Game On: Game for tower defence lovers

Review of Warcraft Rumble, a game that's nothing like Hearthstone

Describing the release of Warcraft Rumble on November 1 as understated would be an understatement itself. The game’s launch was so quiet and lacking in hype that I only became aware of it when I received a notification from the Play Store on my Pixel.

It informed me that the game was ready to play as I woke up in the morning, and off, I was, marshalling my troops and levelling up skeletons trying to defend my base. The game is quick, short, and a lot of fun but the biggest question with Rumble is if the players will keep coming back every day to commit to the grind.

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Over the four days since its launch, I have thoroughly tested the game, relished its captivating single-player campaign, experimented with a variety of hero cards, and had the pleasure of controlling memorable characters such as Rend Blackhand, Jaina Proudmore, and Tirion Fordring. Ultimately, I settled on Tirion for the synergy he provided to my damage-heavy foot soldiers.

The experience felt quite inviting as I meticulously fine-tuned my army and determined the tempo at which I preferred to make my moves. As time passed, I realised that the ability to absorb damage and counterattack suited my style, leading me to rely less on speed and more on controlling the map.

There’s a lot to appreciate in the Rumble experience, but it’s important to draw a comparison with the genre’s best, Clash Royale. Rumble borrows some of the finest concepts from Clash Royale but adds its unique twist. For instance, it’s a tower defense game centered around a single primary base, with additional towers and mana pillars strategically positioned for capture and repurposing.

These towers and pillars serve as both defensive structures against enemy units and spawn points for your units. In other words, the more of these strategic locations you control, the more flexibility you have in deploying your combinations. The maps aren’t linear here and require players to continually adapt and assess the situation.

Rumble also offers a unique cost/elixir mechanism works, here, to deploy units, you need gold, and although the game provides a steady income of gold, you can also send miners to gather more of it while defending them to quickly build up your army. I found this “more risk, more reward” approach appealing, as it forces players to make choices not only between offense and defense but also resource-building for their ideal units.

Strategies like low-cost decks from Clash Royale don’t guarantee victory in this game.

Lastly, Rumble gets most things right as it incorporates various sound effects and elements from World of Warcraft. The music, character descriptions, and hero abilities have all been adapted, creating a longing for the full WoW experience. However, it isn’t perfect, as I noticed a few glitches with the loading of levels and arenas in the campaign and in the multiplayer arena. There are also some balancing issues, with certain decks appearing weaker than others, issues that could potentially be addressed in future updates.

This is a game worth trying if tower defense is a genre you like.