Card King: Dragon Wars Review

Developer: CROOZ, Inc.
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.1.1
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5

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[Want some pointers on getting your deck in order? Take a look at our Card King: Dragon Wars tips & tricks guide.]

Card games aren’t hard to come by on the App Store. Card games offering more personality than most as well as some stylish graphics? Now that’s a much harder thing to come by. Your savior right this second is Card King: Dragon Wars - a cross between Pokemon and Hearthstone. It’s simple to learn but will soon get its claws into you and refuse to let go.

The premise is much like many other card games. You start out with a deck of cards and have to work towards being better than everyone else. Building your collection is immediately satisfying, mostly because these aren’t just dull looking cards. Each card is a creature with its own personality.

Each time you battle it out with someone, you drag a card into the arena and it transforms into a monster that shows emotion. Struggling in battle? You’ll see it reflected on screen and it’ll get to you. You’ll end up sad when your creature is defeated, thanks to this.

Card King: Dragon Wars offers more depth than that though. You can use a series of ability and support cards to get the edge, with a combo of supportive cards before unleashing a massive attack often making a crucial difference. You can also combine cards in a laboratory, developing your creatures further and forming an eventually unstoppable team.

We’ve all seen these various elements elsewhere but Card King: Dragon Wars does a good job of combining them to make an overall compelling experience. It’s a little heavy on freemium components, such as its energy system, but it’s not a problem until you’re quite far into the game. Crucially, it’ll have your attention by then and you won’t mind needing a little patience.

My only real wish for it is that there’s seemingly no way to skip animations, and sometimes you want to wrap up a session quickly rather than be stuck watching things unfold. Other than that it’s a gripping affair, and one that will reignite your interest in card gaming.