Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 Review
When I first went to play this game I hadn’t a clue about the series. I do remember when I was in school there was an afterschool club where people went to paint their Warhammer characters and have battles, but, in the corner there was a small group of people who would be playing a card game. At first I had only heard about Yu-Gi Oh! and I had watched it a few times on the television and the idea of the card game was quite exciting. A friend of mine described Magic the Gathering as sophisticated, challenging and much more difficult card game of the recent generations of trading card games.
The game starts with a short cinematic opening, which sets the opening story to the game, but what I found annoying was the lack of other in-game cinematic as I found myself duelling and duelling more and more wanting to know what happens when you beat a character. For those new to the game there is a tutorial to the game and as you go on there are more mini-tutorials that outline different card types e.g. ones that have the trample attribute which deals damage to all cards on the opponents field or the deathtouch ability which when this creature attacks it kills the opponents creature outright sending it to the graveyard.
The artwork will have you amazed as you will stop the countdown clock which you can do when you need to stop and think of a strategy when the time calls for it. I have spent the good guts of most battles just stopping the clock to have a look at my cards artwork but of course most time is spent looking at the cards abilities which are very important in the game. The same artwork is brought into the loading screens where it will show you a senario and a short breakdown about the character it depicts.
The gameplay in my eyes is fantastic with “Stop Timer” and “Continue” buttons strategically placed for when you need to stop the timer for time to think up a strategy or to use an “Instant” card which can change things up on the playing field. The game is played in turns and each turn consists of a Main phase where you can play “Land” cards and “Creature” cards there are also artifacts and other types you can use as well. When you start there are only two decks to choose from but as you play on you unlock new decks and each deck you can unlock 16 cards for that deck. In the Campaign there are puzzles which are like tutorials in themselves and then you have Rival battles where you battle characters fromt the game and you also have two comrades dueling with you.
If you manage to complete the Campaign mode there is a Custom-Play and a Multiplayer mode. You can play Free for all which is 4 players head to head against each other of you can handicap match where it could be 2 or 3 against 1 and you can play Co operative head to head 2 player. The multiplayer experience is fantastic as long as you have a good multiplayer commuinity who understands the game and understands the importance as a team.
To conclude: It’s a Beautiful game, it’s easy and simple to use as it was my first time ever playing Magic the Gathering. The unlockable decks are great and you can will find a deck that suits you the best whilst playing the game the One on One is A.I. is fantastic. The multiplayer and custom play is also fantastic. The only problem is some vetern players might not appreciate the game as they are used to more fast paced games. But if you are new to Magic the Gathering (like me) you will trully enjoy this game.
SCORE 9/10
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