Hearthstone Game Review

It’s time to play with cards, with great features within them. Giving you all sorts of powers, abilities and much more. But wait, I’ll be playing throughout my computer. Virtual cards? Yes, they are not necessarily physically in front of you, they will be displayed on your screen and select the cards you wish to play against your opponent. I’ll be reviewing Hearth Stone  a free to play online collectible card game, as I will be explaining the game mechanics, what the game consists of, my gameplay experience and more aspects about the game.

Gameplay

It might seem confusing to understand at the start, but no worries, if it the first time there will be a tutorial and practice so you can get familiar with the game.

Luck will define who starts first as a coin is tossed at the start of the game. There will be certain advantages for who starts and who plays second. You’ll be given three cards initially and one stone of mana. You can have up to 10 mana, but to be able to collect max limit, you’ll have to play more rounds where on each round you’ll be given one mana more than before until you reach the limit.

What is the mana for? In able to play a card, you need to use a certain amount of mana depending on the card that is used. You can tell how much mana is required by looking at the top left corner of your card. There will be a number displayed which will represent amount of mana that the card will consume on your current turn. But no worries if you run out of mana on your turn, when it’s your turn to play again, your mana will be restored so that you’ll be able to play a card. Some cards will require 2 mana, 3 mana, 4 mana. The more it requires, the better the card is, but you must choose when is the perfect time to use those cards with greater value.

You’ll notice two other numbers on the bottom corners and you might question yourself what are they for. On the bottom left corner, there will be a number with a yellow background and a sword. This will represent how powerful are the attacks of the cards against your opponent. Depending on the value, it will take away that amount of life of the enemy’s minion or player. You can tell how much life the minions have by looking at the bottom right corner of the enemy's cards that are displayed in front of you. Same applies for you, you can also see how many hits your minion or card can resist. But wait, there is a trick into the attacks. If you attack your enemy, your minion’s life will be reduced as well depending how much life is taken away from your opponent. The only way you can attack without receiving any harm, it to attack your opponent’s character.

Once you start to compete with other players, there will also be a time limit for each player to make their moves. You’ll notice that your time or your enemy’s time is running out when a rope that is burning up appears in the middle of the table.

As you gain more experience playing different modes, against other players or if you practice your skills, you’ll with earn a variety of cards with their special abilities included and more characters as well. You can use a certain amount of cards for each time you play, but you’ll be able to organize your character’s deck, choose which could fit best, your personal preferences. But keep in mind that these cards will appear randomly when playing a match, so choose wisely and play wisely, your game depends on your decisions and wish yourself luck as well.

Game Mechanics 


Collectible card game: At the start of the game, there will be provided a certain amount of cards to start with in able to play a couple of games. As the player makes progress by earning more experience, more cards will be earned for each of the characters. The characters will also be unlocked as more experience is earned. This will provide the player with more options to create their set for the matches.

Card play conflict resolution: During a match, players can choose several cards on their turn to attack  their opponent or earn other advantages depending on the amount of mana the player has available on their turn. For example: if the player had 8 mana they could use a 2 mana card, two of 1 mana cards and a 4 mana card which will be a total of three cards used on during their turn.


Card drafting: Players are constantly drafting random cards out of a deck on each of their turns. Ech player already has their deck set with the cards they want to appear during the match, but players don’t know what card is coming up next. The drafting of cards have no limits, drafting cards spot when the match is finished. On each turn, the player is allowed to draft to cards to add to the cards that the player already has. There might appear some special cards which allows the player to use the cards with the cost of mana and in exchange get two more cards out of the deck. After the cards are already drawn out, the player may choose which cards to use for their move.



My experience

Very entertaining, after you get the hang of it. At first, things were very confusing, but luckily, the tutorial gave me directions on what to do and what I can’t do. The first matches were not that difficult, but sooner the difficulty would increase and you would be unlocking new things. Initially I would not understand some card, so I kept selecting cards without thinking straight what could be the opponent's move. Could it be very useful? Could the card used a total waste and could have been more useful in another situation? Things like that I kept asking myself. Also when I had a look at my card collection, it seemed confusing to understand, so many things there. I analyzed it with detail and I found out that you can earn a lot of cards with so many functions. You can create your own set of cards you want to play with. There are many cards that seem powerful and useful, but I could choose a certain amount of cards. I could imagine if I had a lot more cards and more characters available.
Overall, I enjoyed playing the game, very strategic and luck within it. I give it a 8.2/10.