Tanky, Tanky

I've discovered a new game ...

I should really finish off one of these games sometime shouldn't I ? Maybe. Some games I play to death, some games I'll get to a certain point and stop playing because I hit some kind of wall. Sometimes that wall is a step in the story, a natural break point where you stop and take a breath but don't go back.

I should finish off the Shadowrun game some time, it was well worth picking up and I enjoyed it up to the point where that natural break happened.

The new one is World of Tanks and it's one of those dangerous grind-reward games ... You know, the type where if you just have One More Turn, you'll get closer to unlocking the next shiny. World of Tanks is one of those.

It's an online tank simulator. Think first person shooter like Call of Duty or the other famous name games (which I avoid) but instead of being in an unrealistic body with unrealistic ability to run, jump, twist and otherwise perform spine defying movements, you're in a tank with a very definite rule set for what it can do :

The gun turret can only turn at a certain rate
It takes a while to focus in the aim
There's only so much power in the engine so you may not be able to go up the hill you just came down
You only have limited view

And all sorts of other rules like that. It's 15 a side, with battles lasting a maximum of 15 minutes. Many of the maps offer lots of cover to lurk in and you'll need to hide there to survive to shoot. It's compelling gameplay and I've been enjoying it a lot, even though it can turn into a bit of a grind to get the First Victory Of the Day for all your tanks.

In fact, I've enjoyed it enough to pay a bit of cash on it ... It's a free to play game but you can give real cash for gold which can give you in game advantages or a bigger garage that holds more tanks.

But don't just take my word for it, here's the video that sold me on the game. It's by Duncan of the Yogscast. He's not the best game commentator but it showed how much he enjoyed this one and I wanted to check it out.

If you want to check it out too, I have a newcomers invite code I'm willing to pass on ... (if you're reading this in a month, that code will have surely gone!)

Now ... I need to grind a bit more to get closer to the Panzer IV and legendary T-34.