Mobile version of the collectible card game Hearthstone. What, why and for whom.
Honestly, by the time the Hearthstone mobile app came out, I had almost given up on this game. A couple of times I thought about trying to start playing again, but there is no time to understand all the intricacies of this game yet. Despite the fact that, compared to other collectible card games like the same MTG (not by nightfall), the rules of Hearthstone are as simple and accessible as possible, quite a lot has changed during my absence. An addition was released with a bunch of new cards, a new 'adventure' was opened, the reward for which is again new cards, new archetypes of familiar heroes appeared, the balance changed. And the players managed to collect a very decent collection of rare cards, it became not at all as easy to play with budget decks as before.
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I've already said that Blizzard tried to make their card game as accessible as possible. Players are not required to spend nights practicing or 'farming' rare cards for months. Moreover, it is not mandatory to buy something for real money – the F2P model is quite competent here, there is no practical need to resort to additional spending. In any case, for old players who managed to collect some cards. For those who decide to launch Hearthstone for the first time, it may be more difficult, because they have neither the experience nor the 'cool' cards that allow them to somehow compensate for stupid mistakes. Those who returned to the game after a long break have a similar problem – you need not only to figure out in practice what and how it works now, but also to get new cards that allow you to diversify the available strategies and build a deck for yourself.
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The game pushes you to play, if not a lot, but constantly. At the first stage, the main source of money is the daily quests in the style of 'X wins in this class', 'Play X cards of this type', 'Deal X damage' and so on. You can complete them by playing against living people in any available mode. Then, after you have managed to save some amount, you can try your hand at the 'Arena', buy keys to new levels of 'Adventure', or just spend all your honestly earned gold on new sets of cards. The whole problem is that quests are given only once a day, and the amount that can be earned through simple victories in fights in one day is strictly limited. As a result, logging into the game 3-4 times a week for half an hour is several times more profitable than logging in once a week, but for a whole day. This is where mobile devices come into play, allowing you to play a couple of matches on the road or while waiting for a meeting.
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HearthStone: Heroes of WarCraft |
Artem Lutfullin wrote about the version of the game for tablets. I was more interested in the 'phone' version of Hearthstone.
I was very afraid that the interface would either be altered until completely unrecognizable, or they would not really be able to adapt it to phone screens. Fortunately, the fears were in vain, the developers found a very good compromise.
Externally, the playing field looks almost the same as in the desktop version, but at the same time, nobody forces you to break your eyes, peering at tiny drawings and inscriptions. In order to bring the cards to your eyes, just one tap is enough. Simple, convenient, beautiful. The controls are also well adapted for touch screens, you can get used to it pretty quickly.
At first, the main problem of the game was its optimization and various 'bugs'. Either it was possible to log in with my username only on the fifth attempt, then the connection suddenly broke, then the game hung out of the blue or even crashed with a critical error. And this is on HTC OneM8, which obviously cannot be called a budget device. Now the situation has become better, in any case, I no longer have any special problems with the game. You can play on your smartphone without any problems – if you wish.
And just with the last point, everything is not so simple. It is clear that this is all a matter of taste, but for me personally it is much more comfortable to play behind a large screen, lounging in an armchair and not in a hurry. But playing on a smartphone screen in public transport, with shaking, crushing, and fear of not having time to finish the game before the desired stop, is not so much fun anymore. After all, these are not unpretentious time killers, where the brain can be turned off altogether – here you need to calculate the game several moves ahead, count the cards and try to predict the possible actions of the opponent. And one stupid mistake may well cost the whole party.
The second point is the length of the games, which is not always possible to calculate. Yes, in theory they pass quickly enough. Here are just some players start thinking hard already on the second move, even when they have nothing to be like at all. And if such a 'thinker' also plays with a 'slow' deck, which opens only at the end of the game, then everything is lost. The game may well drag on for half an hour, of which 25 minutes he will only reflect on his moves. And nothing can be done here – leaving the game is tantamount to defeat. It is insanely insulting to give up an almost won game just because there is no time to bring it to the end.
For people who are seriously keen on the game, all this is nothing more than an annoying misunderstanding, the ability to play Hearthstone anywhere and at any time they will take with a bang anyway. But if you are just looking for some game on a smartphone to kill 15-20 minutes of time on the road, then it is more logical to find something simpler, where Internet access is not required, and you do not need to wait for an opponent, and you can pause at any time. Anyway, for my taste.
