A fast, engaging, easy to learn card game from Blizzard

Oct 16, 2013 14:36 GMT  ·  By

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft might have a rather uninspired name, but it certainly understands the power of card-based battle games and knows how to translate it into virtual form and make it easy to grasp and play.

Blizzard keeps mechanics simple and intuitive and that means fast and event-filled matches with some real nail biting moments.

Gamers can assemble their own group of 30 cards or use one of the basic decks from the developers and they can choose to battle an AI to test out their tactics or can be matched with a real human and battle for glory.

Players can spend their mana, which increases by one point each turn, to play cards, effects or special powers, and then each card can attack an enemy one or the hero itself.

Once either hero gets to 0 hitpoints, the game is lost.

Initially, pure brute force seems to be the best way to win, but as Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is played, gamers can uncover synergies and strategies that allow them to pull of some truly impressive moves.

Matches that initially seem lost can turn after a lucky card draw, but it’s equally easy to lose an advantage if you fail to see which enemies need to be taken out first or if you fail to attack the hero when he is vulnerable.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is clearly still in beta shape because the game has serious trouble launching actual matches at the moment, both against Artificial Intelligence opponents and against other humans.

I would also have liked for the game to have a bigger link to the Warcraft source material and maybe even see some of the best-known heroes of the MMO make an appearance.

There are also some cards that feel overpowered and Blizzard has already invited players to offer as much feedback as they can in order to improve the experience.

The game does not yet have an official launch date.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (6 Images)

Card action
Card actionCard action
+3more