War Thunder is the newest MMO-based combat flight simulator which is currently under development by Gaijin Entertainment (of Apache Air Assault fame) for PC, Mac OS X, and the PlayStation 4. The game is curently in its initial open beta stage for PC and Mac.
Initially known as World of Planes, War Thunder has been in development since 2009 by Gaijin, which has continuously looked forward to improve any new flight-based game with a previous history of introducing other similar titles such as Birds of Steel, Apache Air Assault, and more.
In a recent interview with Gamingbolt, Alexander Trifonov, international PR for Gaijin, talked about the game, while also highlighting the PS4 version and how the game will look to harness the horsepower of the next-gen console.
Gaijin has been doing vast amounts of research to bring in real life maps from the World War II era to War Thunder. "We have acquired an enormous database and sought help from many historical consultants. We studied old photos, documentaries and military maps from that era to make all of our levels believable,” said Trifonov.
Known to run on the Dagor Engine, the game boasts massive maps that scale from 65 km x 65 km, to 100 km x 100 km, and up to 200 km x 200 km in size. However, the size of the maps are expected to grow even larger, around 300 square by the time the game’s completed. And again, it will be based on a real life maps where real life battles actually took place.
“We’re going to add tanks and ships to our game and make mixed battles between all three, making even bigger maps isn’t wise – the players will have trouble finding each other. But there’ll be new maps and updates to existing ones, sure,” Trifonov stated on the topic.
Since this is a game involving planes, there are a number of vintage planes already present. However, the final version is expected to offer even more in terms of planes and maps.
“At the moment we have more than 200 planes in the game, but new ones are added to the game with every major update. The complete list of aircraft is significantly bigger, taking into account all possible modifications, armament variations and visual tuning,” Trifonov stated. “Altogether, about 5,000 different planes fought in WWII – that’s the number we’re after!”
Additionally, it was also revealed that War Thunder on PS4 will aim to use PS Eye camera for head tracking. Said Trifonov: “We’re using PlayStation Eye camera for the head-tracking, so the player can look around his aircraft without using the gamepad.And of course users will be ableto use Share functions such as screen capture or even live streaming.”
It is also possible for players to perform plane customizations in the game. However, when asked if the customization involved will only be at a visual level or can players change engine and other parts, Trifonov said that with a brand new recent update for the game, “players got a whole new range of customization options, including different offensive and defensive measures. You can alter any plane in your possession dramatically: you can trade firepower for speed and better armor for maneuverability.”
War Thunder is currently scheduled for a release on PS4 on Nov. 15 in North America and on November 29 in Europe.