Armored Warfare is a free to play experience that puts players behind the wheel of powerful combat vehicles as they tackle a range of PvP and PvE content. Drawing clear inspiration from the “World of” franchise that dominates the free to play vehicle combat market this experience has solid foundations and plenty of innovation up its sleeve at the same time.
Choosing to focus on vehicles from all the way back to 1950 but also including modern day behemoths there are plenty of vehicles to take control of in Armored Warfare as players unlock the familiar and unfamiliar from the pool of over 100 options. Each of these vehicles is rendered in detail with historical accuracy which pairs with destructible environments to ensure that each tank not only looks great but also feels powerful as you crush environmental elements underneath your tracks.
These vehicle options in Armored Warfare fall into five broad classes of vehicles which includes your front line battle tanks, armored fighting vehicles (AFV), light tanks, tank destroyers and artillery. As one would expect each plays a different role on the battlefield and mixing between your favourite vehicles is easy as the battle and your team needs change.
Front line tanks for example bring excellent armour to combat although lack the mobility of light tanks and AFVs. On the other hand tank destroyers are deadly and accurate against all other vehicles but lack sufficient armour themselves to survive being hit. All available vehicles have their own unique statistics, pros and cons players are likely to have their own favourite from the applicable vehicle classes and tiers and there is definitely a meta tier list like most online games. While the majority of vehicles can be obtained through progression there are a number of vehicles that are limited to premium players only with players also able to customise their vehicles in minor ways that lets you steer your preferred choices to certain enhancements and visual customisations.
Unlocking these range of vehicles comes from game time in either the PvE (co-op available) or PvP game modes that offer all sorts of different missions, maps and objectives. From desserts to frozen landscapes and city locations Armored Warfare has a decent offering of maps which are likely to continue to grow with time as the game development progresses.
On the PvE front players have the option to play Special Operations which provides a basic story chapter structure or the more typical PvE battles which involve 5v5 battles of players against AI bots while focused on a primary and secondary objective. Difficulty in this PvE option is set based on your vehicle tier as players capture locations, defend key areas, destroy an AI target or protect their own high value target. AI opponents are not all a single difficulty though and players can encounter officer vehicles that serve as a mini-boss encounter for that stage as well as superior and fragile variants of the standard enemy. In total Armored Warfare currently has around two dozen mission options set on around a dozen base map designs. PvP follows a similar structure with up to 3 players being able to queue together in random PvP (single objective no respawn) or the Global Operations (multiple objectives with respawn).
While the game definitely feels reminiscent of World of Tanks the differences that Armored Warfare offers compared to the original multiplayer vehicle combat game make it well worth trying, especially if you’ve avoided the small but growing genre of vehicle based video games. Most notably for Armored Warfare is the step forward to the modern day which not only means more powerful and unique tanks but new technological equipment that alters combat with the likes of thermal sights and signal jammers. With the co-op opportunities also encouraging you and your friends to fight together against strong AI and the strong visual designs Armored Warfare is shaping up to be the hot new tank vehicle experience.
Summary:
- Experience modern day tanks and other vehicles in this free to play vehicle combat MMO.
- Fight with friends in PvE co-op modes with dozens of mission and map types to earn game currency or dive into PvP matches instead.
- Upgrade and customise your vehicles with modern technology as you find your favourite from 10 tiers of power.
- Choose from 5 different and varied classes of combat vehicle that each have their strengths and weaknesses on the battlefield.
- Available on Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Links:
Videos:
Review Platform: PC
