allcdcovers
05-Aug-2007, 05:01
<a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/find/Games/all/all/1">Games</a> > <a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/find/Games/Xbox/all/1">Xbox</a> > <strong>Magic the Gathering: Battlegrounds (2003) PAL German Retail DVD</strong>
<font size="1">added on August 5, 2007, at 05:01 by frostyice</font><br /><br /><table><tr valign="top"><td>First off I'd like to point out that I am reviewing this on the basis that I haven't played it on XBox Live, just on single player. That said I do subscribe to the old fashioned view that a game like this should be able to stand up on it's own merits and that online play should be a bonus. I also should point out that although I have heard of the Magic the Gathering series I have never played the card game.The main part of the single player game is the quest. The quest game is split into chapters, each chapter containing various different duels. Basically a duel consists of summoning and, if necessary, enhancing various creatures in order to overwhelm and defeat your opponent. You can also cast spells direct at your opponent but these are confined to only a few spell realms. There are various spell realms, one of which is used in each chapter in the game, and you build up your spell arsenal as you go through the game. The game is played at a very frenetic pace much like a beat-em-up. There is a strategy element but in the main this basically consists of knowing what sort of creatures to summon for each particular duel and summoning them repeatedly whilst trying to avoid your opponents monsters.I did enjoy the game at first, the graphics are good and sound was fine, but as it progressed it just appeared to be more of the same and the action got a little too confusing. It was very difficult to tell whether my summoned creatures were doing well or badly as they just seemed to be disappearing and reappearing every couple of seconds. Also the difficulty level seemed to chop and change drastically. One level would be easy as pie, the next extremely difficult and then back to easy again. The Boss at the end of the first chapter being a good example, being a lot easier than a couple of the preceding levels. I have to admit at this point that I actually gave the game up when I reached an opponent in the second chapter who had a huge starting advantage over my character. After a couple of dozen attempts to beat him (the best of which reduced his health by one point) I suddenly decided that life was too short and switched the game off. Okay, I may have beaten him eventually but I don't feel that spending three hours swearing at the television and replaying the same duel until I get my one win in a hundred is time well spent. You wait until you get to my age youngster, and you'll understand what I mean.Using the term 'Quest' to describe the single player game is also a bit misleading. The story basically consists of a few words at the start/end of each chapter. The chapters themselves consist of a 10-15 seemingly unrelated duels before you get to the Boss of each level. Although you build up your spells as you go through each chapter you apparently conveniently forget all the useful spells you have learnt prior to the start of the chapter. There doesn't seem to be any explanation or story link as to why you are fighting each particular duel and why you can't just say "no thanks" when someone challenges you.This game left me feeling a little unfulfilled. Your character can only directly harm the other duelist in very limited ways and you come across more like a general sending your troops over the top to attack the enemy than some big hero. You can attack the enemy's creatures directly but unless they are very weak they will give you a bit of a hiding so the best option is to summon your own creatures to fight them as well. Also, I may have missed something in the pregame options but I had to play with a female character which meant I didn't really feel any affinity with the hero (but I guess female gamers have had this problem for years).To conclude, this game falls more into the beat 'em up (or rather get your creatures to beat 'em up) category than strategy. This may be the reason I didn't take to it because I only rarely play fighting games and then only with other people. To attach the Magic the Gathering licence seems to be a marketing ploy to attract a wide initial audience.</td><td><script type="text/javascript">google_ad_client = "pub-5821412950245701";google_alternate_color = "F5F5FF";google_ad_width = 336;google_ad_height = 280;google_ad_format = "336x280_as";google_ad_type = "text";google_ad_channel = "0725529317";google_color_border = "F5F5FF";google_color_bg = "F5F5FF";google_color_link = "22229C";google_color_text = "000000";google_color_url = "333333";</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="15"><tr align="center"><td valign="bottom"><a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/show/52853/magic_the_gathering_battlegrounds_2003_pal_german_ retail_dvd/cd"><img src="/image_system/covers_th/f/e/fe6f10cd71837d045442711c96a3d309.jpg" border="0"></a><br><strong><a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/show/52853/magic_the_gathering_battlegrounds_2003_pal_german_ retail_dvd/cd">cd</a></strong><br><font size="1">1000 x 1000 px</font></td><td valign="bottom"><a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/show/52853/magic_the_gathering_battlegrounds_2003_pal_german_ retail_dvd/front"><img src="/image_system/covers_th/1/3/13906276acc0b44dfb22ef80abfd6f68.jpg" border="0"></a><br><strong><a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/show/52853/magic_the_gathering_battlegrounds_2003_pal_german_ retail_dvd/front">front</a></strong><br><font size="1">1491 x 1000 px</font></td></tr></table>
