WWE Superstar Card
WWE SuperCard released for Android and Apple mobile devices on Thursday. The game isn't overly complex or simplistic, and that's part of what makes it cool to play. It functions almost exactly like the mobile companion for the NBA 2K series, but the world of wrestling better lends itself to the fantasy card-game realm.
It’s a card-battling game about a major corporation that’s published by another major corporation (2K Games). Moreover, it’s free. If you’re savvy to how big-name free-to-play games tend to work, you’re likely going to spend the first hour or so cringing, waiting for the game to bring a paywall down on your head like a metal chair.
Fear not, though. WWE SuperCard is simple to learn, fun to play, and very fair about in-app purchases. Tell ’em, Hawk!
Ideally, players are trying to build the most powerful roster of WWE Superstars possible. You acquire these Superstars in the form of virtual cards, and each have their own unique attributes.
There are multiple versions of the Superstars, Divas and Legends to acquire. The common versions of the cards are the least powerful, while the rare cards are the best.
Think of Hulk Hogan's rare card as the equivalent of the Hulkster in his heyday during the 1980s, and his common card a version of him before he blew up with the WWF.
There are more than 400 cards available, and more are to be added post-release.
There are a few different modes to play. The Exhibition mode is a head-to-head contest against another human player online. Then there's the King of the Ring which functions as the season mode for the game.
Players are awarded additional points the more they play.
The setup is rather simple, and will be familiar to anyone who has played card battle games. To start, five cards are chosen from a pool. All of them have a certain statistical spread -- power, toughness, speed, and charisma. For each round of play, a certain stat bonus will be favored -- so you may have John Cena, who has a high charisma rating, and Big Show, who has a high power rating. You'll want to put them in on their respective advantage rounds, taking into account that subsequent matches in each game will have other stats in the mix. Sometimes you'll have tag-team rounds where you choose two at once, and sometimes multiple statlines will come into play.
ach contest is divided into rounds. Each round has a theme such as power, charisma, speed, toughness or a combination of two skills. Players must choose the best Superstar in their starting lineup to match up against their opponent's selection.
The winner of the round gets a point in the best-out-of-five format.
There are two modes featured in WWE SuperCard: Exhibition and King of the Ring. King of the Ring is a passive experience that pits your deck of WWE superstars against others’ decks. The winners receive rare cards and other rewards. In order to stand a chance, you need to manage your stable of wrestlers by swapping out tired superstars for fresh ones. King of the Ring is a good way to earn loot, but it’s not especially interesting or engaging.
The real meat of the game is Exhibition. You start with some random superstar cards of varying rarity. Each wrestler has several stats: Power, Toughness, Charisma, and Speed.
When a match begins, you need to select a wrestler (or wrestlers, in the case of a tag-team match) based on certain criteria. For instance, a match’s outcome might be based on your wrestlers’ speed and charisma. Higher numbers win, though there are effect cards like chairs and stop signs that can boost your own wrestlers’ stats, or lower your opponents’ numbers just enough to give you an edge in the ring.
There's two singles rounds, a tag team and a Divas match. Thus your starting lineup contains five Superstars. Players will have available Superstars in reserve that they can swap out between matches to be sure to put their best Superstars and Divas in the virtual ring to compete.
You can modify some stats with support cards like ladders and chairs to give yourself a little boost, but that's the gist of it. Everything is fast-paced, and very simple to pick up. Comedic animations like suplexing cards will keep you laughing and interested as you essentially pick card after card and make minor modifications to it. For reference, there's no energy mechanic -- you just play to your heart's content. Thank goodness! The only major problem I have with the game is that you can't go head-to-head with someone currently -- you're just playing with random people by way of matchmaking.
Though it sounds a tad complicated, WWE SuperCard is anything but. It’s simply a game of numbers that’s easy to latch onto after a couple of practice rounds. Matches, which are best out of three, fly by quickly. It’s also pretty hilarious to watch cards strut down the gangplank and drop-kick rival cards.
Best of all, there’s no energy or stamina bars to contend with. You can play WWE Supercard for as long as you want without having to wait on refills. While you can buy different quantities of the game’s hard currency, “credits,” in-app purchases are mostly present for people that want to score ultra-rare and legendary cards.
You shouldn’t have a problem building up a nice stable from what the game gives you for free, however. The roster dates back for years, giving you a nice variety of superstars from the past and the present. And, like most card-battling games, you can use your lowly common cards to build up your champions. This is called “training,” but if you’re a veteran of the genre, it’s hard to get over the fact you may actually be feeding Yokozuna to Triple H.
