WarThunder Playstation 4 Hands On
Developer Gaijin Entertainment
Publisher Gaijin Entertainment
Platform PS4 & PC
Release Date 29th Nov 2013
Warthunder the highly anticipated military MMO will be a launch title for the PlayStation 4 when it hits the shelves this November. As one of the Free to Play titles coming to Sony’s next gen console everyone who upgrades to the new console will get the chance to taste the epic battles between Land Sea and Air.
At this year’s Gamescom we had the chance to sit with producer Pavel Kulikov to have some hands on time with Gaijin’s WarThunder.
The game boasts an impressive 300 + historically accurate WW2 Military vehicles that will be ready at launch with hundreds more ready to join the battle with updates in the coming months and years.
Each vehicle is designed to match its real world counterpart in every detail, not only from the outside visually but also under the hood as well. Speed, controls and weapons are all realistic.
As soon as the game launches we are met with the impressive draw distances that are now achievable thanks to the PS4’s impressive graphical and processing power. You can see for about 50km in all directions with staggering levels of detail, which is pretty much what you would see if real life.
The next thing you notice is the world is full with other players whizzing around the skies in Airplanes and darting around the ground in Tanks , our play through was on PS4 which as everyone knows is still not out yet, so who are these other players? As Pavel goes on to point out these are in fact PC player!
Warthunder will be one of the first cross platform games that will allow PC and PS4 players to compete directly against each other. This is not a leader board situation but rather everyone is actually in the same map shooting at each other. On November the 29th when the PS4 launches the new swarm of console players will join the 3 million PC players in all out warfare.
The game itself plays incredibly smooth, the controls do take some time to get used to but it is quite natural and starts to makes sense within a few minutes. In the simplified mode (set for novice players) you control the flight path rather than controlling the plane. You pick the location on screen and the Virtual Instructor will fly the plane making use of real life physics and flight paths to control how you get there.
There are a number of control options from the basic novice level which has a lot of help as is for total novices to be able to join in and play all the way up to the complete expert level that gives the player total control of the vehicle. On PC there are options for Joysticks and Mouse and of course on the PS4 you have the controller. The new PS4 controller is a much more natural controller for gaming, its increased size and robust design gives an incredibly natural feel and the increased fidelity in the thumbsticks gives you near perfect control over every turn, pitch and roll.
The game will launch with a number of different game modes including single player missions, Co-Op and the main massive multiplayer battles all featuring Planes and tanks in the one world (with Sea vehicles coming soon).
At launch the game will be free, you do not even need Playstation Plus but if you do have it, it will unlock extra content for you. when updates come they will roll out across the PC and PS4 at the same time.
Warthunder is looking very impressive, it looks and plays well and the chance to take part in the massive epic battles is mouth watering.
Warthunder is already in open Beta for the PC, going into Beta on Mac, set for release on PS4 and in development for the Oculus Rift. You can download the client from their website http://warthunder.com. We will see you on the battlefield on November the 29th.
