When the Gaijins joked on April 1 that they were going to release World of Planes, everyone smiled. But when there were two announcements at E3 on the same day - World of Planes from Gaijin Entertainment and World of Warplanes from Friv5Online Games Studio, everyone laughed. I remember that Konstantin T. then threw both press releases to me in ICQ with the comment “Full of win!”. It turned out really funny.

True, after that Gaijin Entertainmentnot to say that she started an active information war against the main competitor. Yes, there were words in the spirit of "the game is almost ready, it remains to modify a little - and it will fly out into the wild." There were screenshots and two gorgeous videos, but neither magazines nor websites actively talked about the project.

And here at Igromir, at the huge stand of Gaijin Entertainment, there are two dozen computers with the game: you can walk up, grab the joystick and fly. Everything is the same as in the final version, except that some menus do not work and the level of control complexity cannot be set.

It was impossible to pass by. Moreover, a little earlier I was able to look at the brainchild of Friv5Online Games Studio. Therefore, I wanted to try World of Planes madly.

If you haven’t watched the videos from the game before, I still recommend you to do it. They are very pretty - the surroundings and the planes look great. And when the authors released the video, they made it clear that this is not a "cartoon", this is footage from the "beta" of World of Planes . After taking off from an aircraft carrier, you are immediately convinced of this. Nobody lied, the project looks solid: very cool for online and generally modern.

True, you quickly get distracted from the beauty, because you have to concentrate on management. It is by no means casual here - there were even joysticks on the Igromir so that all young (and very young) pilots could cope with the plane with dignity. Well, plus this is a clear stone in the Friv5Online Games Studio garden, which has repeatedly said that her "birds" are easy to handle. No joysticks are needed, just a mouse and keyboard.

Gaijin Entertainment , however, claims that it will have a wide range of control options. And even those novice pilots who, not only have not graduated from the usual flight school, will be able to steer on the mouse and keyboard without any problems. However, joystick owners will still find it easier. This could threaten a serious imbalance, but the developers promise an advanced search engine for rivals.

If you thought that the difference between World of Planes and World of Warplanes is only in management, then jumped to conclusions. No, we are just approaching the main difference.

Let me remind you that in World of Tanks each tank has one life per round - if it was blown up, then you need to use another combat vehicle for the next fight. Or wait for the end of the battle.

In World of Planes, things are different. She's closer to projects like Battlefield or Call of Duty, where after death the character is reborn and continues to fight. So my plane, after the fifteenth death in a row, again appears on the deck of an aircraft carrier, in order to take revenge on the offenders and... And earn experience. Yes, the pumping system here is about the same as in the above series. For all sorts of useful things we are rewarded, and when we gain enough experience points, we get new levels, and with them - all sorts of body kits and aircraft.

And in general, the gameplay is very dynamic thanks to this. You don't have to wait for anything, just go to the server and hack until you get bored. Already tired? I changed the regime, the map, the "bird". The competition is different - World of Warplanes will have the same system as World of Tanks.

Here, however, there are thoughts about whether World of Planes will become too casual. If you look at Counter-Strike and Modern Warfare 2 , then in the first action movie the audience is generally more skillful and accurate, because there they are punished for death - you have to wait until the end of the round. But in the brainchild of Activision in the main modes, die at least three times in a second - it's okay, you will immediately continue the battle. I'm afraid that the low cost of a mistake will spawn a bunch of awkward pilots who don't know how to play and don't want to learn. If World of Tanks had similar gameplay, everything would be different. Players' arms would straighten for years. Or, on the contrary, they were just curving.

Looking at the titles World of Planes and World of Warplanes , while you can't say that these games are not competitors, they really differ. The first will clearly be more dynamic, and the second - with a greater focus on tactics and team play.