The tank theme has been popular with players worldwide for quite some time since “Abrams Battle Tank,” a project that was released in 1988 and laid the foundations of the genre of tank simulators.
For the past 35 years since the genre’s birth, tank simulators have become much more perfect and believable, and the game mechanics of some of them are almost indistinguishable from the prototype vehicles.
What games of tank themes are popular and can become an object for an interesting pastime in 2024, let’s consider further.
World of Tanks
World of Tanks is a multiplayer project released in 2010 by Lesta Games and completely changed the attitude of players from all over the world to the tank theme, conquering more than 110 million people.
The project’s users can access forty maps, recreating accurate historical terrains of the Second World War, with characteristic landscapes, buildings, and vegetation made with high realism and detail.
Each player can fight on armored fighting vehicles of eleven different nations, develop and improve them to achieve superiority over opponents.
The number of vehicles currently is 731, including tanks (light, medium, and heavy) and self-propelled artillery units.
There are nine main and eleven unique modes at the players’ disposal, from which everyone can find something to his liking.
War Thunder
A large-scale project, War Thunder from the developer Gaijin Entertainment, was released in 2013 and offers players the opportunity to control combat vehicles, the number of units exceeding 2000, in three elements: on land, in the air, and on the water.
Distinctive features of the game are:
- realistic control of combat vehicles and targeting system;
- sound effects recorded on actual prototypes and creating the effect of presence;
- possibility to participate in combined battles, where land, flying, and floating combat vehicles are involved on one map;
- excellent visuals and natural gameplay, allowing you to interact with almost any environment element.
World of Tanks Blitz
The project was developed in 2014 specifically for Android and iOS platforms in the image and likeness of World of Tanks. It is similar in meaning and content to World of Tanks Blitz, with graphics and control optimized for mobile devices.
On the general concept, the similarity of WoT Blitz with its prototype is limited because everything is different:
- gameplay, limited in the number of objects that can be interacted with;
- the composition and content of branches of equipment development, the number of which is only 452 units;
- the system of equipment improvement and the use of consumables;
- the size and content of the maps on which the battles take place.
The project is promising, its content is systematically improving, the number of users is growing, and the cybersport component is developing.
Crossout
The multiplayer game Crossout, released in 2017 by Targem Games studio, allows the user to be transported to a post-apocalyptic universe in which the remaining survivors fight each other and aggressive natives for scarce resources.
Parts, spare parts, and accessories obtained in the battles can be used to improve the existing combat vehicles or create brand-new, unique, and unrepeatable ones.
The game’s mechanics allow you to create thousands of different designs, differing in appearance and combat characteristics, enabling you to advance in single battles and gain the upper hand in multiplayer confrontations.
Excellent graphics and soundtrack, a unique system of creating combat vehicles and unique futuristic fights, just a small part of what will delight the player project Crossout.
Steel Armor: Blaze of War
Steel Armor: Blaze of War was released by Graviteam in 2015 and took the player to the sandy locations where the armed forces of Afghanistan, Angola, and Iran clashed in a confrontation.
Controlling a crew of tanks of one of the opposing sides, the player will have to pass a non-linear story, which has an ultimate goal but does not have an explicit algorithm for passing. Everyone can choose his way of passing and make unique routes among desert plains and enemy-armed formations.
Panzer Corps
Panzer Corps, a turn-based strategy game released in 2011 by The Lordz Games Studio, focuses on World War II and takes you through several campaigns, including the main one on the side of the Wehrmacht and several sidequests for the African, Soviet, and Allied Corps.
The game features multiple scenarios, some of which have historical plausibility (such as the Battle of Leningrad), and others are fictional (Wehrmacht troops landing in the United States).
Over its history, the game has received 17 updates and expansions, which are collected in the full edition of “Panzer Corps Gold”, released on October 6, 2016.
Valkyria Chronicles 4
The single-player game Valkyria Chronicles 4 combines several genres:
- third-person action;
- role-playing character development;
- strategic mission planning;
- anime visualization.
Game battles are realized with a third-person view and take place after the strategic part of the passage, and based on their results the role-playing element, pumping and interaction of game characters is realized.
Armored Warfare
Armored Warfare occurs shortly in a world that has experienced many conflicts and upheavals, against which only three countries could resist: the United States, Russia, and China.
All conflicts in territories beyond the control of the leading players are resolved by the forces of private military corporations that unite the combat crews of all three countries.
The project allows players to play in three modes:
- PvP “Standard Combat” and “Clash,” in which two user teams of 15 participants each fight;
- PvE “Clash,” where a team of 5 players must perform global missions and confront computer opponents.
StarCraft 2
Released in 2010, Blizzard Entertainment’s real-time strategy game StarCraft 2 features single-player and online multiplayer.
Since 2017, the project has worked on the principle of Free-to-Play, allowing any Battle.net user to download the game and connect to the gameplay without any payment.
The essence of the game is to extract resources to develop the base and improve the means of defense and attack, which are necessary to destroy all enemy units and buildings, which allows you to win the fight.
Heroes and Generals
The multiplayer project in the first-person shooter Heroes and Generals genre appeared on Steam in early access on July 11, 2014, and the release took place only in early 2016. By that time, the number of players exceeded 7 million people.
Heroes and Generals users can be part of infantry units in tanks, planes, or ground vehicles.
The game features two modes:
- “Staging,” in which comparable teams face each other on one of the maps:
- small – available only to infantry troops;
- medium – allowing the participation of armored vehicles;
- large – allowing access to infantry, ground combat vehicles, and airplanes.
- A “war” that can last several days depending on the actions of the participants.
As of May 25, 2023, the game’s official servers are not supported.
Enlisted
Another reenactment of World War II events seen on April 8, 2021, is Darkflow Software’s multiplayer first-person shooter “Enlisted”.
The gameplay allows users to choose one of the roles:
- lead an infantry squad of 4 to 9 men armed with a variety of weapons from rifles to anti-tank grenade launchers;
- become the commander of a tank crew;
- pilot a combat airplane.
In any role, the player controls one of the avatars himself, while the others are given orders by the game’s artificial intelligence.
ARMA 3
ARMA 3 project, launched on Steam in September 2013 by Bohemia Interactive Studio, allows you to travel to the near future and become a participant in the battles of NATO and the U.S. alliance against the commonwealth of China, the Middle East, Africa, and Russia.
The game includes a story mode consisting of a prologue, three companies, and cooperative competitions that allow you to play online with other players.
In the game, you can test 40 different weapons and use 20 units of combat equipment in battle.
During its existence, the project has been updated and supplemented 15 times, getting a lot of new features and locations for the game.
