World of Tanks: A Short Review

World of Tanks is a team based, free to play on-line PvP game where players take control of mid 20th century era tanks from Germany, USA, Soviet Union, France and soon to be UK.

With over 160 armored vehicles presently in the game, players have plenty of gaming ahead of them to research and upgrade components (Engines, Guns, Turrets etc) and then move onto bigger and better tanks.

New players will recieve a small number of free Tier 1 vehicles to get them started and earning both experience which is used to research upgrades and higher tier vehicles and also credits which are used to then purchase those upgrades, buy new vehicles and rearm and repair your current vehicles.

Players also have the option to buy in-game gold credits which can be used to buy premium Tanks which earn more than the usual xp and credits and to also buy premium time on their account which increases their earned XP and credits overall.

I found this game very easy to get into however some new players may feel thrown into the deep end when starting out in the free tanks, I found myself not really holding my own until I had reached Tier 5 and found the game a lot more fun from then on in, so keep fighting!

My ping to the US server is usually around the 230 mark and I found this easy to play with and didn’t feel so lagged as to make it un-playable.

Looking at the screenshots I have taken you could be forgiven for assuming the game is more sim than shooter but you would be wrong, the controls are very easy and the gameplay will have you hooked in no time.

Players can team up with friends by making platoon’s of 2-3 people depending on your account being premium or non premium. And Wargaming have made a valiant effort in creating an on-line ever changing battlefield for clan wars to duke it out.

Being free to play you owe it to yourself to give it a try, just try not to spend as much time on it as me and get out once in a while 🙂

Happy Tanking!

Darkflare

SWTOR Available in another Aussie store

UPDATE: local online game store Dungeon Crawler has SWTOR on sale for $71.50.

Just a quick heads up for anyone still looking to buy a copy of SWTOR. Retail chain Game are now selling imported copies of The Old Republic at the price of $78.00.

So if you are still looking for a copy head to your nearest store or shop online here.

See you all in-game!

SWTOR: Mark’s take

Now that the embargo on talking about the SWTOR beta has lifted, we’ll start giving you some impressions of the game. Starting out is our own Mark Duncan, Flash Point co-host and arguably the TOROZ staffer with the longest time in-game.

Having taken part in two betas now, I wanted to give you all my opinion of the game and perhaps give you a little insight in what to expect. The short answer is: it’s all good!

In my opinion MMOs have become stagnant over the last few years. Since World of Warcraft, I have tried many MMOs from Star Trek, Rift and Aion to DC Universe and quite a few others. They all lacked something that WoW has, and the only way I can describe that something is one word: polish.

Star Wars: The Old Republic now enters the fray and trust me, if your looking for polish, this most definitely has it.

Every thing about the game speaks quality: a whole galaxy of work has gone into making sure we have an amazing experience while playing our characters and progressing through content.

Probably the most compelling aspect in my opinion is the story. I have tried most of the classes in the game to at least Level 10 and am simply blown away by the story of each class as it unfolds. It’s like a good book that you cannot put down, I just want to keep playing to find out what my toon has in store next. It is clearly evident that the writers and the developers who implemented all this work are very passionate about the game.

Right and Wrong – those are decisions that will be a major factor for you when you play the game as both light and dark side. Decisions are common and can make a large change in how your story plays out. I won’t include any spoilers here, however having played solely as a dark side player, some of the decisions I made were downright nasty – evil just flows out of my toon and I love it!

Every class has a role and in beta I am glad to say that I have seen all classes represented well and I cannot say I have seen any particularly weak class.

As a disclaimer, please understand that all of my opinions are based on the build I have been playing which is an older build and should not be compared with the finished game that we will all play in December. If this beta is anything to go by I know what I will be doing this Christmas, and it won’t be eating Turkey!

Get your Guild in Order

Bioware have updated the TOR website with a post regarding phase 3 of guild deployment.

Last month they implemented Phase 2, where guilds could designate other guilds as allies or adversaries. Now TOR moves closer to launch, they have initiated the first part of Phase 3.

Phase 3: Deployment will see any guild that meets the pre-designated criteria be transferred into the game for launch. Before this process starts they are giving all guilds the opportunity to make sure your guild meets the following requirement for transfer:

Four members of your guild must have pre-ordered the game and redeemed their Pre-Order Code.

To help clear up any confusion as to whether or not your guild is ready for deployment, they have now added an indicator on each guild page. This indicator will show you the number of people in your guild who have pre-ordered the game, and will inform you whether or not your guild meets the criteria for deployment into the game.

Collectors Edition Youtube Video

New video showing all the goodies included in the Collector’s Edition, I have a spot for my Darth Malgus statue already arranged on my desk.

Check out the following link on Youtube.

Collectors Edition Goodness!

Begone the Embargo

Extra Extra, Read all about it!

Or at least, you will be able to tomorrow at 9am PT when Bioware lift the embargo on the press, allowing more information on the game to be released. How specific that will be?, only time will tell however Stephen Reid has posted on twitter:

In the remaining weeks leading up to launch I can only guess more and more information about the game will become apparent and I think that the 24 hour down time on the site just days ago was most likely so Bioware could prepare the SWTOR website for the impeding deluge of information.