Available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, the free game sports 3D graphics, simple controls, plenty of World War II era and modern tanks to command, each having plenty of upgrades to enhance their destructive capabilities. Online combat includes two modes and several battlefield environments to choose from.
Grand Tanks is from the same Windows 10 developer who brings us Armada Tanks, but offers a slightly more rustic feel with the older tank selections. If you like combat games, especially the ones with tanks, Grand Tanks is a simple game to pick up and play — but one that's challenging to master.
When you first launch Grand Tanks, the game takes you through a series of tutorials that cover the basics of gameplay. Once you complete the tutorials, the game launches to a primary menu that holds several options that include entering battle, purchase decals for your tank, paint options for tank camouflage, choose tank upgrades and visit the tank hangar to choose your tank or unlock new tanks.
Game settings are accessible from the gear cog in the upper left corner of the main menu. Settings cover gamertag customization, sound/music settings, graphic settings and notification options. Your current choice of tanks is displayed center screen with several gaming statistics running along the top and sides of the display. These stats cover your experience points, gold and silver counts and fuel supply. Gold and silver are used for upgrades and unlocking new tanks, while fuel is used to regulate gameplay.
Upgrades include enhancements to your tank's main gun, armor, auto-loading speed, engine and chassis. You begin gameplay commanding a U.S. M5 Stuart tank with additional tanks such as the U.S. Sherman and Pershing tanks, German Tiger tanks and Russian T-34 tanks.
Battles are timed and include two modes: Team and Free for All. Team play is what you would expect: you are a member of a team challenged with obliterating your opposing team of tanks. Free for All has every tank commander battling for themselves to see who can destroy the most tanks before the game timer expires. Along with the goal of destroying the most enemy tanks, Grand Tanks includes performance-based goals that can earn you a little bonus silver or gold.
Game controls are simple with a virtual joystick positioned on the left side of the display to control tank movement. Swiping the screen left or right rotates the tank turret accordingly and button controls are scattered about to toggle weapon's zoom, special artillery rounds, to center your turret and an auto-pilot.
The turret button comes in handy if you need to center your turret (facing front) quickly to fire upon an approaching enemy and the auto-pilot button is nice when you need to flee an area quickly without worrying about steering.
At the end of the match, players are ranked by the number of tanks destroyed and points for damage earned. The top positions earn rewards ranging from gold to fuel to upgrade parts.
A blast of a game
Grand Tanks turned out to be a fun, competitive online combat game for Windows 10. Graphics look good with plenty of detail and the animations illustrate the destructiveness of tank warfare nicely. Gameplay can be linked between Windows 10 devices through a Facebook or by creating a Grand Tanks account (free).
Controls are simple to learn and laid out in a user-friendly fashion. If you need to tweak the settings during gameplay, a settings cog provides you access to the core options of the game. The competition varies from players who are sitting ducks to those that aggressively hunt you down.
Overall, Grand Tanks provides you an entertaining option when you have a little down time to pass and are in the mood for blowing things up. The free game works well on the small screen of a Windows 10 Mobile phone and the larger screen of a Windows 10 PC tablet, helps the game shine a little brighter. If you have given Grand Tanks a try, let us know what you think of things in the comments.
