Video game tie-ins for children’s films aren’t known for their originality, but this is just silly. Ludia’s new iPad game is Hearthstone, only instead of some kung fu pandas it has the Kung Fu Panda.
The mechanics in Kung Fu Panda: Battles of Destiny are basically the same. Each player draws cards and gets an increasing number of chi (mana) points to spend each round. The kung fu master the players’ decks belong to get a free attack each round, but otherwise it’s Hearthstone.
It’s got the cards.
It’s got the heroes.
There are daily quests.
And there is ample opportunity to spend real money on digital things.
Hope they don’t run out of Rare Packs.
Thankfully this is a game marketed towards children, with their famously strong impulse control and no way at all to get their hands on their parents’ payment information. Love those children. So sensible.
There’s not much else for me to say here. Is it fun? Is Hearthstone fun? Because this is Kung Fu Panda Hearthstone. So yeah, a little bit.
I’m just amazed this got made, though not really. I can easily imagine a marketing executive saying something like “Just make that Hearthstone game with pandas.” Then an underling points point that Hearthstone already has pandas, and is immediately fired.
In closing, huh.
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