Wall-E's first prototype didn't quite pass muster with the focus testing groups.

My T1's pitiful shots pinged harmlessly off most other players' superior armor.

WoT has no built-in voice chat, and the text chat and a series of not-so-useful canned commands like “Back to base!” don't get the job done.

Not pictured: the part where I turned around and killed everyone. Because it didn't happen.

Make no mistake: this is not a quick sit-down-and-blow

-shit-up game.

I think the shots might just be coming from somewhere in that general direction.

Subscribing makes progression feel positively breezy compared to the free alternative.

No one ever said war had to be dreary and glum all the time. But they definitely thought it.

I found myself especially enamored with two tier fives: the T-25 and the Ram-II.

GameSpy's Free Agent is your advance recon into the world of free-to-play games. His mission: jump into a free game every week and play to see how much fun can be had without spending a cent, then try out some paid items to see if they're worth the asking price. This week's test subject: World of Tanks , a heavy-metal team-based shooter. Can you stand up to WoT's paid "wallet warriors" without taking a tank shell to your bank account?Beginning with a freshly minted account from WorldofTanks.com , it only took me a couple 10-minute-long, team-based World of Tanks matches to notice something: the starter tanks that new free players are saddled with for the first few hours are absolutely wretched pieces of machinery. I many not be a reincarnated World War II tank general, but I'm no Mike Dukakis either, and I didn’t score my first for. Not exactly an auspicious start.After dabbling with specialized-but-still-terrible tanks like the sludge-slow German Leichttraktor (or “Lol Tractor,” as the community calls it), I settled on the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none American T1 Cunningham . Now, any multiplayer shooter is going to have a learning curve when you first start out, but even accounting for that I felt like I was driving a clown car armed to the teeth with a vibrant assortment of spitball launchers. My T1's pitiful shots pinged harmlessly off most other players' superior armor, and the black-and-white “You are dead” screen became my constant companion. WoT says it matches players based on a tank tier system to avoid this kind of lopsided thrashing, but in my experience low-rank (tier one and two) 15-on-15 matches routinely saw players in noticeably superior tanks rack up kills while everyone else just sort of went along for the ride.Via explosion-based education, I eventually figured out that my light tank was virtually useless in combat, and best suited for scouting enemies for ally artillery players to bust. That kind of teamwork proved essential, as lone wolves are easily slaughtered like little pigs in WoT's wide-open maps. I quickly learned to stick in a pack with other light tanks, lest I become a glowing neon "Shoot Me" sign. Even then, group coordination often proved difficult.Thankfully even losing battles grants some experience points and credits, which can be used to research new weapons or tanks and buy them, respectively. However, progression -- via research and upgrade purchasing -- is fairly slow, and worthwhile unlocks are won largely through dogged persistence. But then, acquiring and upgrading tanks is sort of the whole point, so if that's not your thing, WoT will probably wear out its welcome pretty quickly.And I honestly wasn’t sure if it wasthing -- at least, not at first. WoT revels in numbers: armor penetration, aiming time, engine power, load limits, view ranges, and initially they're daunting. WoT doesn’t really go out of its way to teach you what they mean, either. Rather, it asks you to go out ofway and read an exhaustively detailed guide on the official site. It is, mind you, a very useful guide -- for instance, I wouldn’t have even known which portions of tanks were lightly armored without it -- but make no mistake: this is not a quick sit-down-and-blow-shit-up game.So it took a couple hours before I really started enjoying myself, but eventually it did happen. My little engine that couldn't transformed -- via a semi-automatic Browning gun, a more accurate 20mm gun, a quicker turret, and slowly improving crew members -- into a relatively competent machine, running circles around larger tanks and dealing acceptable amounts of damage, at least when not facing down some monster of a tank that looks like it belongs in the Incredible Hulk’s parking garage.And then I cashed in my hard-earned gold for a medium tank (the T2 -- hooray for counting!) and started from square