So a few months ago a new game came to the spotlight, taking many WoT players and WoT Youtubers, including KrebsCOHO, Jingles and Nethervvoid. I didn’t really know what was about War Thunder that so many people were starting to drift to it. A few nights ago I decided to play it and I finally understood what sets it apart from World of Tanks.

One important thing to note: War Thunder is nothing like World of Tanks. It’s like comparing basketball to chess. On War Thunder, you select a number of planes to enter a battle, and select one to start off with. The game gives you a series of objectives which can lead to your victory. Once you’re shot down, you can hop on the next aircraft and start flying right away. The game is fast paced, intense and filled with action from the first moment you get into the battle until the very end.

On World of Tanks, most of the times the outcome of the entire game is decided on the first 2 minutes. More specifically, who goes where. It’s a single game, 10 to 15 minutes in length, and very slow paced. Once you’re dead, that’s it. You can either quit to your garage and get into a new battle or watch your teammates most likely fail spectacularly.

War Thunder keeps you active for a long time, giving you plenty of opportunities to contribute to your team even if you screwed up previously. World of Tanks gives you one chance and that’s it. Once you’re dead, you’re out. One screw up loses the match. It’s a perfectionist and strategic game where every move has to be coldly calculated in order to increase your chances of victory, and one simple mistake or dumb luck (read: ammo rack) from the enemy is enough to seal the fate of the match.

On War Thunder, you’re freely flying through the world, allowing for a wide range of maneuvers. On World of Tanks, you’re confined to your tank’s capabilities and to the terrain, making predetermined paths that you know you will follow when you are on those maps with those tanks.

On War Thunder, a tier 1 plane is capable of punching holes and bringing down a plane of much higher tier. On World of Tanks, you must adjust your playing style based on the match tier you’re on. A Tier 5 Heavy Tank on a Tier 7 match filled with other Heavy Tanks must usually find some way (sometimes impossible) to flank in order to do damage, or seek the lower tier enemies to finish off, which, depending on the side of the map you chose to go to at the start of the match, might be all the way on the opposite side, leaving you stuck with tanks much bigger than you.

In the end, who is better? No one, really. It depends on whether you’re a basketball guy or a chess guy. World of Tanks is a far more technical and strategical game, but that’s its curse as well as its blessing.