do, all of it free, with the people who pay only saving time and not getting an unfair advantage.

    Graphically, the game is beautiful, and the engine feels very well optimized. Playing with a steady 50-60FPS, even on the high settings is no problem, and overall the experience is smooth. Terrain in the distance looks particularly good, and gives a good sense of immersion.

    In terms of gameplay, it plays exactly how you would want an a flight sim to play. Obviously, every match has you trying to shoot down the other players, but there are always other objectives as well (arcade), or full on battle reproductions (historical). No matter what your favorite plane type is, there will be something for you to do.

    The game features good progression AS you play you level up both your player, and your respective Air Force rank. As you rank up, new and more challenging planes become available to purchase. Each plane has its own progression, improving its performance overall, and allowing you to vary your loadout (to a degree.. you cannot change the guns, but you can change what they shoot, and if you carry bombs, what bombs you have).

    Admittedly, it can be hard to see in match, but they also offer a wealth of customization, in both skins and decals. While some will complain, most of these are not free; but lets be honest here, they have to make money somehow, right? For me, i would rather that they charge for vanity items, than make the game pay to win.

    The game as of this date is still in beta, and there are hickups here and there. But as it stands, compared to other "launched" games like MechWarrior Onliine, this game could officially launch and be successful. Hopefully, it retains a strong user base, and keeps going well.    … Expand
  74. StandingCow
    Sep 17, 2013
    9
    Fantastic game and graphics. Never felt like I had to put money into the game to have fun, but did anyway. I recommend you all try and play with wingmen in a squadron as well, covering one another is very important and makes the game even more enjoyable.

    Give it a shot, lots of fun.
  75. nidza
    Sep 17, 2013
    9
    I've been playing warthunder for several months and I am level 20 all nations I have spent so far on the game around 300$ over 8 months having said that the game became more expensive and all the stuff I bought for 300$ now costs at least double.P2W is not an issue except when a premium airplane is overpowered (most recently premium FW190-D13) and you have no other way of obtaining it thenI've been playing warthunder for several months and I am level 20 all nations I have spent so far on the game around 300$ over 8 months having said that the game became more expensive and all the stuff I bought for 300$ now costs at least double.P2W is not an issue except when a premium airplane is overpowered (most recently premium FW190-D13) and you have no other way of obtaining it then through your credit card. Pay 2 progress is there as well,but no "gold" ammunition etc. Premium airplanes cost from 2 to 25$

    Graphics: Very nice 10/10
    Controls:
    Mouse & keyboard 10/10
    Joysticks 6/10 (mouse aim is far superior to joystick the only advantage a joystick has is turning but he is also at risk of stalling out which can't happen to you if you are on mouse aim)
    Gameplay:
    Arcade (75% of community plays this) very easy mode to play
    Historical Battles (20% plays this) very fun game mode with no respawn takes some skill to master and if you dive too fast you can loose your wings and has physics and bullet drop.

    Full Real Battles: semi sim experience best played with a joystick and facetracking though the xbox 360 gamepad dominates over joysticks in this game mode.

    It's a fun game but a beta non the less... I recommend play it a couple of days if you like get the premium and don't give them a dime for anything else.    … Expand
  76. prosytecsa
    Sep 17, 2013
    8
    A great game, with some drunken developers (vodka anyone?).

    Graphics, game looks amazing, flight models look extremely good with lots of detail put into them. Scenery is also very good looking both from high altitudes and low. Effects such as wings getting ripped off and crashes are spectacular, parts falling from the sky, small particles from the aircraft getting ripped off such as    A great game, with some drunken developers (vodka anyone?).

    Graphics, game looks amazing, flight models look extremely good with lots of detail put into them. Scenery is also very good looking both from high altitudes and low. Effects such as wings getting ripped off and crashes are spectacular, parts falling from the sky, small particles from the aircraft getting ripped off such as fuselage. 10/10 on the graphics side.

    Gameplay, here is where it probably lacks the most. There are lots of maps, a couple of different game modes and 3 different difficulties (arcade, easy historical, hard full real, dont even try unless you are good at hisorical), there are also 5 different nations (americans, germans, russians, brits and japs). So as you can see there is a very good amount of variety in that respect.
    The problems start with the matchmaker, but those problems mostly occur in historical battles. As there is quiet alot of unbalance when going up tiers (every nation has level 1-20), playing some planes will be literally impossible because the team you play against will have such an advantage over you. Some planes are just plain broken, in the way that they do not perform as they should, some will overperform like crazy and some will not be as good as they should be. This causes alot of complaint and "whining" but its understandable to some degree. As an example, the spitfire IX is overperforming quiet a bit for its tier, it turns better than most planes, it climbs better than most planes and those combinations in this game is fatal, therefore there is a metric butt ton of people flying that plane, this results in a game with 50% spitfires against the russians which most of the time at its tier does not stand a chance, same with the germans but because the Bf 109s are good aircraft it can be easier. 8/10

    Support, don't make me talk about it. The developers seem to be playing around. They release a new patch, not fixing anything of the previous one and introducing new problems. They do hotpatches fixing most of the gamebreaking stuff but its often a big problem. They seem not to listen to the community what so ever, they are way to transparent. 5/10.

