World of Tanks was released 15 hace años que, which is an eternity in the gaming industry, and the game itself draws its source material from around a century ago. The latest entry from Wargaming, Mundo de tanques: CALORattempts to update the franchise and make it more in line with modern gaming trends and player tendencies.
As the cliché goes, “This isn’t your dad’s World of Tanks.” Considering the age of the average WoT player, many of whom are believed to be in their 40s or 50s, that could be a literal statement.
“Above all, we’re trying to make a game that’s fun,” Wargaming community boss Luke Nicholls said in a press conference earlier this week. “Of course we hope to attract a new audience, but we think former World of Tanks players will also enjoy it.”
As a former World of Tanks player (I think my last game was in 2018 or so) and hero shooter lover, I’m intrigued by HEAT. I’m a history buff who loves realistic simulations with their gritty graphics and lots of earthy tones, but after a decade and a half, it’s probably time for a fresh coat of paint for Wargaming’s premium franchise.
Personal details
The first look I had at HEAT was from his Steam pagewhere a quick look at the trailer video and screenshots makes it clear that the game isn’t tied to the pace, visual palette, or time period of its predecessor. Rock music, colorful characters, and just the right touches of color – without being too bright – let you know from the start that this is a game more reminiscent of the aesthetic of the 2030s than the 1930s.
Mundo de tanques: HEAT is set in an alternate timeline where special agents called High Efficiency Armored Teams are sent to various hotspots “to stop conflicts before they break out.” (What better way to end a major conflict than with smaller conflicts?) Vehicles and maps are fictional but inspired by the real world and based on what Nicholls called a “70/30 rule”: 70% realistic and 30% “we’re going a little crazy.”
Unlike the base game World of Tanks, where your vehicle was the main factor in your success and crew members only played a supporting role, Mundo de tanques: HEAT relies more on a hero shooter atmosphere where characters or “agents” take the lead. There are three agent classes – Defender, Attacker and Sniper – and each of them has up to two customizable tanks that players can adapt to their play style.
The agents have three roles. Defenders lead on the front lines and have the best chance of survival. Assault Agents are mobile and aggressive, and Snipers have long-range attacks that take on the role of the sniper in the game. There are currently eight agents in total: two each of defenders and snipers and four attackers. Each agent has active and passive abilities as well as an ultimate ability, further cementing the game in the hero shooter genre.
Your ultimate abilities will be the usual game-changing Q-Presses you’re used to in these types of games. With his ultimate ability, Assault Agent Kent can unleash an airstrike, the greater the impact the longer he can keep an eye on the target zone. Marksman Hound fires long-range guided missiles with his ultimate, while Defender Chopper fires multiple artillery shots that can destroy densely packed groups of enemies.
No te preocupes, tank fans, the vehicles themselves won’t be left out. Customizable modules allow you to tailor builds to exacting standards, offering simpler benefits such as increased speed or survivability, or more tactical options such as greater fire starting ability.
Heated battles
There are four game modes for you to choose from during the beta, three of which are 5v5 affairs. Hardpoint and Control are about capturing control points, with Hardpoint having points that rotate throughout the game and Control having a single point in a best-of-three format. Kill Confirmed is the name of the third 5v5 mode and is more like a typical deathmatch mode, with the added twist that you must grab the token dropped by a defeated enemy to secure the kill and score the point for your team.
The fourth mode, Conquista, is a 10v10 battle where the aim is to capture and hold multiple points at once. The games last around 10 a 15 minutos, with Control around 20 minutos.
All four modes sound similar in practice to things we’ve seen in other games of this type. So it’s not like Wargaming is trying to reinvent the wheel (or the profile… although some vehicles do have wheels), which is probably a smart move. A veces, for the sake of innovation, games try to do too much early on, which can result in the core of the game not being fleshed out properly.
All games in this phase of the game will be quick play type, although we have been told that there may be ranked/competitive play in the future, sometime after full release. There was an alpha tournament with a fifth mode, Plant/Defense (perhaps not the official name), which is similar to the main mode of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or Valorant and is also in testing.
Another expected statement for a free-to-play game of this nature is that monetization will be the industry standard “no pay-to-win”, offering cosmetic customizations and battle passes that we all know and love/hate.
One final but important thing to note that further differentiates World of Tanks: HEAT from its old-fashioned predecessor is that there will be respawns. This seems obvious for any hero shooter, but it goes against the standards of most of Wargaming’s other titles and is a sign that the team is ready to do everything possible to make the new game a good experience for everyone, whether they are an experienced tank driver or are behind the wheel for the first time. “We listen to what the players say,” Nicholls said of what drives their design philosophy.
Players will likely have a lot to say during the World of Tanks: HEAT beta, which runs from April 16-20. You can log in on the platform of your choice: ordenador personal (Wargaming Center or Steam), Steam Deck, Xbox Serie X|S, Estación de juegos 5 or NVIDIA GeForce NOW.