Game: Marvel SNAP by Nuverse

Genre: Card game

Platforms: Android, iOS

With Marvel SNAP now celebrating its 10-month launch, I thought of commemorating its success with a positive review. In my experience, this particular game has made playing collectible card games more intriguing. This isn’t a surprise, given the game designer is none other than Ben Brode, the director of Hearthstone, himself.

In Marvel SNAP, you’re exposed to a multiversal array of supers to choose from to build your own deck of cards, and duel against opponents for control. In a single match, your goal is to either seize control over at least two locations or score the highest. Winning nets you currency that levels up your profile, rewarding you with unlockable content and cosmetic upgrades. If a tie occurs, both duelists walk away with nothing lost or gained.

It’s one of the more pleasant CCGs you can play; no complex mechanics to burden you with here! If you can play UNO, you can play this game. In fact, this gameplay accessibility is further seen in matches; they don’t last longer than five minutes.

Considering the lack of time or patience we have these days, this is certainly a relief for many smartphone gamers — whether you’re playing it to kill some time or for some quick relief from your ever-busy schedule.

How they managed to make this happen whilst keeping the tight gameplay design uncompromised is quite the wonder. If you’re worried if the game is shallow, don’t be. Veteran Hearthstone fans have something worthwhile to sink their teeth into here.

The one pet peeve I have about the game is how it incorporates fake multiplayer. For the initial part of the game, you’d spend a lot of time playing through bots playing terribly on purpose. So if you run into a mild-mannered “Shelby” username, know that it’s probably a bot. Saying that, the game’s multiplayer function does let you invite your friends and duel with them in a private match, if that’s your fancy.

Speaking of duels, using the right cards is paramount. Each card has energy, damage output and a unique ability. So depending on the cards, you open your deck up to an endless cycle of resource and power management, from designing a deck focussed on strong offensive capabilities, to designing a deck that opens up opportunities for different tactics you can play. So there’s gameplay depth to be found.

Though I really wish you could carry over your game progress smoothly. At the moment, you need either a Google account or an Apple account to sync your progress across devices, which is a bummer considering it lacks more appropriate account integrations.

VERDICT: Marvel SNAP struggles to hold your attention for long, but to the die-hard Marvel fan and the average CCG fan, it’s going to be one of those “just one more” games. It’s an eight out of 10 for me.