It has been a while since I’ve been entertained by a card game. I can specifically point back to the NEOGEO Pocket’s SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium, which was the last time a card game took so much of my time up (and several watch batteries). Between then and now, I have never (nor shall I ever — for the safety of my family’s budget) pick up a Magic: The Gathering’s actual card game in the near future.
At least not as long as they keep making games like this.
If you aren’t familiar with this title, and I wasn’t prior to reviewing this, Magic: The Gathering — Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015 runs almost the exact same way as the actual Magic: The Gathering card game. You put together decks that reflect different battle situations against opponents who have their own special decks to work with (green, white, black, red and blue). Each deck has a certain flavor to it. White decks are for protection and armies. Blue decks are for trickery and manipulation. Black decks (my deck) is for death and power. Red decks are for fire and emotion. Green decks are for nature and life (hate this deck a bit — had my ass handed to me the most with this deck). Each deck has it’s own set of attributes. For example, the white decks are more spiritual, while the green decks might have really irritating beasts inside that are pretty darn powerful. So, in short, choose your deck wisely because there are actual differences and powers within them.
Now to get your deck, you have to work for it. When you start the game out, you are taken through a lengthy tutorial session. You cannot go to the campaign, nor can you go to the multiplayer part of the game until you finished this tutorial, which is a little irritating, but understandable. Having never played Magic: The Gathering in my long life of 38 years, understanding what’s happening and how the game works was essential to my reviewing survival. The tutorial takes you through different decks, how to work the cards and how to plan and strategize to get the best possible results out of each match. Again, it’s lengthy and irritating, but completely necessary, so players won’t get lost.
Once you get beyond the tutorial, you are given a choice of what deck you want to start out with, and you have the option to put together the decks manually or automatically put them together, and you are thrown straight into the game. The campaign is broken up into multiple sections, each section contains around 4-6 opponents to go against and each opponent has their own style of card gaming. It’s all intellectually stimulating, if you love turn-based games that deal with a heavy amount of mathematics.
What’s particularly cool about this game is the differing gaming styles from the computer and how intelligent (and vicious) they are when they come after you with a particular deck. Playing the computer was absolutely no walk in the park. You would expect the game to add some flexibility and gradual arc to the difficulty, but it’s tough from the beginning. I can see how some reviewers can get frustrated with the process during the review period, especially if they aren’t Magic fans to begin with, but sticking with it reaps rewards.
First, to do better in the game, it’s essential to understand and prepare you decks. Choosing the best strategies is much better than choosing the best cards, which sounds whacky, but it isn’t. Sometimes having a card that adds life/points to a medium-level card at the right time is more valuable than having a card that’s powerful to begin with. You’re trying to out think your opponent, so pulling the right cards at the right time and keeping your opponent guessing is better than having a slew of cards with huge points because you have no idea what the computer has in mind. So, think about how you’re going to be using your cards in bunches, rather than just looking at a single card for a single move.
Anyway, the gameplay in Magic: The Gathering — Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015 is slow at the beginning, but if you like the actual card game, or just basic mathematics and turn-based gameplay, then you’ll connect with this game. If you’re looking for action and going into a game without actually sitting down to learn it, then this gameplay will not engage you — it will irritate and frustrate you.
So, in short, if you’re not willing to put in the effort to learn and appreciate the game, don’t bother.
On the presentation side of things, the cards look gorgeous on the Xbox One. There really isn’t much to visually yap about when playing. You’re given a solid gray/white board to play on that animates during combat, but doesn’t do anything special. Again, the cards are really pretty, but honestly the overall looks aren’t anything special. Could they do something to make it more than just literal cards going against each other? Sure, but they don’t really have to do that. The in-between menus are visually stimulating, though, but not much else (outside of the cards).
With all this said, what does this sucker cost on the current generation platform? $9.99 is the price and that’s absolutely the price point this game should be at on the Xbox One. There are microtransactions inside the game that allow you to buy packs of cards, but my trek through the game didn’t have me going towards the shop at all. It’s a game of strategy, skill and a little luck mixed in there. There wasn’t a point during my gameplay where I thought I needed better cards that I didn’t have access to through winning matches (you win packs of cards for completed levels). Why does that matter? It means you never hit a wall because of lack of cards provided by the initial game. Anyway, the $9.99 gives you all of the above things, plus a multiplayer component and the option for a $4.99 expansion game pack (not card pack) that was released for the Xbox One at launch called Garruk’s Revenge. All of this is pretty impressive and worth your money, if you like these sort of games.