Review: Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers

[Susan Arendt]

Review: Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers

Shuffle up and deal - it's time for a little Magic: The Gathering.

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[Nathan Meunier]

Love me some Magic The Gathering! Wooh! Haven't played in many years, and this game re-ignited an old favorite studyhall pasttime.

 

[lillebille]

seems like a fun game to play

 

[New Troll]

I've always liked CCGs, especialy Magic and Spellfire, and was a little addicted the the Magic computer game that came out in the '90s as a time killer. Will definitely look into getting this for the same. Just don't expect to be challenging me on-line.

 

[Spucktier]

Too bad it's a XBLA title only. Damn you, Sony - attract more publishers for PSN

 

[ErGo]

I love MTG, I haven't played in 1 year, but I still have most of my cards, I'm trying to start playing again, too bad I don't have a xbox to try this out.

 

[tehroc]

Only problem with the challenges is that they can just be solved via trial and error.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Only problem with the challenges is that they can just be solved via trial and error.

True, though that's not entirely a bad thing. If you're just learning, trial and error helps you understand what works, what doesn't, and why. It's a controlled situation, so you can better grasp exactly what effect your actions are having.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

I fondly remember my Magic the Gathering days. Ugh I have jsut about.....5....no 6 I think. Or did I deconstruct the White/Black one? I can't recall.....anyways I played profusely until about the time I turned 13 and decided Magic was getting boring. I still have all my cards. *Strokes his Valor card*

 

[tehroc]

Only problem with the challenges is that they can just be solved via trial and error.

True, though that's not entirely a bad thing. If you're just learning, trial and error helps you understand what works, what doesn't, and why. It's a controlled situation, so you can better grasp exactly what effect your actions are having.

That makes the challenges at best an interactive tutorial of advanced play. With only 8 examples it makes it quite the poor tutorial. More "challenges" need to be offered free of charge in order to educate future players.

There one other grievance I have with Duel of the Planeswalkers. It's true purpose is to introduce new gamers to Magic but the most recent to be released set, Magic 2010, completely revamps the rules of the game. DotP basically teaches newer players an older set of rules that will just confuse them when they play in the most current Magic events which in turn may turn them off on the whole Magic experience. Hell the new rules confuse me and I'm a 10 year+ veteran.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Only problem with the challenges is that they can just be solved via trial and error.

True, though that's not entirely a bad thing. If you're just learning, trial and error helps you understand what works, what doesn't, and why. It's a controlled situation, so you can better grasp exactly what effect your actions are having.

That makes the challenges at best an interactive tutorial of advanced play. With only 8 examples it makes it quite the poor tutorial. More "challenges" need to be offered free of charge in order to educate future players.

There one other grievance I have with Duel of the Planeswalkers. It's true purpose is to introduce new gamers to Magic but the most recent to be released set, Magic 2010, completely revamps the rules of the game. DotP basically teaches newer players an older set of rules that will just confuse them when they play in the most current Magic events which in turn may turn them off on the whole Magic experience. Hell the new rules confuse me and I'm a 10 year+ veteran.

Oh, I would agree that the Challenges are -- for new players, anyway -- an advanced tutorial. The main campaign teaches you the basics of playing, like tapping land, using spells, what kind of cards there are, and suchlike. The challenges take that a bit further by introducing a bit of strategy. It's truly a shame that there aren't more of them. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what's possible -- I would definitely benefit from more instruction.

 

[randommaster]

There one other grievance I have with Duel of the Planeswalkers. It's true purpose is to introduce new gamers to Magic but the most recent to be released set, Magic 2010, completely revamps the rules of the game. DotP basically teaches newer players an older set of rules that will just confuse them when they play in the most current Magic events which in turn may turn them off on the whole Magic experience. Hell the new rules confuse me and I'm a 10 year+ veteran.

The new rules aren't that confusing, especially if you can figure out how Banding works.

As for the puzzles, they can't get that creative with what they included in the game somply because the cards are fairly simple themselves. If you want hard puzzles, you can search for Magic: The Puzzling on Google. Also, I believe that older issues of Duelist/Topdeck magazines had compretty hard ones.

 

[Ranooth]

So is Magic now cool because Susan and the other mods play/played DotP?

 

[wrshamilton]

Not being able to take cards out of your deck as you add new ones to it ruined this for me.

I understand not having full deck construction, but just slowly making your deck bigger is the strangest introduction to Magic.

 

[wolf_isthebest]

Another console only game It would be nice if they made it for PC or at least psp.

 

[Pseudonym2]

What I found was really annoying is after you beat the campaign all the enemies get better cards and they get really, really lucky. You'll loose (or be put in a position where it's impossible to win) at least 5 turns. I can accurately predict what card my opponent will draw and play based of what card would be the most damaging to me. I am very rarely wrong. I once lost a 3 in 60 chance 2 times in a row.

You use the dragon's ability by waiting until the main turn. It should be glowing. Select it and press a. You have to do this every point of damage without moving to the attack phase and making it commit suicide.

 

[messy]

The only thing stopping me is the lack of customisation, maybe they'll release a full game with live (with an option to input cards you own; i only have one deck but I'd be cool to use them against other people around the world)

So is Magic now cool because Susan and the other mods play/played DotP?

of course, just like everything else they play

 

[Nemorov]

Ah Magic... For some reason, I played for years, and my friends even gave me my first freaking deck, but every time I pulled out the cards to play with them they were like 'WHOA, you play Magic? Seriously?' And not in the 'funny haha' way. I then proceeded to beat the snot out of their perfectly honed little decks (and egos) with my Suppression/Burn deck. These being the only jerks lame enough to play Magic with me(=D), I got pretty sick of their idiocy and just trailed off with it. I still have my decks... around here... somewhere...

On topic... The set up of this game may be good for beginners, but no customization? No thanks, really. =/

 

[Laura.]

Not being able to take cards out of your deck as you add new ones to it ruined this for me.

I understand not having full deck construction, but just slowly making your deck bigger is the strangest introduction to Magic.

Yes, I agree. I remember how much fun that was in the old Magic: The Gathering game (yes, the one by Microprose) to build your own deck, and buy new cards, sell old ones, etc.

 

[Taerdin]

Too bad it's a XBLA title only. Damn you, Sony - attract more publishers for PSN

Aaaaand my excitement has been turned to sadness just like that...

I loved Shandalar, and was hoping this would be a nice long overdue replacement for my 'wanting to play magic but not wanting to spend boatloads of cash on it' desires