one -- again learning my tank class’ ins-and-outs (for instance, two mediums can masterfully bait and flank a heavy) and replacing its scrapheap-worthy starter parts with pieces that packed more of a punch. In short bursts, I had a pretty good time -- especially once I reached the quick, versatile middle tiers (tier 5, especially) after eight or so hours. But the process definitely strayed into slog territory during longer stretches between costly upgrades.All this makes World of Tanks tough to recommend as a free experience. If you're determined, though, I suggest stocking your garage with one tank of each type to alleviate those grindy doldrums slightly. That way, the second your medium tank meets the dreaded Gray Screen of Death, you can hop over to a different battle in an artillery, light tank, or something along those lines. There’s no penalty for ducking out of matches early, as WoT keeps busted tanks “in battle” until matches end -- regardless of whether or not you’re still in the driver’s seat.Of course, all that pain starts to melt away the moment you cough up some cash. Upgrading to a premium account granted me a 50-percent bonus to experience and credit gain, making progression feel positively breezy compared to the free alternative. The range of premium time/pricing options is an excellent touch, too. For my personal play habits, the single-day ($1.40), week ($6.95), and month ($12.45) options are all attractive. Is nearly $100 for a full year a good deal? If you’re a tank devotee who eats, sleeps, and breathes steel death chariots, absolutely.Then there's the path to instant gratification: buy a whole tank off the shelf. Now, if you listen to the more vocal WoT players, they’ll rant and rave that so-called “wallet warriors” are overpowered bullies who -- given the opportunity -- would beat up Robin Hood and give back to the rich. That, however, isn’t entirely accurate. I took two roughly $55 premium tier eights -- the Lowe and the T-59 (which was retired from the store last week) -- for a spin, and while neither felt unfair against experienced players in capable tanks, both steamrolled every lower-tier opponent unfortunate enough to find themselves mismatched in my game. So bad matchmaking’s the culprit -- not terribly unbalanced tanks.Those, however, are far better for farming funds than giggling gleefully as you mow down foes. Now, if it’s fast-paced (for a tank) fun you’re looking for, I found myself especially enamored with two tier fives: the T-25 and the Ram-II . Both land safely in the $10 range -- a far cry from the Lowe’s heinous crime against piggy banks the world over. The T-25 is a speed demon whose turret packs a serious wallop, while the Ram’s got thicker skin to make up for its lack of blinding speed or overwhelming power. Both can hold their own in up-close-and-personal showdowns -- and if you don’t feel some kind of thrill while going face-to-face with a 50-ton murder machine, you might want to check the lost-and-found for your pulse.In the T-25, even when I lost, I won. For instance, I once found myself camped out on a rocky outcropping with a few allies. Our enemies, meanwhile, had similar numbers, but significantly better positioning. I zipped between cover spots, approaching a critical Keanu Reeves mass of “whoas” and “dudes” as shells narrowly whizzed past my engine.Then the artillery shots started. My allies quickly went down in flames, one after another. It was like something out of a movie. I felt like I should have been dramatically shouting “Nooooo! Not that guy! That guy and I were gonna live through this and start a small business together!” But I lived. With my friends’ wreckage smoking all around me, I shifted into reverse while firing away. Even back-peddling, I was too fast (and perhaps even too furious) to be touched. Still though, quite the harrowing defeat, right? Nope. Because I then beelined straight for the enemy base, just in time to see two teammates capture it. Turns out, most of the enemy force wasn’t home, because it’d been too busy trying to swat a certain T-25-shaped gnat.As a free game, WoT has a brutal experience grind that, when paired with its learning curve, makes your first several hours of play a recipe for frustration. Dropping $10 or so to start out with a solid mid-tier tank, though, will get you off to a running start and improve the game immensely. Once you learn your tank’s role, it’s 50 heavily armored tons of fun.: It's like the old saying goes: don't bring an empty wallet to a tank fight! When I sign up for a free-to-play game, I'm not looking to be cannon fodder for the first few hours -- I might as well play Counter-Strike with a BB gun.