Hot off the release of the release of South Park: The Stick of Truth, developer Obsidian Entertainment has partnered up with My.com to deliver a free to play, online tank combat game called Armored Warfare, and I got a chance to play a quick mission while at the Game Developers Conference.
Obsidian has partnered up with My.com in order to create this modern military tank shooter. It might sound like an interesting mix, but My.com came to Obsidian with the idea, and Obsidian came together with a team to make a game that they’d want to play.
There is an over-arcing story where the players fill the roles of private military contractors, upgrading and managing their arsenal. The game features player vs player (PvP) and player vs environment (PvE) multiplayer scenarios.
The demo I got time with at GDC was a cooperative PvE match. Four human controlled tanks rolling in on a small group of computer controlled enemy tanks. The goal was simple, destroy the opposition.
While the game is being true to the tank designs, weapons and handling I was glad to discover the game is not a simulation game. As a result it only took me a few seconds to familiarize myself with the controls.
Driving down the road on our way to the destination I was taking in the scenery when my teammates veered off the road tearing down trees that stood in their way. We quickly rolled upon the enemies because of the small nature of the scenario. The AI controlled tanks were easy to take down and didn’t offer much of a challenge, but I did have three veteran players on my team. The visuals really stood out. Obsidian clearly has taken the time and effort into creating a game where the tanks look real, and the environments they are in look equally real and blow apart as expected.
Obsidian commented that the game will be “free to play” but that doesn’t mean “pay to win,” meaning items that are available for purchase will be mostly cosmetic. What will ultimately make or break Armored Warfare are the wrappings surrounding the game. If the different modes, unlocks and player progression is enough to hook players and lure them in over other games of a similar nature.
The PC version is the only version available at this time, with the launch of the PS4 and XB1 the console world is a lot friendlier to the free to play game model, and we might see games from My.com make it onto multiple platforms.
If you are interested in playing Armored Warfare for yourself, head over to their official site and sign up for the beta. http://aw.my.com/
