Imagine you and your opponent are down to your last towers, health bars diminished to nothing. You are running out of time and you have to do something to ensure your victory. But what brought you into this situation? Was it the enticing idea of endless strategic combinations or the thrill of overwhelming your opponent with powerful cards? “Clash Royale’s” fast-paced combat and strategy leaves players in a state of triumph or frustration. And while “Clash Royale” provides excitement, one should question if the game is worth your time or money.

In this review, we’ll dive into the gameplay, strategic thinking, emotional aspect, and the monetization of “Clash Royale.” Whether you’re a newcomer or a seasoned player, we’ll weigh the pros and cons to help you decide if this game deserves your attention, or if your time and money would be better spent elsewhere.

“Clash Royale” is a popular real-time strategy mobile game. It’s popularly known for allowing players to collect units and use them in battles against real players each with their own unique purpose or ability. You use your choice of units to attack the opponent’s towers and collect crowns to determine a winner. Some of these popular units include Mini P.E.K.K.A., Hog Rider, and Mega Knight.

Everyone has their own opinions regarding “Clash Royale,” as no one will have the same battles. Senior Alex Flores provides his experience with the game by sharing his likes and dislikes.

“The different amount of variations of cards they have. Like for example, they have splash units or they can have tanks which makes the game pretty fun to play,” Flores said.

To get multiple perspectives, it was necessary to ask multiple people for their opinions. Senior Jayke Brito provided his personal take on “Clash Royale.”

“People make a lot of deck combinations. You can get creative with it,” Brito said.

So why is “Clash Royale” important? “Clash Royale” is majorly popular amongst students and even adults. Streamers on platforms such as Twitch or YouTube were able to create popular content that brings groups of people together and creates communities.

Brito provides his belief on streamers, “…one person starts saying and does something crazy, posts it online, and then starts seeing traction,” Brito said.

It also helped inspire other games to create a similar format that helped them get popular. Games utilized the tower defense strategy allowing for a new genre of games to become recognized. “Clash Royale” also became so popular that it is a part of esports competitions increasing its popularity throughout the world.

“Clash Royale” is a fun game that evokes quick thinking by making predictions for something that could happen. The practice of critical thinking in-game is not only useful for gaming but can help students to practice similar critical thinking in classrooms. “Clash Royale” also allows students to make friends among other players allowing for stronger connections and to help each other think more critically.

When interviewing Flores he shared, “…but seeing my friends have better decks and be a better player than me, it sometimes makes you jealous and it makes you want to be the same as them,” Flores said.

After playing and learning about the game, each battle forces players to think about every action and the best strategy in the spur of the moment. And playing with friends definitely helps improve skills by motivating each other to keep playing and learning.

However, that is not to say that there are no negative sides to the game. These can include minor issues such as laggy connection causing the loss of a game. Or it could scale larger to toxic communities and unfair in-game advantages.

There have been moments where players’ Wi-Fi will start to crash on themselves which causes issues. These issues range from players not being able to place their units down to counter an opponent to a delayed missed attack. This slight delay could cost players the game which leads to more frustration and anger issues.

Brito for example shares his issues, “…a few Wi-Fi issues here and there, maybe some unbalanced game features, I think the problems, like any major problems, have been pretty minimal,” Brito said.

Within the game, there is a shop where it allows players to spend real life money to get in-game items. If someone spends a lot of money on “Clash Royale” then it allows players to pay their way to the top of the leaderboard making battles unbalanced and unfair. Winners of games will then taunt the opponent which angers the opponent creating a cycle of toxicity. One person starts being rude and then more people repeat this pattern. This creates an unhealthy cycle of toxicity and leads people to spend money to do better.

To recap, “Clash Royale” is a mobile game that induces critical thinking, immediate strategizing, and collaboration. However, it also causes toxicity and unfair challenges for players. Whether you want to play the game should be entirely up to you. If you do decide to continue playing or start playing “Clash Royale” then it is a good idea to play in moderation. Staying calm in situations and being able to control your emotions will benefit you in gaming and school.