    Now as this is free to play, and still in beta its expected to have problems, so i cant be too harsh. But you will probably wonder, it is free2play, does that mean its pay2win. uuuhm, NOPE, not at all. Only thing you can buy for ingame currency are premium planes (which are a few planes on each nation that is from an other nation, for example a premium spitfire IX at the americans, it also gives you a 100% expirience boost and lions (free ingame currency, eagles are buyable) boost. You can also use eagles to buy more expirience to you're desired nation, this might sound cheap, and yes it is but it doesnt do ANYTHING to the gameplay in any way. You can also buy lions but its expensive and lions are possible to get tons of if you play historical battles. Other than that everything can be purchased with ingame currency. In that respect i also give WT 10/10.

    Hope this review helped, its a great game and you should definitly try it out AND ITS FREE!    … Expand
  77. Rex_Ursus
    Sep 12, 2013
    3
    I was mislead in thinking that this game was a simulation when I read it won a 'simulation of the year' award. So I gave these people a good chunk of money thinking that it is a good simulation. It is not. It is a terrible simulation and a poor game.
    There is nothing historical about it as they claim you end up in a battle with a Spitfire MkI in the Korean war fighting Russian    I was mislead in thinking that this game was a simulation when I read it won a 'simulation of the year' award. So I gave these people a good chunk of money thinking that it is a good simulation. It is not. It is a terrible simulation and a poor game.
    There is nothing historical about it as they claim you end up in a battle with a Spitfire MkI in the Korean war fighting Russian pilots and planes.
    If you like to play with a joystick don't get this game. You are outmatched by their mouse aim system, that is accurate but wobbles all over if played in Historical Battles.
    I asked the developers when they are finished with the beta and was told that War Thunder is a perpetual beta.
    The Gaijin company is a very poor company with a bad attitude towards its customers. They are rude and dictatorial. They censor the forums heavily.
    This game has or had potential. It is about 33% of what I would like to see. I therefore give it a solid 3 out of ten and the graphics are very nice. Otherwise I would give it a zero.    … Expand
  78. Brosman
    Sep 4, 2013
    8
    I'm kind of suprised this game is on Metacritic since its still in Beta. That fact aside, it is incredibly fun to play and is absolutely stunning to look at. This is one of the most impressive looking games to ever be made. Flying is one of those things that is easy to learn yet hard to master, so everyone can play it but those who put in the time to get better can give themselves anI'm kind of suprised this game is on Metacritic since its still in Beta. That fact aside, it is incredibly fun to play and is absolutely stunning to look at. This is one of the most impressive looking games to ever be made. Flying is one of those things that is easy to learn yet hard to master, so everyone can play it but those who put in the time to get better can give themselves an advantage in combat. Planes all handle differently and have different roles which gives this game great strategy features. Planes have just enough customization options to give you plane personal flair without going overboard, and every plane levels differently. Now the problems i have with it i dont really want to effect the score given its beta phase but ramming is a major issue. I think if the devs could solve the problem of other players who use ramming to either a) dont know how to shoot or b) are trolling this game would improve a lot. Also, IMO, i think that the game should be more details on how you got shot down. Its hard to learn from your mistakes when you dont know what happened to your plane. Sometimes it tells you (like when you have a fuel leak) somtimes it doesnt. I just find it annoying to be fine and then suddenly your plane loses control and crashes. Overall i cant give this game over an eight simply because its an unfinished product, and i i wont let some of its problems effect its score because of that fact too. I cant wait for them to expand the Beta and get ground and Naval combat in the game.… Expand
  79. leftstanding
    Sep 3, 2013
    7
    First off this is not a WWII simulator! A simulator does not allow you to move your mouse onto an aim-bot and click to shoot another player. Nor does a simulator have turbos on every aircraft, and allow you to go 90 degrees of pitch at 600 kmh without ripping off the wings. That being said it is a fun arcade style game for screwing around in a WWII shoot-em-up game. Forget about yourFirst off this is not a WWII simulator! A simulator does not allow you to move your mouse onto an aim-bot and click to shoot another player. Nor does a simulator have turbos on every aircraft, and allow you to go 90 degrees of pitch at 600 kmh without ripping off the wings. That being said it is a fun arcade style game for screwing around in a WWII shoot-em-up game. Forget about your joystick and any other sim-gear you may have as this game heavily rewards players who use a mouse, to a ridiculous level. There is a "realistic" mode of game play, but unfortunately there are very few who play it, leaving you with long wait times, or unrealistic mouse mashing 3rd person dogfighting. Would be worlds better if they took away mouse aim, fixed the joystick issues, and created incentives for the realistic play to bring more players. Beware it is set up as a pay to win style game, though paying will not do you half as much good as using a mouse and playing third person will. All in all... please stop calling this a simulator. If you want a WWII simulator play IL2.… Expand
  80. ViCEMAN
    Sep 2, 2013
    10
    This is exactly what I've been looking for a long time. After all I am a simulation gamer, but the arcade battles are great fun when you don't want to go actual simulation gaming (IL1946). There are enough variation in missions and environments. Flying and dogfighting between mountains is very intense and fun. Just don't play this dick in your forehead, have fun!
  81. mdog73
    Aug 30, 2013
    1
    It is visually nice, but there are some flat out game breaking bugs that they refuse to fix. They have good ideas, But poor implementation. This game needs alot of work and has great potential if they do not get greedy. It's clearly in beta phase, perhaps only 20-30% done. I still hold out hope that this can be a great game, right now it is subpar and would not recommend it to my friends.
  82. Fritz69
    Aug 30, 2013
    10
    For me... The most fun I have hade playing multiplayer since BF2!! Takes a little time to become familiar with the menu and how it all works, but this should not stop someone who like this type of games...
  83. Ramoncho
    Aug 29, 2013
    0
    The game is still in beta phase and about 33% completed, there are dozens of bugs and shortcomings, Gaijin is a terrible company that won't listen to feedback and won't implement a way to turn off chat completely, even if asked by the users, with Gaijin systematically censoring any dissenting opinion found within their own forums.

