At PAX East there are a lot of unique and crazy games. There’s a card game that teaches you Japanese , a shooter where you play as green army men and a bunch of other unique games that are trying to get noticed. On the other side of the spectrum, we have the desperate cash grab games that lack any bit of originality. One of those games is called Star Crusade .
Their PR email said that “ Star Crusade is the next Hearthstone ” and claimed that this card game set in space is going to be the next big thing. I took the bait because Hearthstone is my life and I wondered what kind of card game could possibly replace it.
Walking up to the booth, I was greeted by a lady in a thick Russian accent who then tried to explain the game. I couldn’t really understand what she said, so I asked if I could just play it. She starts it up and I notice something oddly familiar. The way cards display in your hand, the battlefield, the resource system are all directly taken from Hearthstone .
There’s a “resource” bar that goes up by one every turn, you mulligan your hand at the start of the game and there are literally hero powers. I asked the Russian lady about the similarities, and she was quick to say that this game “was definitely not Hearthstone.” She’s right, Hearthstone is fun to play.
In order to read what your cards do, you have to keep your finger firmly pressed on the tablet for five seconds. That time adds up real quick when you have to read every card in your hand. I play a card that gives you “Firepower” and it adds a number next to your “not a hero portrait.” I ask the lady how I attack with my weapon, she repeats “this is not Hearthstone” and says that it increases the damage of your abilities. Got it, it’s not a weapon, it’s Spell Damage.
After a few minutes I just got so tired and bored of it. “So I’m just going to attack with my not-a Piloted Shredder into that not-a Silver Hand Recruit.” After finally winning the tutorial stage, the Russian lady handed me a pair of antennae with glowing pieces on the end. It broke when I walked away from the booth. I felt that was a fitting metaphor for my experience.
