A card game where you play your units and other special moves using maths, Calculords is mighty interesting, but a bit confusing as far as the deck building goes. I really enjoyed my time with it even if it felt like the screen didn’t detect my tapping some of the time, which was quite annoying.
You start with a few cards and a bunch of numbers and you need to add, subtract and multiply the numbers to get the totals on the cards. Match all numbers and you get a fresh new batch, and playing all cards also gets new more. I like that basic gameplay concept, even if I feel like thinking about maths while trying to also think about the card game aspect is too much for me. Trying to mix and match the numbers comes almost first before what the cards actually do and it’s easier to make numbers that match the cards you have instead of actually playing the best moves.
And by that I mean that this game gets tough, you have a really big pool of cards to choose from and while you know you need only 30 cards, what cards are a good mix is a bit tough to say. You can also add and remove numbers to your number deck, should you mess with that? I don’t know. The whole math thing is a world into itself, but adding it to the card game made the whole thing too complicated. I wanted to remove the weak cards from my deck and add better ones, but then I’m not even sure I could get the numbers to play them, even by adding or removing a few number cards, you still can’t predict how a deck is going to pan out.
Even with all of that being said, that game is a blast. The goal of each match is to destroy the enemy’s base by moving units to the right and mowing down any defenses laid by the other side. Basic soldiers only have attack and defense bu the cards have plenty of abilities, spawning multiples, having armor, moving twice per turn, killing units behind their targets, pushing units… And you have tactical cards that are one-use effects like dealing damage or buffing your troops.
I had plenty of fun with Calculors, enough to give them some more money and after messing with my deck, I think I managed to make something I really enjoyed as long as the right numbers came up.