<font size="1">added on August 5, 2007, at 05:01 by frostyice</font><br /><br /><table><tr valign="top"><td>First off I'd like to point out that I am reviewing this on the basis that I haven't played it on XBox Live, just on single player. That said I do subscribe to the old fashioned view that a game like this should be able to stand up on it's own merits and that online play should be a bonus. I also should point out that although I have heard of the Magic the Gathering series I have never played the card game.The main part of the single player game is the quest. The quest game is split into chapters, each chapter containing various different duels. Basically a duel consists of summoning and, if necessary, enhancing various creatures in order to overwhelm and defeat your opponent. You can also cast spells direct at your opponent but these are confined to only a few spell realms. There are various spell realms, one of which is used in each chapter in the game, and you build up your spell arsenal as you go through the game. The game is played at a very frenetic pace much like a beat-em-up. There is a strategy element but in the main this basically consists of knowing what sort of creatures to summon for each particular duel and summoning them repeatedly whilst trying to avoid your opponents monsters.I did enjoy the game at first, the graphics are good and sound was fine, but as it progressed it just appeared to be more of the same and the action got a little too confusing. It was very difficult to tell whether my summoned creatures were doing well or badly as they just seemed to be disappearing and reappearing every couple of seconds. Also the difficulty level seemed to chop and change drastically. One level would be easy as pie, the next extremely difficult and then back to easy again. The Boss at the end of the first chapter being a good example, being a lot easier than a couple of the preceding levels. I have to admit at this point that I actually gave the game up when I reached an opponent in the second chapter who had a huge starting advantage over my character. After a couple of dozen attempts to beat him (the best of which reduced his health by one point) I suddenly decided that life was too short and switched the game off. Okay, I may have beaten him eventually but I don't feel that spending three hours swearing at the television and replaying the same duel until I get my one win in a hundred is time well spent. You wait until you get to my age youngster, and you'll understand what I mean.Using the term 'Quest' to describe the single player game is also a bit misleading. The story basically consists of a few words at the start/end of each chapter. The chapters themselves consist of a 10-15 seemingly unrelated duels before you get to the Boss of each level. Although you build up your spells as you go through each chapter you apparently conveniently forget all the useful spells you have learnt prior to the start of the chapter. There doesn't seem to be any explanation or story link as to why you are fighting each particular duel and why you can't just say "no thanks" when someone challenges you.This game left me feeling a little unfulfilled. Your character can only directly harm the other duelist in very limited ways and you come across more like a general sending your troops over the top to attack the enemy than some big hero. You can attack the enemy's creatures directly but unless they are very weak they will give you a bit of a hiding so the best option is to summon your own creatures to fight them as well. Also, I may have missed something in the pregame options but I had to play with a female character which meant I didn't really feel any affinity with the hero (but I guess female gamers have had this problem for years).To conclude, this game falls more into the beat 'em up (or rather get your creatures to beat 'em up) category than strategy. This may be the reason I didn't take to it because I only rarely play fighting games and then only with other people. To attach the Magic the Gathering licence seems to be a marketing ploy to attract a wide initial audience.</td><td><script type="text/javascript">google_ad_client = "pub-5821412950245701";google_alternate_color = "F5F5FF";google_ad_width = 336;google_ad_height = 280;google_ad_format = "336x280_as";google_ad_type = "text";google_ad_channel = "0725529317";google_color_border = "F5F5FF";google_color_bg = "F5F5FF";google_color_link = "22229C";google_color_text = "000000";google_color_url = "333333";</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="15"><tr align="center"><td valign="bottom"><a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/show/52853/magic_the_gathering_battlegrounds_2003_pal_german_ retail_dvd/cd"><img src="/image_system/covers_th/f/e/fe6f10cd71837d045442711c96a3d309.jpg" border="0"></a><br><strong><a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/show/52853/magic_the_gathering_battlegrounds_2003_pal_german_ retail_dvd/cd">cd</a></strong><br><font size="1">1000 x 1000 px</font></td><td valign="bottom"><a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/show/52853/magic_the_gathering_battlegrounds_2003_pal_german_ retail_dvd/front"><img src="/image_system/covers_th/1/3/13906276acc0b44dfb22ef80abfd6f68.jpg" border="0"></a><br><strong><a href="http://www.allcdcovers.com/show/52853/magic_the_gathering_battlegrounds_2003_pal_german_ retail_dvd/front">front</a></strong><br><font size="1">1491 x 1000 px</font></td></tr></table>