photo: Francois Schnell/ BY-NC-SA

Pow! Pow! Pow! Boom! I slammed my hand against the table in anger. So much for a stress reliever. I should be ashamed of letting a little AT-1 take out my Luchs. He was a tier less than me! Some time in the month of July, my cousin introduced a MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) to me called World of Tanks; WoT for short. It was uninteresting to me at first because I wasn’t all that into tanks, but I was proven wrong this year. World of Tanks was first released in Russia last October. Although this game on appearance seems like other MMOGs, especially its water counterpart: World of Battleships, it is actually slightly different. Based on land, the objective of the game is to either capture their base or destroy all enemy tanks. New players start off with three starter tanks; one from the German line, one from the American line, and one from the Russian line. The more time the player spends playing World of Tanks and surviving battles, the more they can upgrade to different parts, sell old tanks, and buy new and more powerful tanks. Tanks come in five types: a light tank which is speedy and fast but does not have good fire power or defense, a medium tank which has average speed and pretty good fire power and defense, a heavy tank which is really slow but has powerful fire power and defense, a tank destroyer, also known as a TD, which has great fire power and defense on the side but has a vulnerable top, or a SPG (self propelled gun) which can take out heavy tanks and TDs but is extremely slow and hard to turn. As the player moves through the ranks, which are called tiers, the more likely they will come out on top; undefeatable and victorious. This is one of the reasons why players come back and keep on playing. Another 17.3% of the players play because they feel that it’s a good way to relax. But the highest percentage of players, 38.1%, plays because they just want to play it. On the day I was proven wrong, I knew beyond a reasonable doubt that this game would be a hit among all age groups. It has amazingly realistic 3D graphics, with a 360 degree angle view point. The controls are simple and easy to master; based mainly on the left side of the keyboard and the mouse. The terrain of the battlefield and the choice of attacks contain a wide variety; from ramming into another tank in the middle of the lake to bursting into flames in the middle of a desert because the engine caught on fire. Most of all, the game is free and moderators often check in with the players to ensure that all the rules and guidelines are followed. The downside of World of Tanks is that there are glitches every once in a while, causing the tank to get stuck on a hillside for no apparent reason. Another offset is the fact that the game needs to be downloaded which can turn out to be a huge problem since it is a very big file that takes up a lot of space. I give this online game 8.5 out of 10 and would strongly recommend this online game to others. Especially if they a good computer, love playing strategy games, and need to take off some steam. Seeing the enemy tank blow up into pieces and hearing the commander say “You got him” is very satisfying, don’t you think?