Exclusively multiplayer-oriented, World of Warplanes does not bother with any single player campaign, nor even with any script context. Once connected to the game, you simply find yourself in the hangar which allows you to choose the plane with which you will let off steam. At first glance, most of them are blocked, and it will naturally be necessary to gain experience over the games to be able to access them. The different models cover an era roughly from the 30s to the 50s and five nations are represented: Germany, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and the USSR There are currently around twenty aircraft per country, i.e. a hundred aircraft in total. Already quite impressive, this number is set to increase over the coming months since the developers promise to offer us a hundred machines per nation in the end! Each of them naturally has different characteristics, starting with its general category (which can be fighter, heavy fighter or assault aircraft) and its rank (from 1 to 10). Depending on the case, we will therefore be dealing with more or less shielding, greater firepower or better maneuverability. The game also offers a whole progression system for crew members like cuckoo clocks, which also have a technology tree and can also be personalized cosmetically. In short, there is enough to occupy between two battles. These take place with 15 players against 15, in a single mode except for the training modes. It's frankly a bit fair, especially since the games rarely last more than five minutes, the time that the fifteen planes of the same team are destroyed. Ground targets (anti-aircraft batteries, boats, etc.) add a little spice to the action, it is interesting to coordinate with your teammates, but all this does not really extend the duration of the games. It is therefore advisable to spend a lot of time pampering your zinc stable, otherwise you will quickly get tired of these short flight sessions carried out in a loop.
The Knights of Blight
Fortunately, these have the advantage of being easy to access, the grip being almost immediate. The piloting is indeed rather arcade-like, and you really have to do anything to crash on the ground or on the side of a mountain. In addition, the main controls are limited to triggering the boost, which overheats if it is activated for too long, and firing, the rate of which slows down if you forget to fire in bursts. The game supports mouse control as well as keyboard, gamepad or joystick control. But all these great accessibility efforts are somewhat spoiled by the aiming system, which leans more towards realism than the arcade. That the time of propagation of the shots and the speed of movement of the enemy planes are taken into account, no problem! It's rather a good thing, especially since a red reticle is there to show us where to shoot to hit our moving target. The problem comes rather from the fact that it is also necessary to deal with two other additional reticles. One is placed in the classic way in the center of the screen, while the other indicates where the nose of the plane is pointing and where the shots will therefore land. Everything gets complicated when you realize that the same command (for example the movement of the mouse) directs both the virtual camera and the movement of the plane.
The game supports mouse control as well as keyboard, gamepad or joystick control. But all these fine accessibility efforts are somewhat spoiled by the aiming system, which leans more towards realism than arcade."
Concretely, it takes some time to return to the axis of the camera, which therefore leads to a shift between the two crosshairs. When we add to that the red reticle mentioned above, we inevitably end up getting lost. Of course, things get better with practice. But we still wonder why the developers did not choose a more classic system, based on separate camera and aircraft controls. The grip would certainly have been less immediate, especially for beginners, but in the long term, the playing comfort would have been greater. On the other hand, there is not much to complain about on the graphics side. The planes are carefully modeled, while the sets are far from ugly as long as the nose of the aircraft is not stuck on it. And above all, we can take our hat off to Wargaming.net for the economic model adopted. World of Warplanes is truly free-to-play, not pay-to-win at all. Basically, those who decide to checkout will be entitled to a bonus of experience and credits (earned after each battle) of 50%. In addition, the Premium status of the account then remains valid for World of Tanks. In the end, even if it is steeped in goodwill, World of Warplanes would still have deserved some additional refinements. Especially since with the upcoming release of War Thunder, the competition looks tough...