    Inside the game, the game masters are non existent and    The game is still in beta phase and about 33% completed, there are dozens of bugs and shortcomings, Gaijin is a terrible company that won't listen to feedback and won't implement a way to turn off chat completely, even if asked by the users, with Gaijin systematically censoring any dissenting opinion found within their own forums.

    Inside the game, the game masters are non existent and it is a fest for trolls and grievers, balance is hopelessly broken and alternative inputs other than mouse do not work well, interestingly enough, Gaijin thought the most precise aiming device, the mouse, requires aim assists, putting anybody using a controller or a joystick at a tremendous disadvantage.    … Expand
  84. DrAdorable
    Aug 27, 2013
    10
    One of my new favorite war plane games, and my favorite WWII based game. There is no pay to win; there is only pay for a new experience. From the great joy of downing your first enemy, to the bitter taste of being shot down in your favorite plane, War Thunder will always reward.
  85. joefresco
    Aug 24, 2013
    2
    The keyboard/mouse flight controls are dumbed down and frustrating no matter which scheme you choose. Even trying to tweak to a custom scheme does not satisfy. Attempting to play around with the controls in tutorial mode was a no-go since the tutorials quickly restart if you do not achieve the objective within a set time. The UI is a cluttered mess. I had absolutely no fun trying toThe keyboard/mouse flight controls are dumbed down and frustrating no matter which scheme you choose. Even trying to tweak to a custom scheme does not satisfy. Attempting to play around with the controls in tutorial mode was a no-go since the tutorials quickly restart if you do not achieve the objective within a set time. The UI is a cluttered mess. I had absolutely no fun trying to get into this.… Expand
  86. StevieGe
    Aug 24, 2013
    8
    For a free-2-play, this game is very good. Great atmosphere, nice plane models and overall good visuals. This game even runs on low-end PCs (such as mine) without so much as a hiccup. At the time of writing this review, the game is in open-|3eta. Atm it stands as one of the most fun warplane multiplayer dogfight simulators I have played.
    This game is worth a try, especially since it won't    For a free-2-play, this game is very good. Great atmosphere, nice plane models and overall good visuals. This game even runs on low-end PCs (such as mine) without so much as a hiccup. At the time of writing this review, the game is in open-|3eta. Atm it stands as one of the most fun warplane multiplayer dogfight simulators I have played.
    This game is worth a try, especially since it won't cost you anything (if you don't in-game purchase), except 7Gb of hard drive and your precious time.    … Expand
  87. foxthor
    Aug 24, 2013
    8
    Great World War 2 simulation. The controls are easy to use, the planes look very impressive, the details are great. It seems like a steep level progression and might become repetitive after a while but for a free to play game its worth trying. If they do bring out the land and sea part of this game too it would make for a very impressive F2P WW2 simulator.
  88. lindowWicker
    Aug 23, 2013
    7
    Pretty good game been playing for 40+ hours and is quite fun, advancing in levels gives you new planes to play with and they can be upgraded.
    The tier system matches you with players with roughly the same level plane as you so you won't be in a match with a biplane vs a jet.
    After a while the game does get a bit samey and you the tactics do seem to be rinse and repeat but overall a solid    Pretty good game been playing for 40+ hours and is quite fun, advancing in levels gives you new planes to play with and they can be upgraded.
    The tier system matches you with players with roughly the same level plane as you so you won't be in a match with a biplane vs a jet.
    After a while the game does get a bit samey and you the tactics do seem to be rinse and repeat but overall a solid game and worth playing for a bit as its f2p.    … Expand
  89. KillerGunner123
    Aug 21, 2013
    10
    Great game still a beta so they are still fixing bugs and adding new things. If you like World War II games this game is for you. War thunder has great visuals and sounds and the planes are realistic.
  90. Allions
    Aug 20, 2013
    10
    I think that's one of the best F2P game out there. Real Free to Play, absolutely no "Pay 2 Win" in War Thunder. If you pay, you just get levels a bit faster. No more.
    The game is just amazing: graphics, gameplay (divided between arcade, historical and real battles), longevity... everything is great. I played about 40 hours and still not annoied.
    They also plan to add ships and tanks    I think that's one of the best F2P game out there. Real Free to Play, absolutely no "Pay 2 Win" in War Thunder. If you pay, you just get levels a bit faster. No more.
    The game is just amazing: graphics, gameplay (divided between arcade, historical and real battles), longevity... everything is great. I played about 40 hours and still not annoied.
    They also plan to add ships and tanks controlled by players in single battles... if they will accomplish that... it will be the best WWII game ever.    … Expand
  91. HawkerHulk
    Aug 19, 2013
    6
    Great visuals, sound and the feel of planes. Battles are cinematic, intense, full of flak fire, planes burning and bomb explosions.Also the game is very well optimised so it runs great on lower end machines with reduced settings. Mouse controls are just excellent, although some players complain that they're too good and make joysticks redundant in Arcade mode.

