I must be honest. I wasn’t one of
those kind of guys in school that would spend the entirety of their senior
high lunch breaks inside the library, whipping out their fine collection of
Magic cards and sneaking bites of stale turkey sandwiches behind the
librarians back. I was never immersed in the culture of Magic, but
playing MAGIC: The Gathering Battlegrounds gave me a taste of what I had
missed several years ago, a fairly solid game experience.
Though I am confident that the main
audience Secret Level developed Battlegrounds for is targeted at Magic
fans and collectors, gamers everywhere will certainly find something they like
with this title. The game fits into the rarely seen category of
strategy-fighter, with certain RTS elements to keep each game you play unique
and fast-paced. Fighting against another foe, given the multitude of playable
characters available), you must cast spells, enchantments, and summon creatures
to defeat your enemy duelist and anything he uses against you. Though you wont
be seeing any combo punch and kick sequences, the game gives you the ability for
basic hand-to-hand combat for protection and assault. The excitement doesn’t
exist as you summon individual creatures or take your time in each attack and
defense, because online mode alone would eat you alive and spit you to the Magma
Giant for a nice bone crushing. Only when your screen is filled with creatures
and spells, fighting an epic battle for just a taste of their opponent’s blood,
does Battlegrounds truly match up to its value.
From researching the card game, the
turn-based aspect it carries comes back for the video game. When a creature
sustains damage equal to its toughness, it is destroyed but rematerializes at
its casting point for a little more action (presuming that they have some life
left). The battleground is separated by a single line, indicating your area and
your opponents area. Crossing your line will damage your character’s health
every 2 seconds and your only capabilities are melee attacks and stealing mana
crystals and shards while in your foe’s side of the arena. There are other
interesting curve balls that are thrown to you, but it makes the game play a
little extra special. There are several modes you can choose from: Quest (A
six-chapter adventure that is your basic tutorial), Arcade Duel (computer
controlled), and Duel Online (fighting against human opponents from around the
world). Though you’ll feel the urge to head immediately into the Arcade and
Online modes, it is necessary to learn all the commands, creatures, and spells
so as not to be branded “newbie in training.” Completing the entire adventure
will also unlock all the duelists hidden in the game. You are only given 10
possible spells to use in Arcade and Online mode, so use your spells wisely and
keep up-to-date on revising your spell book. For what the game play had,
however, part of me looked for more. With such a wide variety of cards
available for Magic and no real melee potential, its all about the number
of spells, enchantments, and creatures available. I look forward to the
upcoming updates for newer content, because without it the replay value would be
low.
Graphically, I was disappointed. For a
game that offers one camera angle, in arenas smaller than tennis courts, the
capabilities could have been endless. The character models are quite
simplistic, the environment animation is limited, but it did carry some nice
magic effects. The same goes for sound, with little voice acting and soundtrack
appeal. It is obvious that the eggs in this basket went into gameplay.
Generally, Battlegrounds will
greatly appeal to fans of the Magic experience. Combining strategy with
fighting, regular gamers and hardcore Magic fans will appreciate the
unique style of the game but will probably get tired with the simplistic control
currently available. Patches and updates will help, but in the long run it
doesn’t significantly stand out in the crowd.
Gameplay: 8.5
Elements of the RTS and fighting genres will turn heads. But some will
complain about the over-simplicity.
Graphics: 6.8
With only one set camera angle, a small environment to work with, and turn-
based fighting, graphics usually aren’t jeopardized. However, the
simplicity isn’t very attractive.
Sound: 7.0
I always like to say that the sound compliments the graphics. But in
this case, that’s not so good.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Concept: 8.0
The famous card game in cd-format = cries of joy heard from Magic
users worldwide.
Multiplayer: 8.3
Multiplayer comes through, but be prepared for masters of Magic.
Overall: 7.4
It’s a solid, simplistic, game that will have its share of friends and foes
that play it.
