Three best free strategy card games - inspired by Clash Royal
- 8 years ago
The Finish developers up at Supercell are masters of their craft. Its seems they can turn their hands to any genre and create something that feels fresh. But their latest game, Clash Royal, has really reignited my interest in strategy card games – so I thought I would have a quick look at some of the best.
Hearthstone is an obvious pick here. It takes Blizzards’s popular World of Warcraft and turns its world and characters into one of the best online collectible card games.
Taking the basic premise of games like Magic the Gathering, Hearthstone perfects the format for a digital format. Just build a deck, enter the arena, and summon minions like Elven Archers and Murloc Raiders to do your fighting. Along the way you can cast spell cards to help you power up your troops or attack your opponent, providing you have the mana in reserve to pay for the card.
But by building Hearthstone from scratch, Blizzard sidestepped many of this issues inherent with digitizing existing collectible card games. This meant that Legacy issues that games like Magic face could be avoided, with no rules that came into play over years of iteration needing to be explained. This has allowed the creation of a simpler, more accessible, experience. Which is not to say that its lacks complexity, instead its difficulty comes from laying on top of its core mechanics and strategy.
Where the game really excels though, is in how it applies its characters. Fans of World of Warcraft instantly have a basic idea of what different troops abilities are, and how they work together. This provides a handy short hand to the rules for players who were now able to enjoy a new game in the Universe they love.
With expansions adding even more cards, multiplayer, and single player content, Hearthstone is sure to remain a fan favorite for years.
Now, you might be thinking that Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes isn’t a card game – but unlocking characters demands that you have data cards, so it is making my list – plus it’s great.
The action plays like a simple turn based strategy game – think the classic Final Fantasy combat system. Before starting, you pick the squad you want to take into the mission or multiplayer arena with you. These characters determine your abilities, with all of the classic roles fulfilled – characters like the Jedi Consular, are able to heal your squad in a support role, others like, Count Dooku, can attack multiple enemies at a time in a damage dealer role, and others still are able to tank by taking vast amounts of enemy fire, like Chewbacca.
During fights all you have to do is select who your characters attack next from the options available to them. Here is where the moment-to-moment strategy comes into play - with abilities take time to recharge, you must know when is best to use skills like heal or you could find yourself without it at a crucial moment.
Like most card battlers much of the game focuses on unlocking more character cards and leveling them up. These can be acquired by completing missions, or purchasing them in-app. Luckily, providing you play regularly and complete the various daily challenges, you will find yourself earning new ones regularly.
Next is the game that inspired this week’s show, Clash Royale - an intensely enjoyable card combat game has me hooked.
Clash Royale is an interesting blend of tower defense and card game. You battle another king across a river. Deploying your card-based army on one side of the water, they cross using bridges, and head directly to your opponent’s towers to try and crush them. Destroy all three of their forts and you win.
Simple, except they are trying to do the same to you.
Thus, you must strike a careful balance to ensure you have a good blend of units for every eventually. Building your deck before entering combat, you choose which cards to take with you from a selection of attacks and characters that fans of Clash of Clans will be familiar with.
Giants, knights, skeleton bombers, every one of the popular base building game’s cast make an appearance in Clash Royale, all with specific skills to help. Archers can keep a safe distance while they attack, while Giants can take huge amounts of damage as they march straight up to your opponents towers and start smashing them with their fists.
Playing any card comes with and Elixir cost – an energy meter that slowly refills during combat. This keeps the action balanced, as even if you have better cards the price of deploying them can still leave you on the back foot when your opponent is flooding the arena with cheaper units.
Clash Royale is certain to go from strength to strength, so get on board now while it’s still fresh.
Hearthstone is an obvious pick here. It takes Blizzards’s popular World of Warcraft and turns its world and characters into one of the best online collectible card games.
Taking the basic premise of games like Magic the Gathering, Hearthstone perfects the format for a digital format. Just build a deck, enter the arena, and summon minions like Elven Archers and Murloc Raiders to do your fighting. Along the way you can cast spell cards to help you power up your troops or attack your opponent, providing you have the mana in reserve to pay for the card.
But by building Hearthstone from scratch, Blizzard sidestepped many of this issues inherent with digitizing existing collectible card games. This meant that Legacy issues that games like Magic face could be avoided, with no rules that came into play over years of iteration needing to be explained. This has allowed the creation of a simpler, more accessible, experience. Which is not to say that its lacks complexity, instead its difficulty comes from laying on top of its core mechanics and strategy.
Where the game really excels though, is in how it applies its characters. Fans of World of Warcraft instantly have a basic idea of what different troops abilities are, and how they work together. This provides a handy short hand to the rules for players who were now able to enjoy a new game in the Universe they love.
With expansions adding even more cards, multiplayer, and single player content, Hearthstone is sure to remain a fan favorite for years.
Now, you might be thinking that Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes isn’t a card game – but unlocking characters demands that you have data cards, so it is making my list – plus it’s great.
The action plays like a simple turn based strategy game – think the classic Final Fantasy combat system. Before starting, you pick the squad you want to take into the mission or multiplayer arena with you. These characters determine your abilities, with all of the classic roles fulfilled – characters like the Jedi Consular, are able to heal your squad in a support role, others like, Count Dooku, can attack multiple enemies at a time in a damage dealer role, and others still are able to tank by taking vast amounts of enemy fire, like Chewbacca.
During fights all you have to do is select who your characters attack next from the options available to them. Here is where the moment-to-moment strategy comes into play - with abilities take time to recharge, you must know when is best to use skills like heal or you could find yourself without it at a crucial moment.
Like most card battlers much of the game focuses on unlocking more character cards and leveling them up. These can be acquired by completing missions, or purchasing them in-app. Luckily, providing you play regularly and complete the various daily challenges, you will find yourself earning new ones regularly.
Next is the game that inspired this week’s show, Clash Royale - an intensely enjoyable card combat game has me hooked.
Clash Royale is an interesting blend of tower defense and card game. You battle another king across a river. Deploying your card-based army on one side of the water, they cross using bridges, and head directly to your opponent’s towers to try and crush them. Destroy all three of their forts and you win.
Simple, except they are trying to do the same to you.
Thus, you must strike a careful balance to ensure you have a good blend of units for every eventually. Building your deck before entering combat, you choose which cards to take with you from a selection of attacks and characters that fans of Clash of Clans will be familiar with.
Giants, knights, skeleton bombers, every one of the popular base building game’s cast make an appearance in Clash Royale, all with specific skills to help. Archers can keep a safe distance while they attack, while Giants can take huge amounts of damage as they march straight up to your opponents towers and start smashing them with their fists.
Playing any card comes with and Elixir cost – an energy meter that slowly refills during combat. This keeps the action balanced, as even if you have better cards the price of deploying them can still leave you on the back foot when your opponent is flooding the arena with cheaper units.
Clash Royale is certain to go from strength to strength, so get on board now while it’s still fresh.