Hearthstone

The oldest game in the world gets an exceedingly well done copy

Let's not kid ourselves.  This game, like many TCGs, is based on Magic: The Gathering.  But you know, that's fine.  Mario paved the way for the action platformer, Metroid for the new-style Castlevania, and polo for water polo.  Each genre has vastly improved on its predecessor countless times, except for maybe water polo.  How can a horse run in a pool?  And what's the deal with old people buying a pack of gum with a check?  I've got places to be, Grandma!

Anyway, those familiar with Magic will know exactly what I mean the first time they play, but for the rest of you here's the gist of it.  Each turn you automatically gain one maximum mana up to a limit of ten.  On your first turn you'll have one mana, then two, then three, and so on.  Cards cost mana to use, with stronger cards typically costing more mana.  As a result, you tend to start off playing fairly weak cards and using unimpressive spells.  Each turn your mana refills itself, much in the same way lands untap themselves in Magic.  So, for example, let's say you have five mana.  You could play one 5-mana card, or a 3-mana and 2-mana card, or mana mana mana.

You're goddamn right he does.

But enough about mana.  The cards themselves are where the action is.  There are three basic kinds of card: unit, spell, and equipment.  Units make up the bulk of your cards.  Play a unit and it goes onto the field.  The turn after that it gets off its lazy ass and you can attack with it.  Unlike in Magic, you can actually choose what to attack, which I really like.  Is it worth attacking their orc, or should you go straight for the player themselves?  Only my strategist knows for sure.  Spells are one-offs that can heal, harm, upgrade, incapacitate, and any other number of effects.  They, like units, range from meek to sleek, so expect to see both single damage garbage spells to powerful infernae.  The main draw of spells is that, unlike units, you cannot kill a spell.  Units can't attack until their second turn on the board so it's entirely possible for them to be picked off before their summoning sickness is over.  Finally, we have equipment, which gives your avatar the ability to attack or gives it armor, shielding it from damage.  Equipment can only go on said avatar, unlike in Magic, and if you directly attack an enemy unit with your avatar it can take damage, so it must be used with maximum cuidado.  There's also a brand new type of action, unique to Hearthstone as far as I'm aware.  Each avatar, or "hero", has a hero ability.  You can use your hero ability once per turn.  It's basically a reusable, low cost spell that you always have.

So that's how the game is played.  But is it fun?  Why, yes it is.  Hearthstone is an extremely fast-paced card game.  While Magic and Pokemon TCG both end your turn once you attack, Hearthstone has no such rule.  If you want to attack a unit, play a card, and then attack that unit again with the new card, you go right ahead.  It's far less rigid than most existing TCGs, but it also does take away a bit of strategy.  Gone are the days of thinking you have them in your clutches and then they intercept your army by incinerating it with a spell.  All incineration is done strictly during one's turn.  Units also don't automatically heal themselves when your turn starts, further adding to the franticism.  I've played several vs. CPU matches and one ranked match and none have lasted more than about five minutes.  There is one issue with the flow, and that's lag.  This game has its fair share, which is kind of odd considering it's a TCG, but less odd considering it's in beta.  Whenever you do anything the servers have to check to make sure you're not a cheaty cheater.  Sometimes this process takes several seconds.  When a lot of the fun is throwing a mixture of spells and units at your opponent at lightning speed, the lag becomes noticeable.  It doesn't ruin the game but it does break the flow.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I LOST TO THIS SCUUUUUUUM

You can acquire new cards by completing quests, such as "Play a Ranked game", leveling up your heroes, crafting new cards, or, of course, buying them.  Quests are automatically acquired when you complete the previous quest.  Much like World of Warcraft, your primary source of resources is going to be completing quests in a chain who length extends past the clouds and beyond the reaches of our galaxy.  I personally prefer Magic 2014's scenario, although Hearthstone is still in beta so who knows.  Leveling up is a simple matter.  You gain exp after each match.  Get enough exp and you level.  On even levels you get new cards.  Again, it's just like in World of Warcraft.  Crafting basically means taking cards you don't want, grinding them into literal dust, and then using the dust to make a new card.  You can expect to grind up a good five or more cards in order to make one new one, so it's strictly a way to recycle things you don't want.  You can only have two of the same card in your deck, though, which gives you a great excuse to "disenchant" the billion murlocs you will inevitably acquire.

The graphics are actually extremely nice.  Even though this is a Blizzard game, a company renowned for their run-of-the-mill graphics, I can easily say this is the nicest looking TCG I've ever seen.  Everything is hand drawn and it even has dynamic lighting.  It's also very well-optimized.  I'm playing on an Acer S7, a laptop with Intel HD 4400 Graphics.  For those non-techies, I am playing on a laptop with a really bad graphics card.  Really bad.  Hearthstone doesn't stutter or slow down at all anyway, even at 1080p with the graphics on high.  You'd probably expect a 2D game to run fine, but you never know.  Besides, for a TCG this game has all sorts of particle effects and shadows flying all over, and those are graphically intensive.

Look how intensive.

The sound is equally nice and really completes the hyper-polished feel of Hearthstone.  Every card is fully voice acted.  Even trash cards like sheep have a sound effect for being played, being selected, attacking, and being destroyed.   It adds a layer of livelihood to the game that ameliorates the sterile atmosphere of most card games.  It's endearing to hear your Gnomish Engineer go "HYAAAAAA" as she does a pitiful one damage and then probably dies on account of her single health point.  Heroes similarly have several lines, like their opening taunt or a "well played!", all voice acted of course.  The sound effects are all nicely visceral, especially the animations for the stronger attacks.  Strikes in the double digits make a sound which I can only describe as a wooden maul breaking ice, accompanied by a rumble and a crowd's reaction a la Super Smash Bros.  The music isn't anything special, but I don't know if having catchy tunes in a game like Hearthstone would be such a great thing anyway.  I'd rather have something semi-ambient so I don't get sick of it, and that's exactly what I got.

As the game is still in beta, and closed beta at that, I can neither recommend nor disrecommend you go buy it.  I will say that you should buy it once it comes out, whatever the price.  $300?  Might as well be $0.  Except it actually is $0 because Hearthstone is free to play.  Yes, all their revenue will be gained from people buying cards.  It's those people you can thank for a game like this being free.  People like me, probably, because if you buy a pack during beta you get an exclusive gold card.  Dude, it's made of gold.  I'm basically buying money.  But seriously folks, you have no excuse not to play this game when it's out.  Well, unless you don't like card games.  That's a pretty good excuse.