Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds

"With issues abound, it is still a fun game to spend hours of your life on."

Magic the Gathering, a card game that’s been around for a long time. I have only played the card game about twice, but being utterly confused the whole time and subsequently losing badly both times. When I saw this game on the shelves I decided to give it a chance, even after mixed reviews. The fact that it came with a free two month trial offer of Xbox live was just icing on the cake, since I don’t, unexplainably, own Xbox live. My review of this game is also mixed. Shining and stumbling in some areas, Magic the Gathering: Battlegrounds is here.

Let me cover the graphics first, in one word, great. The game moves along smoothly. Even when you or your enemy are casting spells, and each have many characters on the screen, there is never a worry about the frame rate skipping along. The characters models are crisp, clear cut and quite interesting. The arenas are unique. All sixteen of them have a different setting, befitting the mage who resides there. The best graphical touch to this game has to be the spell effects. They are colorful, clear, and just plain cool. In fact, I would say they are the best I have seen in a game.

Next is sound. While not overly impressive, the sound manages to get the job done. The voice acting is forgettable, and at most times dull. Way too monotone for this game. The spell effect sounds are great. That includes summoning creatures and casting spells as well as their multiple effects. Overall, an average job was done on the sound.

Now we move on to gameplay, a mixed bag. First of all what I don’t like about it is the fact that there are only 70 spells. While the cover of the box seems to boast the amount of spells, while playing the game, you get the feeling that there just are not enough. With what little knowledge of the Magic card game I have, I know that are definitely A LOT more spells. That deep sense of strategy is missing from this game, shifting it from an all out game of chess to a game of checkers. Don’t get me wrong, I love checkers but chess is better simply because of the amount of moves possible, strategy, cause and effect thinking, and more. Apply that to this game, the action is fast paced and exciting but the strategy and depth is missing. Break down 70 spells between five magic’s and you have 14 spells per magic type, 14! Next issues I have are the quest mode and arcade mode. The quest mode is relatively, how should I put it, lame, until chapter six. In each chapter, you will learn a spell from a certain magic from each quest completed. Problem is when you finally receive all of the spells, you’re forced to start learning a new magic. This goes on for 5 chapters, and finally in the sixth chapter you can create a custom deck and use it for about six battles. So basically the quest mode is quite dull until the sixth chapter. Arcade mode is also flawed. With each ladder you compete in you are given a set number of and pre selected spells. It is not very enjoyable to only use only a certain number of and pre selected spells, for each magic, when I feel you should have been able to customize your deck for each magic. The one exception to this is the custom deck you can create and use through three sets of ladders, the best part of the arcade mode. Now, what I enjoy about this game is the fast paced, watered down strategy. This is especially true in multiplayer modes. It is an absolute thrill to be able to customize a deck of your own and use it against computer and human opponents, you can even mix two decks. This is something you are very limited to in the quest and arcade modes. The pace of the games are quick, you need to be able to read your opponents moves and react quickly, or take the offensive yourself, otherwise you might have already lost, some games only last minutes. The best experiences you have with this game will be with a buddy or versus some random person on Xbox live.

Overall, I can’t recommend this game to everyone. Despite its short comings I really enjoyed the game when I was given the chance to (being able customize a deck). If you are a fan of the Magic card game I wouldn’t even bother playing it, primarily players of the card game despise this game, simply because of the lack of spells, and some structural differences. If you haven’t played the card game much or at all, I would recommend renting this game first, you might be able to complete it in a weekend, maybe. It is still a relatively long game and a challenging one too, it took me around 15 hours to complete, but that is just an estimate. If this game sounds good enough for you, go for it, Xbox live alone will keep you playing for countless hours to come.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/06/04