Our opinion on World of Warships and its gameplay
After its land and air battle simulations, Wargaming.net is back with sea combat. Their latest creation, World of Warships, is a FPS that focuses on warships, and pushes you to participate in great maritime battles. Available as a free-to-play game, it follows the principles of its predecessors. In gigantic arenas, two teams of 12 players compete against each other. The objective: to sink all the opposing ships, or to capture points.
The Wargaming.net studio’s graphics do not disappoint in World of Warships. It’s a very good job, especially regarding the very detailed ship models. The maps are beautiful and very vast. The water rendering is quite convincing, which is a key point in this case.
As the game progresses, you will have access to more than 85 ships, all of them from the great models of the Second World War. History buffs will get their money’s worth, as many fleets (Russian, Japanese, American, French, English…) are represented. The game includes a lot of written content, which gives historical details about the ships. Something to learn while playing, nice !
World of Warships or large-scale naval battle
There are 4 different types of ships that can be played. Cruisers are synonymous with great anti-aircraft power, and are both manoeuvrable and solid. Destroyers are fast and manoeuvrable, with a high rate of fire, but suffer from light armour. Battleships are not very manoeuvrable but have enormous firepower. Finally, aircraft carriers allow you to send flying units at your opponents, and can assume several roles.
The gameplay is quite demanding, on the border between simulation and arcade. Especially since there is no real tutorial. To make things easier for players who are not versatile enough, it is possible to have your ship follow a predefined path. This way, all you have to do is aim accurately to hit your opponents. The aim is to shoot with precision: each damage taken by a ship has consequences on its performance, depending on where it has been hit. The aiming system is very precise: you have to take into account your trajectory, the orientation of the cannons and the curve of each shot. A small downside, however, is that the weather does not have a significant impact on the battles.
Of course, your ship will gain experience after each battle. Your crew can also improve their skills through battle. While players who put their money where their mouth is will have an advantage, it must be said that nothing is mandatory. Skill is always rewarded, and the best player usually wins. Unfortunately, due to the unbalanced matchmaking, the early days of World of Warships can be a bit frustrating.
Our conclusion on World of Warships
Always a stickler for detail, Wargaming.net offers us a convincing game in terms of gameplay experience with World of Warships. The small matchmaking issues do not detract from the pleasure of manoeuvring the largest ships of the Second World War. If you liked the Belarusian studio’s other games, you should like this one.