Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes (Video Game Review)

Blizzard Entertainment has announced the launch of the first major expansion for their highly popular collectible card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes adds over 120 new cards including class specific cards, legendaries, golden cards and much more. The set is plenty of fun and includes some very powerful cards that every serious Hearthstone player will want to add to their collection immediately. The card set includes a plethora of cards with randomized effects, and the theme will definitely divide fans on how much they enjoy the new set, but the expansion adds plenty of life to the game and gives longtime fans of the series a whole new collection of cards to purchase and unlock through playing the game.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Curse of Naxxramas added a whole new adventure for players to explore while unlocking new cards each week by playing the narrative based missions. Players won't find similar story driven content in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes, but there are more than enough new cards to unlock to add hundreds of hours of gameplay to the title for players that do not want to drop a whole lot of real life cash to purchase Goblins vs. Gnomes card packs.


The new set of cards included in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes adds class specific cards including some of the most powerful legendaries the collectible card game has seen yet. Players will also find some of the most useful commons in the new packs that can replace some of the more common used two, three and four mana cost cards that have been key inclusions in tournament level decks. Players will likely need to purchase many packs of Goblins vs. Gnomes packs to unlock many of these cards in the game though, and newcomers to Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will be more likely to find better card drops in packs from the core set originally released for the game.

One major theme for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes are the all new mech cards. The new theme makes many classic cards, such as the beloved Harvest Golem, even more useful as many of the new mech cards boost the strength of other mechs. The new mechs can be powerful and useful alone, but most add additional attack points or health to other cards when battlecries or deathrattles are activated, and some class specific mech cards will give players some clear classes to build their new mech decks around.

Another new theme included in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes is randomness. Many of the new cards deal a random amount of damage, deal damage to a random enemy or perform other effects with no clear target. The random effects do add some excitement to the game, but the random nature can also frustrate players and spectators since luck can ultimately decide the outcome of matches much more often than the game previously offered. The random effects will definitely divide fans between those that like the new cards and those that do not, but the new cards are here to stay either way.

Blizzard Entertainment allows players to purchase packs from Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes with in-game gold and keep the free-to-play game just that. Players that want to unlock cards faster can choose to purchase packs with real life currency or head to the Arena and attempt to unlock packs instead. Goblins vs. Gnomes packs replace original packs as rewards in the Arena, though players can still earn golden card drops from either set as prizes with eight wins or more. Players will earn three packs of cards just for playing the game during the promotional period as well.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes is a fun expansion that adds over 120 cards that includes new mechs, legendaries and class specific cards. It will be very exciting to see how the game changes over the coming months with the introduction of so many new cards, and while the new content does not offer any new storylines or missions, players will be sure to spend many hours playing the game to complete daily challenges to earn more in-game gold and purchase more packs. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes is a good expansion and offers collectible card game fans even more reasons to check out one of the most popular games introduced in 2014.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes is now available for PC, Mac and iOS. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is rated T by the ESRB for Alcohol Reference, Blood, Fantasy Violence & Mild Suggestive Themes. For more information on the game, check out the official Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Goblins vs. Gnomes website.

Game Features:

• Online Multiplayer 1-2
• Over 120 New Cards
• Purchase Packs With In-Game Gold or Cash
• Win Packs in Arena Mode

Game Information:
Developer & Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms: PC (reviewed), Mac & iOS
Release Date: December 8, 2014

Score: 8 out of 10