A comparison library for desktop players in Australia
Which online tank game is worth the install?
Prowave records what the publishers of free-download vehicle combat games state about their own products, sets those statements side by side, and leaves the conclusion to the reader. Five titles are covered. One of them, World of Tanks, is an advertiser here, and every link to it is marked.
- Will it run on my machine? These are desktop games. Reading a requirements list properly saves a large download and a disappointing first hour.
- What will it cost me? A game with no purchase price still asks for money later. What free-to-play charges for sets out the patterns and the consumer rights attached to them.
- Is it right for the household? Where Australian classification comes from explains who decides and what the decision leaves open.
How this site is paid for
Prowave carries paid links. When a reader follows one of the marked links to World of Tanks and then creates and activates a game account, the advertising partner that operates the link pays Prowave a commission. The reader pays nothing extra for arriving that way, and the sign-up process is the publisher's own, unchanged.
That payment buys placement of the link and nothing else: not a favourable description, not the order of the comparison table, not the removal of a criticism. The other four titles here pay nothing and are treated the same way. The arrangement is set out in full on the affiliate disclosure page, and every paid link carries its own note beside it.
The scope of this library
This is a narrow site by design. It covers one slice of one genre: online multiplayer games built around armoured vehicles, aircraft and warships, distributed as free downloads for desktop computers and playable from Australia. It does not cover console exclusives, mobile releases, single-player campaigns or subscription services.
For each title Prowave records the publisher, the platforms targeted, and the page on the publisher's own site where current details are kept. Where a detail cannot be verified from a primary source, the entry says so rather than guessing. Coverage stops at five titles because five is the number a small publisher can keep current.
The five titles covered
| Title | Published by | Subject matter | Current details published at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crossout | Targem Games and Gaijin Entertainment | Built-to-order combat vehicles, post-collapse setting | crossout.net |
| Enlisted | Darkflow Software and Gaijin Entertainment | Squad infantry and vehicles, Second World War | enlisted.net |
| War Thunder | Gaijin Entertainment | Combined air, ground and naval combat | warthunder.com |
| World of Tanks | Wargaming | Team-based armoured vehicle combat | worldoftanks.eu |
| World of Warships | Wargaming | Team-based naval surface combat | worldofwarships.eu |
Publishers reorganise regions, launchers and store pages regularly, so the right-hand column is the authority for anything that has changed since the review date. The full comparison adds the platform columns.
Where World of Tanks sits in this group
World of Tanks is the title here with a commercial relationship attached. It is a team-based game of armoured vehicle combat published by Wargaming, and the material Prowave has been given describes a large international player base, graphics produced with the publisher's Core engine, destructible scenery, thirty maps rebuilt in high definition and a new soundtrack. Those are the publisher's descriptions of its own product, not measurements taken here.
What that material does describe precisely is the entry path: a single opt-in sign-up, where a reader creates an account and activates it. No price is stated in it, and none is stated here. The constraint worth knowing before you click is that this is a desktop release — Windows, macOS and Linux, no mobile platform.
Visit the World of Tanks website
This is a paid link. If you follow it and then create and activate an account, the advertising partner behind the link pays Prowave a commission. Nothing is added to your side of the transaction, and you can reach the same destination by searching for the publisher directly.
The full entry for this title separates what the publisher states from what this site has been able to verify.
Reading a free download as a price
A game distributed at no charge is still a commercial product, and the revenue arrives through three usual channels: purchasable currency that converts into progress, premium accounts that raise the rate at which rewards accumulate, and items sold outright or through randomised bundles. The problem is never that these exist; it is that a player often cannot tell in advance which parts of the game are gated behind money and which behind time. Prowave's guide to what free-to-play costs in practice works through the mechanics and the consumer guarantees attached to digital purchases, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission publishes its own guidance at accc.gov.au.
Desktop-only is a real limitation, not a footnote
Several titles here have never been released for phones, and the ones with a mobile version run a separate game with a separate account. A reader deciding between these five needs a desktop or laptop with a capable graphics processor, storage for a download measured in tens of gigabytes, and a connection that tolerates sustained patching.
Australian conditions add two wrinkles: a first install can take a visible share of a monthly data allowance, and servers sit outside Australia, putting a floor under latency that no hardware will lift. The requirements guide covers reading a published specification and what the minimum and recommended tiers mean.
Accounts are the part that actually goes wrong
Few players have a serious problem with a game's installer; a meaningful number have one with the account attached to it. Accounts accumulate value over years, which makes them a target, and the approaches are ordinary: a phishing page dressed as a launcher login, a discounted key that turns out to be revoked.
The defences are equally ordinary. Use an address you control, set a password that exists nowhere else, turn on two-factor authentication where it is offered, and buy codes only from the publisher or a store the publisher names. Scamwatch, run by the National Anti-Scam Centre, collects current examples at scamwatch.gov.au, and the Australian Cyber Security Centre publishes practical account hardening advice at cyber.gov.au. Prowave's own summary is on the accounts and security page.
Classification, households and who decides
Australian classification decisions for computer games are made under a national scheme and published rather than inferred. To see how a title is classified, and the consumer advice attached to the decision, use the Classification Board's own database at classification.gov.au. Prowave restates no classification, because the Board's record is authoritative and current and a restatement here would be a claim this site has to defend.
Classification answers one question. It does not settle whether a game with purchasable randomised items suits a particular household, whether voice chat with strangers suits a particular player, or how much time is reasonable. The eSafety Commissioner publishes material aimed at those decisions at esafety.gov.au. No game covered on this site is presented as suitable for children.
How entries are decided
Titles enter on genre fit and continued availability, never on whether they pay. Attributes come from the publisher's own site or its attributed advertising material; where neither answers the question, the cell reads "check the publisher's site" until someone can verify it. Ordering is alphabetical without exception, and paid links appear only on this homepage and in the entry for the title they belong to. The full method, including corrections, is on the method page.
Independent Australian sources
Nothing here should be the last word on a question a public body answers directly. These are the organisations worth reading before a purchase or a household decision:
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
- The national competition and consumer regulator; publishes guidance on consumer guarantees, including for digital products.
- Scamwatch, National Anti-Scam Centre
- Collects scam reports and publishes current examples, including the account scams aimed at players.
- Australian Cyber Security Centre
- The Commonwealth's lead agency for cyber security advice; publishes guidance on passwords, multi-factor authentication and compromise recovery.
- eSafety Commissioner
- The national online safety regulator; resources on gaming, online abuse and family technology agreements.
- Australian Classification Board
- Makes and publishes classification decisions for computer games, with a searchable database.
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
- The national privacy regulator; handles complaints and explains the Australian Privacy Principles.