Reviewed: June 17, 2007
Reviewed by: Arend Hart
Publisher
Konami
Developer
Vicious Cycle
Released: May 22, 2007
Genre: Platform
Players: 1-2
7
5
5
7
6.5
Supported Features
It is truly pretty amazing how in this age of high-action video games, the kids of today are somehow finding the incentive, and the free time, to pry themselves away from their game consoles and turn towards the lo-fi fun trading cards games.
Utilizing the elements of RPG turn-based battle, these card games run the gamut of themes; from the D&D inspired fantasy, to Yu-Gi-Oh inspired martial arts. Gamers square up in head-to-head duels stacking one deck of cards up to another. These duels are rife with strategy, as characters deal out cards in an attempt to whittle away at their human opponents’ health points (HP).
But what happens when the gamer can’t find a human opponent to battle? He turns to video games, of course. And knowing this, the developers are busy cashing in on the trading card phenomenon with licensed versions of Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, and now, the superhero world of the Marvel Trading Card Game.
There is not a whole lot that separates Marvel Trading Card Game from any of the other card battle titles, other than of course the thematic decks, characters, and loosely integrated storyline (if any). The basic gist is the same; two characters face off with decks in hand, and over the course of a half hour, deal out a series of attack and defense cards. The object of the game is to whittle away at the opponent before he (or she) does the same.
It might not be the most exciting kind of gameplay, but there is an amazing amount of strategy involved in card battle – and those who get into computing on-the-fly resource calculations have the best chance at enjoying these games. Not surprisingly, those same people tend also show interest in the realms of fantasy, martial arts, and superheroes – so Marvel Trading Card Game is a perfect fit into the genre.
While I won’t profess to being a comic book fan, I must say that I was amazed at the sheer number of Marvel superheroes that are available. In fact, I realized that there are more characters in the Marvel universe that I had never even heard of than ones I actually had; characters like Wolverine and Sabretooth are a given, but Prowler and Super-Skrull? Those were new ones to me. And that’s really one of the coolest aspects of Marvel Trading Card Game, is the fact that it dives back into the archives of Marvel and gives young gamers a bit of a history lesson.
The actual card play is derivative of any other card battle game where characters are ranked by their respective levels of power within the universe, and their cards are marked duly with attack powers. But using each character comes with a hit to the resource points, which is also determined by their relative power in the Marvel universe. So the gamer is constantly balancing resource power with attack power in the cat-and-mouse chase to eliminate the opposition.
Playing against the AI opponents often proves to be overly difficult, almost to the point of outright cheating on the game’s part – when the opponents always seem to have the right card to trump your previous moves. The real enjoyment to be had is in the multiplayer arena, where online head-to-head play seems to even the playing field a bit.
Visually, the game is not going to win any medals, but is on par with most other DS card battle games. The overall look is quite blocky, and there is no real degree of detail to the cards. Thankfully, the developers have the game set to play in a book-style manor (i.e. like Brain Age), to give the cards and storyboard action scenes a bit more vertical real estate.
The sound quality stumbles a bit as well, with repetitive background music and uninspiring sound effects it really does not do much to inject the oft-tedious card play with even the slightest degree of excitement.
If there is one thing Marvel Trading Card Game does really well with, it is in giving gamers and Marvel fans their full money’s worth. Considering each battle can stretch out to a half-hour or more, rabid card battlers can find hours upon hours of gameplay within the palm-sized cartridge. And that’s just the single player mode. Add in the online head-to-head, and the game has almost infinite replay value.
Card battling games have a very distinct target audience, and as so games like Marvel Trading Card Game will not appeal to everyone. But for those gamers who have been raised on Pokemon and Magic, Marvel Trading Card Game will fit right in to their collection. With hours and hours of gameplay to be had, the $30 investment will be money well spent.
For most other gamers, only the hardcore Marvel fans will find much nostalgic interest in the slow moving battles of Marvel Trading Card Game.
