2 Minutes of Raw Infantry CQB. Last CBT Gameplay + Thorough Review
Hello union workers,
I wanted to talk about infantry for a while, and managed to capture this footage from the last CBT. This recording crashed my game, so given my limited hardware, I could not record or share any more footage. Enjoy the typical WT in-game chat as well :p
To start, I would like to share my unfiltered opinion on infantry, before jumping into the boring details most wont read. I genuinely have been waiting for each CBT since I played the very first one. The game offers something unique that other competitors don't. I think it fixes my biggest icks when it comes to games like Tarkov, Squad, Battlefield and brings the best of everything all in one game. I love squad, but hate the Vehicle warfare. I love Tarkov, but hate that bullets feel like nerf darts. I love Battlefield, but hate its pace and the vehicles. What war thunder does well is that it brings the environment from BF6, brings the good armor system from Tarkov, brings the slow realistic pacing from squad, while adding the unique touch of war thunder and its ballistics. There's still lots of work ahead, lots of potential, but for a CBT it is not bad at all.
The best thing so far, is that they have actually been listening to feedback. It felt like they listened to me and that feels good. I will speak more on this later.
What the game does really well:
- Slow pacing
- Ammo, ballistics and armor
- Vehicle Combat
- Maps/environments
- Weapons (recoil, hip fire, bore over sight, barrels don't clip, scopes)
What needs work:
- Animations
- Movement
- Servers
- Sound
- Balancing
- Gamemodes
- Explosions vs Infantry
- Health/Vitality system
Slow Pacing: I love that and you can see it in the attached video. You don't see anyone sprinting and jumping. The armor/loadout you take play a crucial role in your mobility. Exactly like how heavy armor makes you turn slower in Tarkov. I don't remember if we had an ergonomic stat, but it is clear and obvious when you hold the SVD vs when you hold the .50cal.
Ammo, ballistics and armor: Armor finally makes sense in a damn video game. Tarkov was really close, but I hate how you can empty a 30 rnd mag into someones head and do nothing. All bullets feel lethal here. 9mm will struggle against armor, but it will still kill a person in a reasonable time. 5.56 and 5.45 take less time to kill, but will still be stopped by armor. SVD will go right through your chest plate. Shotguns are mostly stopped by armor, but at point blank its almost a one shot anywhere, but the armor plate. Seems like the pellets do enough damage to the limbs to secure the kill up close. Armor is also just focuses where the plate actually is, unlike many other games. Ballistics seem to be on point. It is VERY hard to shoot down an FPV drone at full speed.
Vehicle Combat: What can I say? it's WT after all. You have the ballistics and death cams from ground battles, so it feels just like home. Worried about infantry? I've seen abrams and T90s tank countless RPG hits and survive. It really puts things into perspective and that is what I abolutely love. HE is super deadly here as well. I also love that it puts the scale into perspective. You can see little humans walking past your tank. Finally, WT feels alive. I miss the IFVs, and wish they would add the IFV, the 2 MBTs, the SPAA all in one lineup + the heli.
Maps/Environments: This doesn't get talked about a lot. Let's give credit where its due. Even the smallest map isn't that small. You can access every building and rooftop in game. I doubt there was a single thought given to balance, but its so unbalanced, it balances itself. And yk what? I love that. Fuck having developers hold our hands and create a 3 lane map design like an esports game. Just throw us in Iraq and we will fight it out from any building, from any window, from any story. Just like Chechnya. I also want to stress that I am an arabic speaker, and the Iraqi map has lots of impressive details. They put lots of effort into translation and arabic graffiti. The stores and locations make sense and feel real.
Weapons: Not perfect at all, let me start by saying that. The recoil was off in the last 2 CBTs, but I had no issues with it whatsoever this CBT and you can clearly see in the video. It could have been the animations holding it back, which seems to have received major improvements this CBT. All I can say is that nothing is special here, but everything makes sense and I want nothing more than that when it comes to a shooter. Ballistics make everything better.
Animations: by far has to be one of the biggest setbacks in the mode. It seems to be holding many things behind. It affects the weapons, recoil, movement and overall smoothness of the gameplay. It has improved by miles this CBT, so I am at least looking forward for the future. But this is by far one of the worst things. THOUGH, the ragdoll physics are insane. They dont categorize under 'Animations', but thought I should include that here. Almost forgot, the transport vehicle animations are horrible tho, ngl.
Movement: Not bad, I like how its slow. But the animations really hold it back. I like how you cant go prone on any surface, again, unlike most other games, but gosh its so awkward and unsmooth to be in the prone position. I am afraid that jumping sometimes feel powerful, and I can see people spamming space while sprinting to avoid snipers and move faster. Let's avoid having B-hopping gaijin.
Servers: the kryptonite of infantry. Along with the animations, its also holding the CBT back. Though I must admit, this CBT didnt have server issues on Day 1, and had more evident ones on Day 2.
Sound: Was awful in some areas, but it was pretty damn good in the last CBT. Still very buggy sometimes. Could be server or hardware issues on my side because there is so much being processes, but my guns would stop making sounds. That applies to rifles, tanks and SPAA and Helis. I was happy to see plenty of improvement. The RPK sounded really nice and I am sure that was not the case before. The .50cal sniper/mg and tank canon fire also sound unique from an infantry perspective.
Balancing: they did a good job this CBT, but now I think Tanks are too strong. I don't wanna comment more without seeing more of the tests. Most things will change anyways. What you all need to know is that there is good work being put towards balance. I would wish to see more equipment, and I think this will bring some balance too.
Gamemodes: Not sure if this is the right time to formulate an opinion because this is still a one day long test. But I don't like how short the games feel, and I hope to see more innovation here. What I also wish to see is no respawn limit, but again maybe its for testing purposes. Lastly, would like to have the option for early spawn for all vehicles, and have total all out warfare at all stages of the battle.
Explosions vs Infantry: they SUCK ! that's all! RPG hits barely do anything to infantry if not a direct hit. Same with drones and IFV HE belts.
Health/Vitality System: this is not an issue right now, but I personally hate it. I think my clip shows why. It's too easy too heal and cover bleeds. You should be less encouraged to get shot at. Maybe having a medic would help?
That was a very long post so I will start to cut it short. I mentioned earlier that they listened to suggestions, and mine was to make the scout UAV more useful. The shortened the spot cooldown time, and now you can spot for your team in RB, just like in GRB. I recommend that we keep providing constructive feedback, and I really do have high hopes for this mode.
Some idiots almost lost me my account for claiming I use AI. This took hours in draft, so I will not tolerate any of those claims. I took the time to write all of this, and would at least appreciate not being accused and judged based on my formatting/emoji use, when you didn't bother to properly read.
Im running this on a laptop 3050 4GB VRAM, 16GB RAM and almost no storage space left. Was surprised to be running it at decent frames most of the times. My settings are ugly, and my recording setup didn't do me justice.
Thanks if you made it that far, and let me know how the game looks to you!