Indianapolis Video Game

Indianapolis Video Game

Magic: The Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers 8.5

I love, hate, and loathe collectible card games (ccgs). I enjoy the social aspect of it, sitting around a table with your friends, and seeing who's deck is the biggest and baddest. Win or loose, it's can be a ton of fun. As fun as they are, they are very demanding. You have to buy a starter deck (or few), some booster packs, a box (or few) to keep you cards together, and to be competitive it's a good idea to grab a few boosters or buy single cards whenever a new expansion set comes out. It's a very time consuming and expensive process for something you might be able to do only once every few months. Well, now Wizards of the Coast has made it possible to play on your Xbox. True some of the nostalgia and ambiance is lost a little holding a controller in your hands instead of cards, but surprisingly the feel of the game itself is not lost in the transition at all. In fact, it is a nice blast from the past that takes little to no time at all to get back in the swing of, and it is just as potentially addicting as the card game itself.

You have 8 different decks to choose from, when you unlock them all of course. You can customize your decks with unlocked content, and both single player campaigns and "Two Headed Giant" co op campaigns. You start off with 2 decks, red and green, and work toward unlocking more as you play through the campaign. You also unlock more cards each time you play your deck provided you win. Being out of the Magic: The Gathering loop for the last decade or so, I can't say exactly if there are any new cards or not, but there are plenty of classic favorites that former players should remember. Some of these cards are Terror, Craw Wurm, Shiven Dragon, and Serra Angel. The game allows for the novice who has yet to play the game before and offers a detailed explaination to the game as well as a hints and tips while you are playing. For those who are proficient, these hints can be turned off at will. If you are unfamiliar with the different levels of play, what you can do at what time, the game will prevent you from making a wrong move. When players cast their cards on the gameboard, you have a chance to look at each card as it is cast and you can take a closer look during your own turn. You each take turn casting your spells, creatures, and enchantments until you depleat your opponent's 20 hit points and win the game. The only real problems I have with the game is that I have yet to find a way to build a multi colored deck. When I used to play, I combined two colors that worked well together. It doesn't look like you can do that here. Another problem I have is that there is no undo button. When I played a friendly game, I would allow a muligan (so to speak) for my friends. Sometimes a silly mistake can be your downfall in this game, so you need to be careful. All in all, the game is a lot of fun, pretty cheep, and possesses a large amount of replay value.

Magic: The Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers released this week on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MS points. If you download the full game, you will receive a code to enter on the Wizards of the Coast website. When you enter the code on the site, you will be sent a limited edition foil card of Garruk Wildspeaker, one of your opponents in the game.

To get more information on Magic: The Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers, the ccg, or any of the other numerous Wizards of the Coast products, feel free to check out the website. Oh, and don't forget to redeem your code for your card as well.