If you spend a lot of time playing the latest and greatest in technological innovation on the Xbox 360, you may be forgiven for not realizing that the very low tech world of tabletop gaming has been slowly setting up camp on the system's Xbox Live Arcade service. Electronic versions of obscure board games like Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan provide opportunities for complicated strategies and tense resource management; their real-world counterparts do the same, using nothing more than a game board and imagination.
On XBLA, they exemplify the new niche being carved out far from the Halos and Gears of Wars of the world. And now, Magic: The Gathering, the monumentally popular collectable card game released in 1993, is the latest tabletop game to see an online version. In short, it is a success.
Magic: the Gathering has seen no shortage of electronic translations, some better than others. Magic can be a complex and intimidating game to new players, but Duel of the Planeswalkers takes the admirable middle path between playability, accessibility, and depth.
It contains perhaps the best electronic execution of the game yet – in fact, it is so good that it clarifies some minor issues that have cropped up in the rules over the years. All of the game's core complexity is retained, but the gameplay is streamlined, automated, and relatively fast-moving.
A large part of (real-world) Magic: the Gathering is buying and building your own deck of cards from the constantly growing library of cards available. This both the game's greatest strength and weakness: on one hand, it means the game is always fluid and changing, with new strategic options appearing with every new release. On the other hand, this means that a constant infusion of cash is needed to stay current, and that talented but thrifty players may be rolled over by players with large wallets.
Darke
said:
 |
Its nice to see a causal way to introduce people to Magic. Magic Online (Which requires you to purchase cards) was way to hardcore for me to get into. Maybe I will check this out. |
swader
said:
 |
Nice change of pace; Having played the actual card game before, the frustrating aspect of it was whomever spent the most won the most. I've played the demo, and seems to have major bugs in it, as I've had the game crash multiple times during games, which I'm sure will be resolved soon. The cards in the game are very old, so I'm anticipating they will release expansion packs with new cards from different series every few months; At least I hope they do this, and not go there previous routes of selling cards or "virtual packs"..... |
Tex8503
said:
 |
I don't know if its common knowledge, but 'Duel of the Planeswalkers' was actually an old PC magic game. Not having played this myself, I'm uncertain as to if this is a port/remake of that game or a new original title - but this would explain the dated cards. I do believe swader is correct though. Knowing Wizards of the Coast, there will be a metric ton of expansions to change the playing field of the game... for a price. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
x
