Wargaming has made a lot of noise about how much they've accelerated the World of Tanks experience for its upcoming debut on the Xbox 360, but it was the lingering nods to slow and thoughtful gameplay that hooked me. Even three minutes in, I could feel its effects. Normally, multiplayer matches on Xbox Live kick off with everyone running off to do their own things, but the glacial pace of our rigs seemed to emphasize the need for cooperation. Using ready-made commands accessible through the left bumper, we took up defensive positions among shrubbery and storybook French cottages and waited on our foes. Victory was swift; they never even saw us until it was too late. And the best part? I even managed to score two kills with my rustbucket T1 from 1927 that coughed smoke like a cigarette factory in flames.

“ The matches will strike fans of conventional first-person shooters as familiar.

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“ Such antics serve as embarrassingly apt indicators of rookies...

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“ I enjoyed the Xbox version more than its PC cousin.

More's the pity, as there's a lot to love once you immerse yourself. World of Tanks' vocabulary of howitzers and "fat pimple" turrets threatens to overwhelm newcomers, but pointing out a few cognates tends to smooth the learning curve. Tanks made for long-range combat – such as the Jagdpanther – tend to head to the high ground as snipers, for instance, while the M46 Patton can function as a capable flanker in the right hands. Even the matches will strike fans of conventional first-person shooters as familiar, as so much of World of Tanks involves assault battles that hinge on either wiping out the enemy or capturing a base within 10 or 15 minutes.All that was true of the PC version, of course, but Wargaming's host of tweaks allows the Xbox edition to stand on its own. The visuals may have taken a heavy hit in the transition, but the console game's emphasis on an over-the-tank view compared to the PC's free-form mouse-guided camera makes moving steel boxes on wheels a slightly more personal experience.Such antics serve as embarrassingly apt indicators of rookies, particularly since the brief tutorial only explains the bare basics instead of subtler tips that lead to mastery. You might pick up, for instance, that the aiming reticule widens to unwieldy proportions while in motion, but only experience (and reading this) will teach you that plowing through water as though you're in a Chevy truck commercial will flood your engine and leave you sitting helplessly on the field. It hints at the idea of "tracking," or shooting out the tracks of your opponent's tank to disable movement, but it does almost nothing to explain the concept of repairs or upgrades.Indeed, for all the pressures of combat, it’s the design of the in-game store thatwill ultimately bring in Wargaming's revenues. However, they suffer from labyrinthine menus that may work fine on the PC but suffer here. Figuring out which kind of tank you'd like to buy next is easy enough, but the distinctions between premium cash options and items purchasable through winnings aren't as clear as they could be. This isn't just a nitpick; World of Tanks' success on the Xbox depends on it. Wargaming's made some great strides here at implementing accessibility without sacrificing depth – as in the way it lets you level faster and even get into games faster than on the PC – and now it needs to bring that same thoughtful design to the menus.At the risk of speaking heresy, I'll admit that I enjoyed the Xbox version more than its PC cousin. Should Wargaming tidy up the menus and implement a smart payment model, World of Tanks: Xbox Edition could swell the ranks of games like Minecraft and Diablo III in proving that seemingly PC-specific games can find comfortable homes on consoles. I have my doubts that the Xbox edition will ever match the PC version's crazy, bigger-than-the-populations-of-many-countries numbers, but key ideas such as the faster-paced leveling system and intuitive gamepad gameplay could give it a run for its impressive piles of money.

Leif Johnson is a contributing editor to IGN who loves online role-playing games. Follow him on Twitter @LeifJohnson