WWE SuperCard does have one weird flaw: The superstars’ stats don’t really match up with their character. My deck has Erick Rowan, that cult weirdo that wears a sheep mask and quietly follows Bray Wyatt like a bushy-bearded dog. His Charisma stat is far higher than AJ Lee’s, who is – well, she’s AJ.
If you lose a round though, you always get to choose one card to add to your pool. If you win, you choose two. This simple conceit allows for you to play for hours on end collecting cards without feeling like you have to dole out bags of money to stay in the game. Sure, some cards will grant you better bonuses and having a well-rounded deck will allow for some advantages, but the game is a casual enough affair where you won't feel tempted to spend. What I love about SuperCard is that the roster goes back pretty far, and should get you up to speed with the current superstars as well.
The fuse mechanic also allows for a small crafting system of sorts. If you get doubles, you can fuse those cards into each other and boost their stats. You can also trade lower-end cards in for a potential boost as well. It's a brilliant system that allows you to boost the cards that you want and spend less time amassing a gigantic deck of hundreds of cards.
Because of the way the game is designed, you only really need a small deck to succeed. In other words, you're not going to feel pressured to get a minimum of 100 rare or unique cards like many other card games out there. It's easy to play and feel content.
To add some spice to the process, props and signature WWE items can be used as power-ups to give the gamer an advantage in a certain category. Think your Superstar, tag team or Diva may be overmatched in power? Then use a chair on your opponents to cause a dip in their power ratings to even the score.
The cool thing is that you don't know what card your opponent is going to play. Thus there's some strategy involved. If you win your match, you're awarded two cards. If you lose, you simply get one just for playing.
This is one of the ways to build your roster. You also have the option of spending real money to get credits to upgrade your roster quicker.
If your Superstar just isn't up to par, or you're actively trying to create a monster, you can use Superstar's cards that are in your stable to train and improve any member of your roster.
It’s a minor thing, though. WWE SuperCard is a very decent card-battling game that’s more concerned about engaging players than bleeding them dry with in-app purchases. It’ll steal your heart, then monologue about it for ten minutes in the middle of the squared circle.
With virtual card games, presentation is important. There's no next-generation graphics and animation to lean on, so the developers must captivate players with flashy sequences and suspenseful reveals.
WWE SuperCard does well in this aspect of the game. The virtual cards actually have a ring entrance leading into head-to-head battle, and the card reveals at the end of the match are fun.
One area with room for improvement is the sound. It would have been super cool to have the real Superstar entrance music accompanying the Superstar or Diva during their virtual entrance. Instead, we get some real generic, gender-specific tunes.
That's perhaps the only real gripe I could find after spending a good portion of the night playing the game. That's not too bad for a free-to-play app. If you like the WWE and mobile card games, this one might be worth a look.
In terms of the IAP system, everything is ran by credits, and it's a very straight-forward system that isn't designed to trick you into what you're getting. Credits run at an average of 600 for $5. 600 credits can net you seven Superstar cards. If you opt to go into the higher tiers you can get guaranteed rare cards, but again, you can get by just on normal cards alone -- the only reason why you'd flirt with rares is if you get heavily into the collecting aspect. If you're so inclined you can spend 10 credits for a "Title Match," which doubles your rewards.
For a new IP, WWE SuperCard manages to hang with the best of them. Even without purchasing cards left and right you can still enjoy yourself, which is great news for skeptics or WWE fans. Hopefully more modes of play will enter the picture at some point, but for now you can go a long way without spending anything.
WWE SuperCard Season 3 includes:
• RANKED / PVP MODE – Battle in real time against live opponents from around the world for the top slot in a new monthly leaderboard for ranking and rewards.
• ROYAL RUMBLE – Pit 15 of your best cards against 15 of an opponent’s cards in a brand new, real-time gameplay mode in a battle to see the last card standing;
• NEW CARD TIERS – Access three new card tiers and compete for more than 100 new cards;
• WILD MODE – Use both Active and Legacy cards to compete against opponents and gain more Active cards for your deck;
• SEASON 1 LEGACY CARDS – Retain Season 1 cards through their transition to Legacy cards in Season 3, with the cards available for play in the game’s new Wild Mode feature;
• YOUR FAVORITE MODES - Money in the Bank, Ring Domination, People’s Champion Challenge, King of the Ring, and Road to Glory are all carrying over to S3. And, yes, your S2 cards will be playable across all this in addition to Ranked, Wild, and Royal Rumble mode.
