Clash Royale

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What is Clash Royale

Clash Royale blends together an eclectic combination of genre features and molds them together into a competitive card battler. It can sometimes feel like a greatest hits collection of the past 10 years of mobile strategy gaming, but the level of polish helps these elements feel fresh. It doesn't hurt that the game has been expertly balanced to make these elements better complement one another.

Clash Royale is built by the developers who also created the immensely popular Clash of Clans, and it shows. In fact, it takes place in the same universe as Clash of Clans and employs many of the same characters and settings as well as a nearly identical overarching art style. The art is vibrant and inoffensively appealing, but its similarity to other games on the market makes it stand out less.

Another thing that Clash Royale shares with its predecessor is its willingness to mash together different, popular game genres. Multiplayer online battle arenas, tower defense games, and collectible card battlers all have a prominent influence on the core loops of the game. Like a MOBA, two lanes separate your base from that of your opponent, and you use a developing army of heroes to assault the opposing team. As in a tower defense game, specialized buildings are used to protect the lanes leading to your base.

Each of these towers, as well as special magical powers that can help turn the tide of battle, are drawn from a deck of cards. The sense of balance and variety here is solid, and the developers have clearly learned lessons from more dedicated games like Hearthstone. The units and spells available to you are limited by your magic pool, so finding a balance between cannon fodder, legendary heroes, and everything in between is at the core of the game.

While the moment-to-moment gameplay of a battle may be the immediate draw of Clash Royale, regular players will find themselves spending most of their time planning and biding their time. There are a lot of cards to collect, and a lot of potential strategies, so you can waste a lot of time testing out new squads. But the relatively deep and undoubtedly addictive pull of building the perfect deck could become costly. Clash Royale is heavy on microtransactions. If you expect to dominate the meta and the rankings, you'll need to either dedicate a lot of time to the game or shell out a little extra cash. But if you have deep pockets or aren't too worried about being the best of the best, its eclectic mix of game styles can be a lot of fun.

Pros:

• Interesting mix of strategy sub-genres
• Bright, cartoon-inspired art style
• Decent amount of strategic depth

Cons:

• Aggressively promotes microtransactions
• Art style borders on the generic