hearthstone game review
Hearthstone: Four years later, is it still worth it?Hearthstone has been in the spotlight, loyal to the job, for five years now, with its ultra accessible vision of the collectible card game. It’s time to take stock to find out what it’s worth today.
With Warcraft, Blizzard has created an exceptional universe that is becoming denser from year to year. It must be said that the box can do in diversity, taking care of its lore whatever the genre. Hearthstone is a perfect example, with an absolutely exceptional artistic direction for a JCC. The roundness of the tavern table-style wood, the menus that unfold, the voice of the innkeeper, without even getting into a game, we can already perceive an impressive attention to detail. However, this observation obviously does not stop here and the parts are also worked on. The servants posed on the board exult at the least opportunity, the legendaries even having their animation of entry. Spells are not outdone with punchy animations. Hearthstone is this little American sauce that is found in each button, each element, right up to the tray itself with which we can interact in many ways in order to make a volcano roar, fire lasers or make a magic potion, for example. It's no use, but it distracts, especially during the opponent's turn.
The Hearthstone principle is simple to explain. There are nine classes to choose from, each with access to specific cards in addition to neutral cards. With a deck of 30 cards and the possibility of putting up to two copies of each card, there is a ratio close to Magic (divided by two, in fact), with one particularity: the legendaries (rarest cards) do not may be present in only one copy. Rather accommodating for your money… However, on the set, Hearthstone stands out for its simplified aspect, which will undoubtedly have made its success. Mana, represented by crystals, is managed on its own, increasing by 1 each turn. Not only is it easier to create decks, but so is the management of our towers, which makes the games more intense. In addition, the minions can attack the desired target (unless exception due to abilities) and it is often advisable to destroy the opposing minions rather than run down on the hero and suffer terrible counterattacks afterwards. Unless we play aggro of course.
In short, point of genius in operation, and yet a system that works for a very simple reason: the coefficient of spectacularity. While the CCGs weren't really known to be wildly exciting to follow, Hearthstone made it happen in the Did You See me with constant twists and turns, suspense at every turn and incredible surprises. All it takes to invade Twitch and YouTube, in short. Why ? It's simple: a large percentage of the cards you play have partially random effects, such as dealing 4 damage to a random opposing servant. As a result, you never know too much in advance what will happen and you are always on the lookout, as a player and as a spectator. Hard to give you meaningful examples if you've never touched it, but you only have to see one or two parts to understand: Hearthstone is the Mario Kart of the collectible card game.
So yes, if you are a purist and want to play serious business, you may not appreciate the lack of absolute control over the effects of the cards you play. That said, blaming Hearthstone for entertainment is a bit like blaming Mario Kart for being less realistic than Gran Turismo. We don't play the Blizzard game like we play Magic, and what Hearthstone does, it does divinely.
To keep pace over the long term, you also need game modes. Fortunately, there is no shortage! However, it starts rather badly with the mode which one could initially consider as the principal, which one calls the Ladder. Competitive, it requires players to create their own deck and compete against others, allowing them to move up in line with wins and get rewards at the end of the month. Classic and logical, certainly, but in practice, horribly boring and repetitive. With each new release, 2-3 decks dominate the meta so much that playing something else necessarily makes you a CCG hipster. Obviously, the decks in question have rather rare cards and if you don't get your hands in the pocket, your chances of being able to create them are starving. Facing the same 3 decks for hundreds of games just to reach legendary rank is very, very painful, even if players relax once the destination is reached since it is not possible to descend from it. In short, unless you love to play competitive (with a lot of random elements), we don't recommend Hearthstone for this mode.
But what’s left then? Lots of good things my little lady! Let's start with the Arena mode which works like a draft. You first choose one of three classes, then choose the thirty cards from your deck one by one, each from three options. And zou, it left with the aim of achieving 12 victories before losing three games. The advantage of the draft is that it greatly diversifies the decks you face, making it more difficult to read the opposing game. It must be said that casually, despite its relative accessibility, Hearthstone does not lack finesse and knowing the meta and the mechanics is essential to count winning your 12 games. That, and luck, which is always to be taken into account. If you need 150 golds (game currency) to participate in an arena, know that you can reimburse yourself quite easily from a certain number of wins, not to mention that even if you lose your three games without win only one, you will have at least one booster (100golds) among your loser's loot. When you know that the three daily quests often bring in 150 golds, not counting the 10 golds won every three games, there is enough to make an arena a day without even counting your winnings. Honest.
That said, it's even better for the other modes, which are completely free to access. For its part, the Iron Arm offers you every week (Wednesday to Sunday) to face other players according to specific rules. The idea is to add a little fun, the rules sometimes resulting in impressive combos. At a minimum, this temporarily changes our vision of certain servants and allows for new confrontations that even go as far as using cards created for the occasion. In addition, your first weekly victory necessarily gives you a pack of cards.
However, the must of Hearthstone, especially when playing free-to-play, remains the Adventures, which have taken on a rogue-like dynamic in recent months. If the old adventures were paying (with real euros or game money), the last two paved the way for a completely different practice, completely free. The idea is to face eight bosses in a row, chosen randomly from among 70. At start-up, your deck contains only about fifteen cards, but with each victory, you are left to choose from three packs of three cards, each with a particular theme, also defined randomly from a panel. Since there is no limit to the number of copy cards you can put in your deck, you can specialize in incredible combos that can't exist anywhere else. In addition, from time to time, you can also add treasures to your deck, cards with powerful effects! Even more than the Arena, Adventures allow you to chain games that almost never look like against damn tough opponents, bosses with devastating heroic powers, certainly in order to compensate for an artificial intelligence that sometimes makes questionable decisions. Anyway, just with the last two adventures (including one that features new heroes with their own heroic power), you can easily get caught up in the game and stay there for hours and hours, without spending a single cent. penny and without having to open even a single pack. Isn't life beautiful?
The notes
+ Positive points
Extraordinary artistic direction
Very accessible, without lacking in finesse
Spectacular games
The free-to-play modes are very interesting
The Arena and its moments of tension
The adventures are fun and completely free
-Negative points
The Ladder requires too much investment and is repetitive
The competitive aspect, in general, remains a big joke
Some Bras de Fer much less interesting than others
Hearthstone is to card games what Mario Kart is to racing games: a fun and spectacular variant of a genre that initially aims to be more moody. By simplifying its approach and multiplying turnarounds, Blizzard's free-to-play has become ultra popular and largely justifies its success. Yes, not all victories and losses are deserved, but it doesn't matter: we have fun and it is with this in mind that we should play it. In addition, the present modes really allow you to indulge in it regularly over the long term, especially those who offer draft, against players or against bosses with surprising powers. Today, more than four years ago, Hearthstone is both addictive and complete, all that one asks for free-to-play.
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