Card Hunter Beta Preview | True PC Gaming

By ? Armaan Khan

There was a time when I wanted an RPG that stripped away all the story and exploration, thereby focusing purely on turn-based combat. ?Well, Card Hunter has arrived to fulfill this desire.? Unfortunately, it demonstrates that sometimes you want something, but it isn?t what you really wanted at all. ?But, before I get critical about the game, let?s talk about the positives, of which there are plenty.

The first thing you?ll notice is the aesthetic. ?Card Hunter pulls its visual flair from the world of 1980s tabletop RPGs, and absolutely nails the look and feel of that period. ?The battlefields are flat pieces of board-game-style map, covered in luscious art to depict the layouts of dungeons, caves, forests, or whatever environment you are supposed to be in. ?The player and opponent pieces are cardboard tokens placed on top of the board, or off to the side as they are defeated. When you start an adventure, you?ll see a cover page with art and summary that looks and reads almost exactly the way these things were written and drawn back in the day.

There is no overarching story, at least, not in the traditional sense. The game is a series of adventures, each of which has it?s own unique premise. ?There seems to be a meta-narrative telling the tale of a young man learning to become a good GM, complete with powerful antagonist, but I didn?t get far enough into it to confirm or debunk that.

In terms of gameplay, Card Hunter is a turn-based tactical affair, with a twist. ?In most other games of this type, you move all your characters first, then the opponent moves theirs. ?Here, however, you can only perform one action with one character during turn. ?So you can move one character, or have one attack, or cast one spell, after which your enemy gets one action as well. ?There is an exception when playing against the computer: some enemies share movement cards, so multiple enemies may be able to move on a single turn.

That brings us nicely to the cards, which is Card Hunter?s central conceit. ?Instead of choosing your action from a menu, you instead need to play a card from your hand. ?Each of your three characters has four cards each to play per round, and the cards in hand determine what you?ll be able to do. ?Everything ?from movement, to combat, to defense is handled by these cards. If you don?t have movement cards for a character, for example, that character will be immobile for the entire round. Rounds end when both players pass, at which point new cards are drawn.

Despite the focus on cards, decks are not built in the traditional Magic: The Gathering way, in which you have full control over the card types and quantity. ?Instead, the cards you have available depend on the items your character has equipped. ?More powerful weapons will grant more powerful cards, and creates a good impetus for collecting loot in order to get better stuff.? Randomness ends up playing a very big role in the game. ?Sometimes, you?ll get a nicely balanced hand of movement and attack cards, while other times you may get no attacks at all. ?It can get frustrating at times, especially for me since I like attacking fast and hard, but a ?bad? hand can be mitigated with some smart play and strategic thought. ?Concepts like zone of control, facing, line of sight, and difficult terrain can all be used to your advantage or detriment, depending on how well you can cope with it.

That?s my one and only unfair criticism against the game: ?it requires a lot of thought. ?I found myself mentally exhausted after a few battles, and had to walk away to recharge at the end of each adventure. ?The primary game loop of fight battle, collect loot, repeat, wore thin after a while, and I?m at the point where I don?t even feel like going back to the game anymore. But, like I said, this is an unfair and highly personal opinion. ?There?s a lot here for tactical RPG gamers to enjoy, especially at the price of zero dollars.

Yep, Card Hunter is Free to Play which means you can check it out risk-free as long as you?re willing to add another online account to your collection. ??It also means there is a premium currency you can purchase in order to get exclusive stuff. ?It?s called Pizza and you can buy it at a rate of 150 slices for 5 dollars. ?The more Pizza you buy in a single transaction, the more you get. So, paying ten bucks will net you 330 slices, which is a nice bonus for those who want to toss lots of money Blue Manchu?s way. ?Spending $20 or more will also get you exclusive character tokens, which are purely cosmetic and a nice way to flaunt your wealth.

In my time with the beta, I?ve come across three ways to spend your Pizza/real-world-dollars. ?The first is on custom figures. ?These simply change the look of your character tokens and are completely for show. ?The second thing you can do is subscribe to the Card Hunter Club.? The cheapest option for that is one month long and costs 300 slices, or approximately 10 dollars. This will get you a bonus piece of loot at the end of every battle, but nothing that?s significantly overpowered. ?The third thing you can do with Pizza is unlock ?Treasure Hunts?, which reward you with an epic item upon completion.? These Treasure Hunts are the only thing I can see which pose the biggest risk of unbalancing the game and turning it into a ?pay to win? design but, since the game is in beta, it?s far too early to tell if that will be the case.

Within the context of the single-player campaign, it seems like Blue Manchu is skewing the balance in such a way that you can play through the entire thing without ever being forced to spend a dime. ?Judging from the size of the map, and if you can get onboard with the gameplay, that?s going to mean hours upon hours of entertainment.

Card Hunter *Technical Summary:

• Time Played?3 Hours
• Bugs/Crashes Encountered?None
• Control Scheme?Mouse
• System Specs? Core i5@2.7GHz, 8GB RAM, Radeon HD 6770M 512MB
• Game Acquisition Method?Beta Code
• Availability?Official Site

*Technical Summary is limited due to the nature of Card Hunter being a browser-based title.

Source: http://truepcgaming.com/2013/06/25/card-hunter-beta-preview/

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