Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Reviews
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.
Addictive and entertaining for free-to-play players, competitors, and collectors, the game brings the often-daunting digital card game genre into the spotlight
In fact, Hearthstone is unlike a lot of games. It's a card strategy game that is bright and accessible. It's a free-to-play game with generosity of spirit. Heck, it may not have all the features its fans are demanding just yet, but it's even a Blizzard game where "coming soon" actually means coming soon. It's overflowing with character and imagination, feeds off and fuels a vibrant community of players and performers, and it only stands to improve as Blizzard introduces new features, an iPad version and expansions. And now it's finally finished! I can't wait to see where it goes next. Job's done.
Don't sleep on Hearthstone - it gets almost everything right. It's fun, flashy, and totally playable for free.
Hearthstone might not fully scratch the strategy itch of the most advanced CCG/TCG players, but it makes an impressive attempt. The rules are simple, so anybody can get the hang of it, but there are enough deck variations available that only skilled deck builders and players will make it high in the ranks.
If Hearthstone looks too static and boring or even too simplified and limited, you'll be hard pressed after playing the game to not want to spend more time in this wonderful off-shoot of the Warcraft universe.
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.
Overall Hearthstone is a lot of fun to play, and has potential to be a game that stays around for a long time. While it may not be as complicated as an actual collectible card game, or have the appeal of showing off your collection to your friends, it is a great videogame that has minimal issues and is in a neat package, so it would be foolish to try to compare it to something it's not trying to be.
As someone who hasn't touched collectible card games since the mid-1990s — and hasn't played Warcraft since it was still a real-time strategy game — I'm amazed at not only how quickly I picked up Hearthstone but also how much I've played it. It's easy to learn, easy to get into matches and play, and it's fun. It's led me to check out other digital card games — and I'm again surprised at how much I enjoy these.
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.
Hearthstone is a free-to-play collectible card game that embraces new players through its presentation and simplicity and satisfies veterans with complex strategies hidden between the lines.
Hearthstone is accessible and fun. Even without purchasing cards it's a very fun game to play and winning repeatedly is very possible. The game's mechanics are easily learned, but combining them into a winning strategy is a complex and fun process.
On a more personal level, Hearthstone is solid enough that if it gets its hooks in you, they will dig deep. The game takes on a Civilization-like level of addictiveness where instead of one more turn, you'll often tell yourself "just one more game". That one more game can quickly become five, or ten, or more depending on how much time you have to spend and I imagine this is going to only be amplified once the mobile versions of the game come online.
Whether you want to treat Hearthstone as a frivolous time-waster, or you're looking for a new obsession, the game is a blast either way. It caters to every type of player. If you're a Warcraft fan, there are plenty of nods to the series you love. And even if you've never crafted war, it really doesn't matter. Hearthstone is thoughtful and complex, but at the same time welcoming and almost irresistible. It may just be a card game, but it often feels like so much more.
Heroes of Warcraft is an amazing game that knows how to make use of a free-to-play business model. While the absence of a tournament mode is a let down it's not enough to destroy its re-playability.
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.
It doesn't matter what you're playing it on: Hearthstone is a fantastic CCG that gets the balance just right and needn't cost players a cent.
Hearthstone is addictive, highly strategic, and chock-full of fun collectible card battling; the fact that it's totally free (if you want it to be) makes it one of the best values in gaming today. This is your new obsession; embrace it.
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.
Hearthstone pulled me into a new genre and refuses to let me go