Hearthstone (BETA) - A Strategic Review

Things We Liked:
Fluid Game-play - battles feel really smooth
Great Run Speed - runs on the worst and best PCs
Intuitive but In-Depth - easy to learn, difficult to master
Opponent Selection - matched with challenging but beatable enemies
Arena - a great secondary play mode
Cash Shop is Avoidable - items can be bought with in game currency easily

Things We Didn't:
Cash Shop - inexpensive but is present (more below)
Friends List can be Buggy - me and a friend have been trying to add each other for 3 weeks
Can't turn tutorials off - constantly tells you what everything is and what it does
Doesn't crash that often if at all

Overall Rating - 9/10

Hearthstone - Heroes of Warcraft is a turn-based card game still in open beta from Blizzard game studios. It's a game that has been featured on YouTube across several channels, as there is no NDA (non-disclosure agreement) in place, and there are many sites that offer you deck build advice and playing tips.

The game is great. You have nine classes to choose between (each of which you unlock as you defeat them) and you level characters to get more cards in the 'basic deck' (cards you get purely through unlocks). There are class specific cards and cards that all characters can access. You can get more cards through booster packs (which I'll come back to later on). These contain 5 random cards and at least one rare.

Now, the cash shop. This isn't as bad as it could be, as all it sells is booster packs. However, the fact that it's there along with what I'm expecting will be a paid game is bugging me and will bug a few others as well. Also, paying the cash shop will give you a card that is inaccessible by any other means (as far as I know). I'm not sure if this card is overpowered or not but I guess it's a nice little incentive to pay real money in beta. You can also buy coins to enter in the arena.

EDITORIAL - Now that the game has been released, I can report that some of the issues have been addressed and that it's DEFINITELY worth getting the game at full release - not least because it's free!

Overall, Hearthstone is a great game even if you haven't played World of Warcraft, but beware - the sound and music will definitely give you the WoW bug back!

Euan