    Three realism modes    Great visuals, sound and the feel of planes. Battles are cinematic, intense, full of flak fire, planes burning and bomb explosions.Also the game is very well optimised so it runs great on lower end machines with reduced settings. Mouse controls are just excellent, although some players complain that they're too good and make joysticks redundant in Arcade mode.

    Three realism modes Arcade, Historical, and Full Realism will appeal to a very broad range of players. There are also single missions and campaigns (some of which you have to pay extra for..which is fine) but they net meagre rewards and are not worthwhile at the moment. And if you want to progress in War Thunder you really need to be earning those XP points...which brings me to the downsides.

    What stops me from giving it a positive score is what happens outside of battles, namely the progression and economy models. Although at first leveling up is a pretty quick affair, with each level it becomes more and more time consuming. It gets pretty bad, to the point where without paying for the game reaching maximum level in one nation will take you half a year. Some can live with that...but then there's the crew level problem. You can buy crew levels with real cash, all the way to the top, skipping that part of the grind entirely which is borderline pay to win.

    Other aspects of the progression model are equally strange. Crew skills and their effect on plane performance are undocumented. You have 5-6 crews and each can qualify for a dozen planes on different levels which leads to heaps of confusion. You take a hangar of 5-6 planes into each battle, usualy they are at different tiers and some players tend to exploit this to get better matchmaking. Ah, yes, matchmaking....it doesn't work very well, mainly because it has to balance players bringing their tier 1 and tier 10 plane into the same battle.

    On top of everything else although the game just went on Steam and has all the aspects of an almost finished commercial product, the developer makes huge changes to the economy on the fly. You can sink a lot of money into the game and you never really know what you're getting, since the economy model can get dramatically overhauled at any time.

    I would strongly suggest giving it a try, the visuals and spectacular gameplay are things you really should experience. But don't stay too long or you may start to feel unwelcome. And think twice...no, think THRICE before opening your wallet.

    Fly safe!    … Expand
  92. Valgancar
    Aug 17, 2013
    10
    This is best simulation of World War II. Take your plane and prepare for best war simulator ever!yet better this game is simulator it MMo mode!!!!!!!!
next
Page:

Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Best PC Game of 2013
10
#10 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
18
#18 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Jan 25, 2017
    87
    One of the cornerstones of War Thunder is that player’s skill is more important than his wallet. Premium vehicles offer no combat advantages, there is no “microtransaction-only” ammo or consumables, so no amount of cash will buy you a spot on the top of the food chain. [Issue#216, p.56]
  2. GRYOnline.pl
    Jan 13, 2017
    75
    The official launch of War Thunder reminded me why I like this game so much. It's adorably chaotic - in contrast to the reliably designed World of Tanks. That's why it can be really fun and frustrating at the same time. There's tons of great vehicles (and the planes are superb!) and a difficult simulation mode, but there are also balance and technical issues.
    Read full review
  3. CalmDownTom
    Aug 14, 2014
    90
    Overall the War Thunder tank battles are great even at this early stage.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »