World of Tanks was originally launched for the Windows platform by Wargaming.net way back at the end of 2010. It has been upgraded and improved over those years to be a very complex game. On June 26th, the company released World of Tanks Blitz for iOS to bring the game to Apple’s tablets. While it does not have the same level of detail and complexities as the PC version, it still offers a great experience for those that want to play a tank combat simulator on the go. Best part is that you can play it completely for free. Let’s take a closer look at this new mobile version.

The Game

World of Tanks Blitz is essentially a tank simulator that is played in skirmishes that randomly match up various tanks into teams that must either eliminate the enemy or capture the base. Players start with a tier 1 tank from each of the three nations: Russia, Germany and USA. Over time, they can upgrade these tanks through earned experience and eventually research new tanks including medium, heavy and tank destroyers. Typically matches involved tanks within three tiers of one another. In general the matching system does a good job but every once in a while you will end up in a match with a severely underpowered tank that isn’t going to be doing much.

The game play is done from a third person perspective from behind the tank or the turret depending upon how the turret might be rotated. Players also have the option to zoom to a first person mode viewing down the barrel of the tank gun for more accurate shooting. The controls are done through a virtual thumbpad on the left hand lower corner and zoom and fire controls on the right hand side. Other options for switching the ammo or using consumables are on sides. A quick communications thumbwheel can be pulled up from the lower right corner. Rotating the gun and turret is done via touch and drag in the middle of the screen.

Graphics wise, the game is quite lovely though it is missing the depths of vegetation that can be found in the maps of the PC version. This is a bit disappointing as it means there are less places to hide a tank behind cover for firing on enemies without being spotted. This can make playing the tank destroyers much more difficult because you require cover to prevent being spotted and flanked by the the enemy. Frame rates were very good on the iPad Mini with Retina that I played on with most maps having roughly 40 to 60 frames per second for a smooth overall experience.

The maps are one area that could use some significant improvement. There are only seven maps that you will be playing on over and over again. The results is generally only a few tactics that are used by teams which provides little variety other than what tanks you might be matched up against. It would be nice to see more vegetation in some of the maps or just slightly larger sizes of maps as they are not as big or diverse as the PC version.

What Did Not Make it to Blitz

There are some major differences between Blitz and the PC version. First, the battles only consist of seven vs. seven compared to the fifteen vs. fifteen of the PC version. This was done to reduce the amount of detail that the device has to keep track of and to probably limit the bandwidth requirements. The result has both positive and negative effects. For instance, the games are generally quicker as there are fewer tanks involved. On the other hand, just one or two players with bad connections or that are away from the controls can tip the balance very easily to one side or the other.

The PC version of the game also contains self-propelled guns (SPGs) or artillery. Some PC players probably would like the fact that there is no artillery in Blitz because it makes the game much more personal but it also has big implications. Artillery was extremely useful for flushing out tanks behind cover. Now there is much more teamwork required to properly flank tanks under cover. One reason there may be no SPGs though is because the map sizes are much smaller meaning they could reach any part of the map quite easily or prevent them from hitting some tanks at all because the guns can’t aim low enough.

Finally, there is only the skirmish modes in Blitz. In the PC version, players could form clans and then play battles in Clan Wars. Clan Wars allows premium accounts to group together and then play battles on a strategic map to control territories and manage resources to try and become the most powerful clan.

The Virtual Currency

While World of Tanks Blitz is free to play, there is still money involved. Wargaming makes their money via players purchasing the virtual currency of gold. This gold can then be spent for premium access that offers double the experience and credits per skirmish, extra tanks slots, and premium ammo. Gold can be purchased through in-app purchases of as little as 1400 Gold for $4.99 up to 28,000+ for $99.99. The rates for the different bonuses vary accordingly. Here is a sample of some of the costs:

• Extra Tank Slot: 300 gold
• Premium Account: 250gold/day to 16,000gold/360 days
• Gold to Credit Exchange: 400 credit for 1 gold
• Convert Experience: 25 Exp. to 25 Free Exp. for 1 gold
• APCR Ammo: 5-15 gold/shell

Now if you don’t want to spend money on the game, Wargaming does give out gold bonuses from time to time for events. The amount given during events usually equates to around 300 gold or so which is enough to get a tank slot. They sometimes give out premium tanks for events as well.

Now in addition to the premium items that can be purchased for gold, they also offer premium tanks. These are special tanks of different tiers plus a tank slot and some gold for a specific purchase price. These tend to range from around $10 to around $25. The tanks on offer tend to be available for a limited time.

Tips For New Players

World of Tanks can be a rough game at the start. Since there is little documentation beyond the tutorial to help the game. You can always read the for the PC version of World of Tanks but some of the features and controls will be different. Because of this, I have put together some tips for new players.

When you first start the game, you are given some gold to help you out. It is best to use all this gold to buy as many tank slots as possible. This will let you hold onto more tanks and also experiment with the tank lines and nations. Don’t worry, you will get to a part of the tutorial that talks about buying the premium with your gold. If you have no gold at this point, it will automatically give you 250 gold for the purchase.

Speaking of the premium day purchase, when you do this in the tutorial, you will be prompted to purchase a day of premium access with your starting gold. Since it is a fixed real world clock, you want to purchase this when you know that you have plenty of time to play the game to maximize your gains. If you enable the premium and don’t play for a full day, you will find that your premium period has expired. So don’t just jump into the free day purchase if you have no time to play.

The controls for the tanks can be quite sensitive. For instance, there is a secondary fire button that is default positioned right next to the virtual thumbpad. It is very easy to move your finger up from the control area and touch the fire button causing stray shots. It is not fun to either shoot or be shot by friendly fire because of this and it can really hurt your team’s chances of winning. It is best to use the control options to either remove the secondary fire button or position it further away from the controls.

Your crew rating can play an important role in how effective your tank is in combat. When you first purchase a standard tank with credits, you crew will only have a 50% effectiveness rating. It is best to save up some credit from play to also purchase the tank academy to boost your starting crew up to 75% effectiveness. The gold crew for 100% is tempting but generally not necessary as the gold is better spent on slots or premium access which generates double experience.

Don’t fret about your victory percentage. Over time in will range around 50% regardless of how skilled you are. Players will generally range from 48 to 52% at different times. When you first start a new tank, it is much harder than when you have upgraded it can got your crew to 100% so expect some losses at first with improved winning percentage later on.

Pings are very crucial to the game. You want to have a standard ping time of 150 or less. Ping spikes will cause your tank to warp, missed shots, etc. So if you ping indicator is red or you notice spikes up to 300+, might be better to put the game down and try again later when your net connection is better.

Be mindful of the mini-map and the light bulb indicator. These two features can keep you aware of what is going on in the game. The light bulb that pops up in the middle of the screen means you have been spotted even if you may not see the other tank. The mini-map will let you know for instance if all the enemies are in a different area and you should move to help your team.

Good and Bad Tactics

Don’t be a lemming. This is a term used when all the players on a team just follow one person, usually the highest level tank. They don’t think about cover, being flanked or anything. The results generally are very bad for the team that does this.

Sniping can be useful if you have a powerful and accurate gun but never moving from a sniping spot or having the entire team sniping is a recipe for disaster. I have seen teams end up staying in place and ignoring the capture thus losing the match.

Learn to dance. This is essentially moving a tank out of cover to take a shot and come back under cover. It can also be used to just barely move out of cover and then back to try and get an enemy to shoot and miss giving you the opening for a free return shot. This is best used with light and medium tanks that are more agile.

Don’t suicide spot. Many light tanks that are underpowered for a match will do this. They essentially drive as fast as they can to spot all the enemy takes for the small bonus to end up dying. This is bad because often the spotted enemies are in places your team can’t fire on and the spots are lost after no one has line of sight for a short period of time which will happen as you have likely been killed.

Use the quick chat. This can be to direct people to targets, acknowledge request or simply request help. It is hard to communicate in such an action oriented game with the virtual keyboard and having no communication at all can result in teams being in disarray.

Always have a few rounds of High Explosive (HE) ammo on your tank if you can. The reason is that sometimes you may be up against tanks that your AP ammo still can’t penetrate. Using HE ammo can provide you with an easier time of tracking a vehicle so it can’t move or sneaking in a little damage in a soft spot such as a view port to get some critical damage on a tank that can benefit the rest of the team that can punch through the thicker armor.

Know the roles of the tanks! Tank destroyers should generally not be the front line tanks. Medium and light tanks are best used for scouting, flanking and darting between cover. Heavy tanks should be drawing fire so they can hit back and let the other tanks flank and their targets.