Hearthstone (ABIT EARLY ARE WE?)

Introduction

            Welcome to this week’s dose of gaming reviews. As more and more good games begin to appear on the horizon of the year 2014, all I can think about is my ever-thinning (it was thin in the first place) wallet. However, if there’s one thing that has been on-the-rise over the past few years, it is the appearance of free-to-play games, games that save your wallet, and mine, from thinning out to the point of non-existence.

Free-to-play games have been spanning multiple genres since they have appeared in the early 21^st century. Games like Maplestory and Cabal have started to define the free-to-play games, starting them off as MMORPGs. In the recent years, however, free-to-play games have started to spread to other genres such as the FPS and free-roam games, just to name a few. A new free-to-play game has also been recently released worldwide by Blizzard, and this game is Hearthstone.

What is Hearthstone?

            Remember the heyday of card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh, Duel Masters, and the ol’ classico Pokemon? Yep, this game is a card game, or specifically, a Collectible Card Game (CCG). Hearthstone is basically the combination of all the previous Blizzard creations from Warcraft (as of now) into one simple and fun card game, bringing different races of creatures and making them into cards, all of them having different strengths and weaknesses.

 

Maybeeee sticking cards on a book isn't a good idea Blizzard..

            In this game, players are required to choose a class they want to play as. At the start, players can only play as one class. They are required to play against and win other classes to be able to access these classes and play as those classes, these opponents can be real opponents or AI. There are 9 classes in all to choose from and there are many unique cards specific to the individual classes, these different classes allow the player to tailor their decks to their playstyle, allowing for different gameplay experiences and tactics for everyone to experiment and try out.

The 9 classes

            Decks consist of 30 cards and both players (this game is only 1v1 as you’ve probably found out) have 30 health. The goal of this game? Bring your opponent to zero health. So at the end of the day, the player with the better deck will be able to beat his opponent, perhaps through deck synergy, making the better plays or even some RNG. *cough* topdeckPyroblast *cough*

Number on top left: Mana cost. Bottom left: Attack Value. Bottom right: health. Learn more in game k!

RNG at work (this isn't even the best ones)

            There’s also a mode called Arena, which I find unique in a card game and something worth mentioning. In Arena, players pay an entrance fee of either 150 in-game money, or 1.99 USD. Players then choose between three choices a class they wish to play; these three classes are randomized among the nine. The player is then given three cards to choose from and they can only choose one card. This process is repeated 29 more times and voila! The deck of randomness is created! Now the player can pit his deck against other arena people and see whose deck of randomness and play-making is better. Three losses and you’re out! But the more you win (up to 12) before reaching three losses, the better your reward! 

Do this 30 times and bam a deck!

What’s good about a… card game?

            Now, before you look down on a card game and think of it as childish or whatnot, you should consider trying it out before having any thoughts about it. The game is like how their website describes it “Deceptively Simple, Insanely Fun”. And that’s how you will feel about the game as you really start to get into it.

 

What do y'know there really is a screenshot of how the website looks like

            With many cards currently in the game (and many more to follow!), the player is allowed to freely think about their strategies and tactics of their deck. Not confident your deck will hold up in ranked matches? Test it out in casual! Not confident facing other players with your new spanking deck? Take it out on the bots! Want to have a new challenge with a last-minute made deck? Play some Arena! The game, although having three game modes may make you think the game lacks variety, these three game modes are actually sufficient enough to get you hooked onto the game.

 

Ran out of pictures so here's a picture of one of the heroes ^^

What’s bad about it?

            In any free-to-play game, there will always be this nagging feeling that those who actually pay for certain things, get ahead in the game. In this game this is no different, however this game is more based on luck than it is just spending the money. The game gives rewards in the form of packs, dust and in-game gold. Players have the option of buying packs with in-game gold they earned or with real money. Of course, some people will buy packs with real money, and since they receive more packs than those who do not use real money, the chances of them getting good and valued cards are higher, meaning, assuming they know what they are doing, they will have the edge in the 1v1 duels. However, getting these good cards are luck-based, but as I said, having more packs means a higher probability of getting said cards.

When games > food you do this

TRIBAL COUNCIL

Gameplay: 9/10, smooth refined gameplay and the variety of cards available makes the gameplay extremely good and will easily impress anyone who has just started playing it.

Story: 5/10, a lack of any form or shape of a story means this game is somewhat lacking, despite the cards being creatures/heroes from Warcraft. However, a story in this game is definitely not necessary as a card game is usually/always a casual game, meaning most players would not play a card game for a story.

Graphics & Sound: 8/10, the graphics are simple and really refined and looks good to the eye. The creatures/heroes in the cards look realistic despite being a card and the sounds they make when they are played onto the board are also extremely well-done. YOU FACE JARAXXUS, EREDAR LORD OF THE BURNING LEGION!!! … yeah.

 

I always find the designers drawing so cool

Depth: 8/10, with the variety of cards currently available, many strategies and tactics have been established with these cards. But there are still many strategies out there which have yet to be discovered. With several cards being buffed/nerfed over time, cards will become relevant/irrelevant, and with eight classes to experiment with, depth is definitely one of Hearthstone’s strong points as well.

 

Hearthstoners will know.

Learnability: 10/10, it’s a card game with a tutorial, it can’t be THAT hard.

Replayability: 7.5/10, replayability is something quite tricky with this game. But to put it in shorter terms, this game is more replayable if you like to play card games and like to constantly battle against others as you improve your deck. However, the game is less replayable if you feel card games are “meh”. The game is definitely fun at first, make no mistake, but over time, it will start to lose its luster slightly.

Overall: 8/10, the game is solid, the game is well-made. What else is there to say? 

Summary

            Hearthstone is an outstanding achievement by Blizzard. With little computer games that are card games currently out in the market, Hearthstone has definitely revived the card game craze by bringing in the lore of Warcraft and crafting them into cards. Each card has their use, each card has their purpose, but how will you use these individual cards in your deck? How will you shape the deck to your playstyle? It is up to you! Download it now at http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/ and start playing!

Chicken swagcheck

            Hi guysss, as usual, I would love to hear any comments you guys have, as readers, about any improvements I can make to my reviews. I will definitely look into any suggested improvement and will try to make that improvement so as to make these reviews as good as they can be! As always, thank you for reading and have a good day!