http://coj.sega.jp/app/
This game was released today. It's a mobile port of a digital card game that's been in Japanese arcades for at least 2 years. I was a huge fan of this game, but I dropped the arcade version when I realized it's impossible to get cards from the latest expansion if you're f2p. In the mobile version you at least have the option of crafting cards with the ingame currency (at inflated prices, admittedly).
Unlike Hearthstone which is full of cards with wild RNG effects, and no decisions or actions that can be made during an opponent's turn, this game mostly has cards with definite effects, and intercept cards that trigger at various points in any player's turns with a wide variety of effects.
I'll do a longer post explaining more of the game mechanics later. No English version planned in the near future unfortunately.
Code of Joker is a digital card game where players assemble decks of 40 cards and fight against each other. There are four types of cards:
Units,
Evolve Units,
Triggers and
Intercepts. Units are summoned onto the battlefield by paying their cost. All units have a BP (Battle Point) value, and most of them have at least one ability. Evolve Units cannot be summoned directly, they need to be summoned as a replacement of a unit of the same colour (more on colours later). Intercepts are like spell cards. You do not cast them directly however. They have to be triggered.
See the bottom right of the image, where you can barely make out 4 cards with the word SET under them. That is the
Intercept Zone, where you can set up your Intercepts. Every Intercept has a triggering condition, which can include things like you summoning a new unit, or when a unit kills another in battle. When the condition is fulfilled, you may choose to pay a cost and perform the effect of the Intercept card, which can include dealing damage to units, drawing you new cards, or even destroying cards in the opponent's Intercept Zone.
Trigger cards are set in the Intercept Zone and perform similarly to Intercept cards, except that once their condition has been met, they will automatically go off, and you have no choice in the matter. Because of this lack of flexibility, there is no cost for any of them.
You can see the opponents' Intercept Zone in the top left of the image. You won't know what exactly the cards he has put there are, but you can see their colour. This hidden information makes the game harder to predict!
Colours
The 4 colours of the game are red, blue, green and yellow. All units belong to one of those 4. There is also a colourless... colour. Intercepts can belong to any of those 5. Incidentally, another condition for using an Intercept is that you must have a unit of the matching colour on the battlefield. (There is no check for colourless Intercepts). Triggers are always colourless.
Red: Specializes in direct unit damage, and units with speed move (akin to Charge in Hearthstone or Haste in Magic, which allows the unit to attack on the turn it is summoned)
Green: Specializes in unit BP buffing/debuffing, and units.with Tireless (similar to Vigilance in Magic, which allows a unit to attack and block in the same turn)
Yellow: I hate fighting these guys. They have many effects which make enemy units lose their initiative (ie ability to block for the turn), and consequently effects that target units that have lost their initiative. They also have several cards that cause enemy units to return to their owner's hand.
Blue: They have some discard effects, and several abilities that return cards from your graveyard. They also have several instant-kill abilities that target units with a clock level of 2 or higher.
Clock level
Units are usually summoned into battle with a Clock level of 1. After killing an enemy unit, the killing unit will increase its Clock level, which usually gives a minor boost to its BP and restores it to maximum. If a unit clocks up to level 3 (the maximum), it acquires Overclock status and regains initiative (ie it may attack again that turn). There are some cards that have effects that depend on units reaching Overclock status.
Combat
The player whose turn it is may have a unit attack. The other player may then choose to block with one of his existing units or eat the hit. When two units fight, both players have a chance to play any Intercepts whose conditions have been met. After that, the BPs of the two units are compared. If one is lower, it is destroyed and the victor clocks up. If they are equal, both units are destroyed.
If the blocking player chose to take the hit however, he loses one unit of life no matter the unit's BP. Each player starts the game with 7 life.
Override and cost reduction
You are allowed to set units in the Intercept Zone. This allows you to summon another unit of the same colour at a discount of 1.
If you have two of the same unit in your hand, you may combine them into one card. This is called overriding. That unit will clock up once in your hand, and you will draw a card to replace the card you used to override. When you summon this unit it will appear on the battlefield at its enhanced level. Furthermore, if you summon a level 3 unit, it may attack immediately.
Joker
There is a small red bar in the bottom left area of the image. This is your Joker gauge. This bar increases as you take damage, and when you finish your turns. The faster you finish your turn, the more the Joker gauge fills. (You have one minute to finish a turn, but this timer is paused during most animations.) When the bar is filled up, you gain a Joker card. There are 7 characters, each with 4 Joker cards. You select one of those before starting a match. This is the card you will receive when your Joker gauge is ready.
