Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Reviews
Video gamers may wonder why they would play a card game when their medium has moved beyond such limitations; tabletop gamers may bemoan the fact that people are getting excited about the wrong card game. But if you fall awkwardly between those two groups, Hearthstone will keep you hooked for some time.
Hearthstone is at its peak and doesn't seem to be even going to slow down. Frequent updates, regular in-game events and a full-fledged dialogue between developers and their audience rightfully make the brainchild of Blizzard Entertainment one of the most interesting online projects in recent years.
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And that's why I love Hearthstone, but hate recommending Hearthstone. I think it's an incredible game. It's pervasive: I love that I can spend a few hours slumped in front of my PC playing, then transfer to an ipad to play casually while watching bad telly. I love being part of the community – browsing new deck ideas and ranting with friends about how overpowered Grim Patron really is.
All of which makes us a little suspicious. Are we being suckered with the sweet stuff now, only to be hit with expensive expansions later? Perhaps, but we'll revise our view if and when Blizzard introduces the CCG equivalent of WOW's 'Sparkle Pony'. For now, Hearthstone is very much a triumph, and with a mobile client rolling out there's a sense that we're at the beginning of a phenomenon rather than in the midst of one. Yet again, Blizzard seems to have played its cards absolutely right.
Overall, Hearthstone is another fantastic game from Blizzard. If you're even remotely interested in trading card games, you'd be crazy not to give it a go, especially as it's free. But beware, as always, the micro-transactions.
Overall, Hearthstone is a well-executed and fun card game, one which lives the "easy to learn, hard to master" mantra to the utmost. If you like either card games or Warcraft, this is definitely worth checking out. And if you - like me - are a fan of both, you owe it to yourself to at least give it a try.
When the decks are all shuffled and the cards are dealt, Hearthstone shines as a fantastic casual free-to-play digital card game. If you're looking for a bit more substance, though, you might want to go elsewhere.
When Blizzard announced they were making a digital CCG, we all expected it to look and sound beautiful, and there was little doubt that it would be well-balanced, but I don't think anyone anticipated this level of sophistication and subtle brilliance. Its turn-based nature and straightforward mechanics make this one of the most immediately accessible competitive games ever devised, but at the same time its depth is positively cavernous.
This type of call-and-response has always been the lifeblood of card games but Hearthstone's position as one of the first potentially mass-market CCGs with an excellent online infrastructure makes things exciting. As for the 'free-to-play' tag, this is one of the few games that will make Western players love the business model. It's as simple as that.