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Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers review

Now with more plurals.

I don’t know a thing about Magic: The Gathering. Or at least, I didn’t until I spent some quality time with Duels of the Planeswalkers, the Xbox Live Arcade adaptation of the world’s most popular card game. With more than 15 years of history, cards, and rules, can DotP satisfy a curious newcomer like me without alienating its hardcore audience? For the most part…yes.

 

If you’re a newcomer who is less familiar with Magic than even I was, the first thing to you should know about Duels of the Planeswalkers is that there’s no “gameplay” to speak of. There’s no aiming, no jumping, and no powerups. This is a card game, after all, not a franchise cash-in. The gameplay is dictated by your hand and by your luck. In that regard, there isn’t much for me to cover here: you either know the rules or you don’t, and if you don’t there are ample opportunities to learn. Beginners can play through a tutorial game, and if they are still confused after finishing, there is a full library of explanations in a helpful “How To Play” section. Nearly everything can be found there, from a Magic glossary to details on card types, the parts of a turn, and the Golden Rule of Magic.

 

If you’re still having trouble, DotP introduces a very clever “Mentor” system, where you can search your friends or all of Xbox Live for a teacher willing to show you the ropes in a personal, 1-on-1 duel. If you’re a seasoned Magic veteran, this is a great opportunity to make friends and help grow a beginner into a strong competitor. If you’re worried about stumbling into a bad teacher, don’t. After the session is over, you can rate your Mentor on a scale of 1 to 5. The next time someone sees his name in the list of Mentors, his average rating and times rated will be displayed. This is a great system that was an excellent addition to the game.

 

 

Even though this is a card game, there are still a few glitches to worry about. Occasionally the game will lock up unexpectedly, which can be insanely frustrating depending on when it happens (for example, right before an excruciatingly difficulty win). Highlighting cards to examine can also be a chore – the selection seems to do a very awkward and unintuitive job of moving in the direction you move the right stick. Still, the developers already released an update almost immediately after the game hit the Arcade, so there’s a very strong chance that they intend to stay on the ball and iron out all of the game’s wrinkles.

 

The game primarily consists of two parts: a campaign and Xbox Live play. The campaign is a story-less lineup of duels against other Planeswalkers, with certain fights unlocking additional decks, and wins otherwise rewarding 1 of 17 additional unlockable cards for the deck you used. Each deck has a set, unchangeable number of cards in it, and the 17 additional cards are simply added to the deck as you unlock them. This is where most of the Magic veterans I played with were frustrated. The lack of customization, while largely meaningless to someone new, is almost agonizing for players who have been building and customizing their own decks for years. While this was easily the most frustrating feature (or limitation) for real-life Magic players, one such player said that he understood the developers wanted players to focus more on playing Magic rather than building Magic. It’s an excellent summary and a decision that I can both understand and, to an extent, agree with.

 

 

In addition to the campaign, there is Xbox Live play that allows 1-on-1, 3-player- and 4-player-free-for-alls, and 2-on-2 matches. As with all Xbox Live games, you have a choice of player matches or ranked matches, with TrueSkill keeping track of your wins and losses to try to maintain balanced competition. In addition to the campaign and the online play, there are 8 challenges to complete where you must win the game in a single turn. These challenges are interesting puzzles that are actually quite helpful in teaching you to maximize your cards’ (for newer players, at least). If you don’t feel like replaying a duel from the campaign, you can create a custom game with adjustable rules and circumstances for casual play.

 

While there is technically a “co-op” campaign, it is same-screen only. This is an absolute shame. Because I’m not a real-life Magic player, it isn’t surprising that I don’t have any friends who play the game, either. However, many of my Xbox Live friends do play the game, and have been for years. Admittedly, this is a personal gripe, but just being able to play a 2-on-2 co-op custom game against the AI would have been nice and extended the lifespan of the game a great deal for me (and I’m sure many others).

 

 

Just like you wouldn’t show of your computer’s graphics card with a game of solitaire, you wouldn’t use Duels of the Planeswalkers as an example of what the Xbox 360 can do. The game is far from ugly, however. The backgrounds are very crisp and nicely polished, and the cards themselves are beautiful. As someone new to the game, I was very impressed with the artwork on each card. Even something as simple as a “land” card held a beautiful picture of a natural environment such as a forest, beach, or mountain. While there are special effects for combat damage between creatures, they are, for the most part, very simple and inconsequential (they can be turned off to expedite gameplay). Some of the special effects, though, look very cool, so more patient or curious players may wish to leave them on for the occasional visual treat.

 

There is almost no sound to be heard in Magic. There is a handful of sound effects to match cards or special effects, and very, very basic (and somewhat repetitive) music. The music is soft and easy to listen to, though, so it doesn’t intrude on the game or make an irritant out of itself. This isn’t an area that deserves much criticism, though, because a sweeping score of epic proportions would feel pretentious when you’re really just playing cards on a table. As it is, the music is serviceable and gets the job done without incident.

 

 

 

While Supplies Last: Wizards of the Coast is offering a free promotional card to those who download their copy of Duels of the Planeswalkers (and enter their code and address online) before they run out. I like shiny things, so in 6 to 8 weeks I'm expecting to see this in the mail: