Hearthstone is a cross platform free to play card collecting game (CCG) set within the Warcraft realm created by Blizzard Entertainment, in it players collect and create various cards made up of famous characters and creatures from this franchise to build powerful decks and battle each other in 1 on 1 duels. A big success for the company with millions of players worldwide, but when your cards are dealt does the game have a winning hand or is it time to fold?
THE GOOD
Fantastic Graphics - Emulating the style of Warcraft with a mock realistic meets cartoony style, the game looks amazing, from its stylish UI, animations and detailed card art that would be expected of any card game
Fast Games - As a more casual CCG when compared to other Trading/Collecting games the game lacks "phases" or multiple turns within a round, keeping the gameplay flow much quicker results in faster match times overall
Iconic Warcraft Heroes - Players decks are built around various characters that symbolize the classic World of Warcraft classes, from Gul'dan the Warlock to Malfurion the Druid, each deck has unique cards and playstyles to it
RNG vs Skill Balance - As with any card game where you draw cards blindly into your hand there is always elements of luck and randomness, however, with certain players constantly floating around the top ranks (albeit with a refined top tier deck) it shows that there is an element of skill needed to be the best
Various Game Modes - Ranging from the standard ranked and unranked play, players can also engage in the Arena challenge battling to win as many games as they can, various PVE dungeon modes and the Tavern Brawl with new mechanics and rules that change after a few days
Mobile Access - Blizzard knew that Hearthstone would be a game to play on the move and promptly brought out an iOS and Android app version of the game that syncs up to a standard PC account where players have complete access to game features and can battle other players
THE BAD
Meta Cards/Decks - When reaching top tiers of play there are certain cards that near ever deck has because of how powerful they are, furthermore there are specific decks with high win rates that are typically copied by most competitive players; the result is a lack of deviation or originality between decks when it comes to high level play
F2P Ceiling - Although Hearthstone can be played for free, and players are able to progress well into the game without spending cash, to even begin getting competitive players have to start forking out real money to build a decent/competitive deck to take on the top players
No Chat - Players can only communicate with each other through a series of pre-written phrases, unable to chat during games, presumably so that players can't harass each other, but for that we've always said there's a mute button
No Real Co-op Mode - Whilst there is the occasional PvE Co-op Boss match with a friend that players can enjoy, the game lacks and cooperative based PVE or PVP mode, unlike many other online TCG/CCG, which is a big shame
Basic Mechanics - The simple/casual gameplay isn't for everybody, particularly those players who have grown up with the original, and biggest TCG of them all; Magic the Gathering, with it's various phases and combo stacking Hearthstone looks like a TCG for beginners
EU/UK Price Increase - Recently the EU has been hit with an 11% (Euros) price increase on card packs across the board, in the UK card packs have seen an increase from 21% (Pounds) to up to an incredible 50%, depending on the number of packs purchased
So this is the best and worst, the Good and Bad, that we think Hearthstone has to offer; let us know what you think in the comments below!
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