Magic: The Gathering - Battlemage

The Good
Well before I get to my favorite "bad stuff", I must commend the fact that this game really does have some pretty good elements in it.

The storyline was entertaining, somewhat reminds you of an interactive fiction with graphics game but with a lot of options, there are a lot of mini plot stories that somewhat reminds you of a big fairy tale book with lots of stories in it.

The scenery graphics in this game are the B E S T I've ever seen...even up till now. Every time you enter a new domain or province, they give you an animated graphic view of the area...absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Graphic designers should see the masterpieces this game has to offer.

But...that's all folks.

The Bad
When it came to what really mattered, this game ended up being disastrous. Well, what was the important element in this game? Combat...in this case playing Magic: The Gathering cards "Real-Time" with all the animated spells and monsters walking around on the battlefield.

Nice concept...sure, actually trying to create a stable environment where you can see the monsters fight and stuff. There's only one problem.

Magic: The Gathering IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE A TURNED-BASED STRATEGY GAME!. So now when you put real-time in the play, it eliminates the strategy thus transforming it into battlefield chaos. If that weren't bad enough, the graphics of the combat sequence was down right 'orrible. A top-down perspective of lousy looking monsters that kinda remind you of low-budget arcade games back in the '80s.

Juggling spells and monsters whilst combat is a complete nightmare. The fact that you HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING MANUALLY adds insult to the injury. The battlefield map is quite large, thus if you want to "enchant" you creature, you'll have to scroll around until you find the little bugger and hope he stands still for moment so you can cast that stupid spell and get back to that bumbling orc that's been kicking your behind in the mean time.

Oh, I know, why not put a "pause" button you can have time to cast spells and manage your roaming monsters. Guess what...no pause. Why? (Imitating sound of the idiot that thought up the real-time idea) "Because if you put the pause button, it'll take away the fun out of the real-time gameplay". Not that's it's fun in the first place anyway.

After having more than 20 monsters in the battlefield while trying to manage spells without the use of a pause button, you'll have to realize that this game is impossible to play without sudden breaks of suicidal anger.

This unfortunately was the only mistake in the game. But it was mistake enough since it IS the core of the game.

I hope they will learn to be more careful in the future. Not. The idiots did it again: See Magic: The Gathering: Battlegrounds.

I really got to know the name of the genius that keeps recommending these real-time Magic: The Gathering games...sigh

The Bottom Line
Not worth the buy but still worth the see.