World of Tanks: HEAT is a wild expansion of Wargaming’s World of Tanks property. The series has always been at home as a powered-up take on military action games, with a preference for realistic depictions of tank combat. The enduring success of the franchise has led to multiple iterations of it, although the latest takes a couple of big swings by picking up hero shooter elements.
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The result is a game that, at its best, feels like a unique player in a crowded field. When firefights get going in the gorgeously rendered arenas and players have the chance to surprise their enemies with a big attack, it can feel incredibly rewarding. However, a barrier to entry for newer players and a couple of mechanical hang-ups keep the game from ever really cutting loose. While World of Tanks: HEAT has a lot going for it and will definitely appeal to experienced shooting game fans, those problems make the game harder to recommend for the casual gamer.
Review Score: 3/5
| Pros: | Cons: |
| Terrific graphics create a vivid sandbox for players to dive into. | Limited gameplay modes can get repeitive. |
| Hero shooter elements and wide customization fit neatly into the game and give it a fun personality. | The controls can be decpeitvely tricky to adapt to. |
| Combat is fast-paced and explosive in the best way possible. | Hard barrier to entry means experienced players will vastly overpower new or casual camers. |
Roll Out
HEAT is the latest entry in the long-running Wargaming World of Tanks franchise. Whereas previous entries leaned more heavily into realistic depictions of combat, WoT: HEAT introduces distinct playable agents who provide different abilities and specialties. Choosing either an assault, defender, or marksman class adds a bit of variety and strategy to the game, with the different available tanks and combat approaches lending themselves to different styles of gameplay through the use of a skill tree-style level-up system.
It all comes together to make the player feel a sense of ownership with their tank that in turn gives each battle a little extra juice. By incorporating just enough customization to make players feel like they’re stepping into their own personal tank, World of Tanks: HEAT gives players extra reason to get invested in the battles. The cross-play between PC and consoles delivers a surprisingly seamless experience, with different maps playing to different skill sets. Especially on PS5, the graphics look fantastic and move along at a fast clip, with few actual technical hang-ups.
A War Game’s Bread And Butter
Combat in World of Tanks: HEAT often comes down to a mix of preparation and adaptation, using your established advantages to take enemies by surprise while still leaving room for enough improvisation to play a key role in the gameplay. The actual gameplay is a fun riff on the hero shooter archetypes, although the actual controls feel fairly tanky. That’s to be expected in a game like this, but it can make adjusting to the combat a frustrating challenge at first — and can still be cumbersome even after multiple encounters. Likewise, the specific rule sets of the encounters and the weak points of the tanks can take some time to adjust to, making it a game where combat is not friendly to new players.
Especially in an industry where live service games tend to be easy to learn, specifically so they can appeal to a broader audience, World of Tanks: HEAT feels more deliberate and calibrated to a certain type of player. While the game does have a couple of different modes, most of them are variations of standard shooter tropes like “Slayer” or “King of the Hill.” The thing that works in HEAT‘s favor is the way the tanks each feel genuinely customizable and powerful, but actually perfecting those talents can be frustrating and somewhat limited.
World Of Tanks: HEAT Is A Strong Game That Could Be Improved Upon
There’s a lot of solid craftsmanship in Wargaming’s newest title. The shift to the hero shooter model was a clever idea, giving the game a blast of personality that helps it stand out in a crowded field. The specific nature of the combat also feels distinct from the rest of the games on the market. At its best, World of Tanks: HEAT can become a chaotic firefight that benefits from the distinctive vehicles and strong visuals. Once players get over the hurdle of adapting to the control scheme and really get a handle on the distinctive classes and their unique abilities, the action can explode into some really fun bursts.
However, the limited game modes and the tanky controls put a damper on the experience. Especially as an online sandbox where players can face off with bigger guns and larger explosions, there’s a lot of potential for growth and expansion. Being a live-service game like this will come in handy, and future expansions and updates could help remedy some of the problems that currently create a barrier of entry. While the game is a solid free-to-play title and the premium model means there is plenty of room to grow, World of Tanks: HEAT has some work to do before it can really overtake the competition. Especially if you’re looking for a different kind of shooter, this is the game to play.
A PS5 code for World of Tanks: HEAT was provided to ComicBook.com for the purposes of this review.
