If you would let me paint a scene for a moment – snow crunches beneath steel tracks as the bitter wind whistles across a ruined battlefield. Smoke coils into the grey sky while artillery shells thunder somewhere beyond the horizon. An XM1V tank rumbles through shattered streets, its turret slowly turning as sparks rain from a nearby wreck of a T-62AV. Then comes the deafening crack of a cannon blast, the earth shaking beneath your feet as armour-piercing rounds tear through concrete and steel alike. Welcome to the brutal, grinding theatre of mechanised warfare. Welcome to World of Tanks: HEAT.
Bringing the HEAT
Now, I’ve always had a soft spot for tank combat games. There’s just something about the raw power, the strategy, and the sheer tension of two steel beasts trying to outmanoeuvre one another in the deadliest game that never gets old.
But while plenty of games have tried to capture that “magic”, very few actually manage to make you feel like you’re a 30-tonne war machine. World of Tanks does a good job but, for me personally, it was all a bit slow and a bit too mindful of action, so to say.
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Step in World of Tanks: HEAT, which takes the core idea of World of Tanks but trims off a lot of the fat to deliver a fast-paced, hard-hitting hero-shooter of sorts.
Think Overwatch in a tank and you have some sort of idea, as World of Tanks: HEAT lets you play as one of around eight characters, or Agents as the game calls them. Each has unique abilities that really mix up how you play the game from round to round.
Class-Based Tank Hunter
It’s your standard class system really: assault, sniper, healer, but there are tanks here instead of over-the-top characters. Though each Agent tries hard to make you care about them, you only see them for a few moments throughout a match.
Matches are faster-paced than your typical tank-based shooter, but that’s exactly where the tension comes from. Every corner feels dangerous. Every open field feels like a death sentence. You’re constantly checking ridgelines, scanning for movement, and praying your armour holds long enough for you to reload and capture the point.
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The tank variety is where HEAT really shines though. From nimble light tanks built for up-close-and-personal attacks to colossal heavy tanks capable of soaking up punishment like mobile bunkers, each tank feels distinct.
The developers have clearly gone all in on making every machine handle differently, and mastering your chosen class becomes an addictive challenge in itself as it takes time to really get to grips with them.
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Though watching a shell ricochet off your armour before returning fire with a devastating counter-shot never stops being satisfying.
In time you’ll upgrade modules and tweak loadouts to make your steel titan of choice that bit more deadly. Though, admittedly, there is a bit of a grind as upgrades and unlocks are not shared across tanks.
Classic Multiplayer
The game has four core objective-based PvP modes to do battle in. Conquest 10v10 sees teams capture and hold multiple zones simultaneously to earn points. Hardpoint 5v5 has you fight over a single capture zone that changes locations every four minutes or so.
There is also Control 5v5, which is very like Hardpoint, but you fight to secure and hold one permanent zone. Finally, there is Kill Confirmed 5v5, which is like the standard deathmatch, but you have to collect tags to confirm the kill and bag the points.
Visually, World of Tanks: HEAT nails the atmosphere of armoured warfare. Explosions erupt with enough force to shake the screen. Tank models are packed with detail. Battlefields look scarred and war-torn with an odd Cold War vibe to it all.
Sound design deserves credit too. Engines roar with fury while shells whistle overhead. There’s a real weight behind every engagement that sells the chaos.
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That said, the game isn’t perfect. Matches can often feel one-sided if the skill levels aren’t balanced. I also had a few disconnections while playing, though it instantly rejoins the game after I was booted. Hopefully things will settle in time on this front.
World of Tanks: HEAT delivers a tense, explosive, and deeply rewarding multiplayer experience that understands exactly what tank warfare should feel like. All while looking at it through a more arcade lens – heavy, messy, and a true spectacle.
