PC classic Bloons works surprisingly well as a strategy card game

If you spent any time on a computer in the late 2000s, there’s a good chance you recognize the name Bloons. The colorful series a gaming staple of the era, with five games and multiple updates to each released between 2007 and 2009. It began as a browser-based puzzle game about popping balloons, but quickly evolved into a surprisingly robust tower defense game that’s still going strong.

The series is about to change once again thanks to Bloons Card Storm. This time, developer Ninja Kiwi is reimagining its iconic game as a deck-building strategy game. That’s a surprising shift on paper, but it’s one that actually fits in practice. I gave the upcoming card game a spin, trying out a few of its early levels. While it took me some time to get used to it, I can already see the markings of a mobile hit here.

Bloons Card Storm isn’t actually all that different from Bloons Tower Defense; it has the same pieces, just shuffled into a different format. Players still have to defend a “tower” from incoming balloons by placing dart-shooting monkeys and tack shooters, but this time, the assault goes both ways. Each level is a duel between monkeys who take turns playing cards to build their defenses and lay down balloons.

As a card game, it shares some similarities with Hearthstone. I have one mana to work with each turn, but I get one more each turn. Each of my cards has a specific cost, so the early game has me placing basic balloons that’ll only do a small chunk of damage to my opponent or dart monkeys who only deal 20 or so damage. Like Hearthstone, my monkey hero also has a set of offensive abilities I can activate on my turn, like raining down an arrow storm on my opponent to pop their balloons.

There are several unique twists to that established formula, though. For one, each balloon on the field has a turn countdown noting when it will attack. A basic balloon will fly over in one turn or so, but a high damage one like a MOAB may take a few more. I have to manage those timers