Review: Magic Duals of the Planeswalkers 2013
Written by: Assist King and Condemnedone
After buying the expansion pack for 2012, I was skeptical about spending more money on another Magic game. I am glad I took the chance on this game and bought it. Magic 2013 welcomes players from all skill levels. From beginners to pro Magic players, Magic 2013 introduces those not familiar with the game, but also offers a challenge for a more seasoned veteran. For those new to the game, there is a tutorial mode that has a series of hints and tips that explain pretty much everything in the game.
For those that don’t know, Magic 2013 is a card game that puts you in the land of magic as a planeswalker. A planeswalker is a human with the ability to travel to different planes of existence (the ability deck in planechase). The whole storyline of the game revolves around you being a planeswalker and the story is actually pretty good.
The Introduction cut scene (featuring Nicol Bolas, my favorite magic character) establishes the setting of the game and explains why you have to versus everyone in the game. It features all the main characters that you will be facing. The new cut scenes introduce each of the main opponents (planeswalker) when you versus them and that was pretty cool. Nicol Bolas introduces each and everyone one of your opponents when you initiate the first duel against that opponent in campaign mode.
Planechase is a free-for-all (max four players) that has players roll a die to switch the deck in the middle. The deck in the middle is an ability deck, each card does something different, and to change the card you must roll a die. The die has a chance of getting three different things. The first possible roll is planes walk, which just switches to the next card in the deck, unless the card says differently. The second possible roll is a blank, which does nothing unless specified. The final possible roll is an ability, which performs the ability specified on the card. Sometimes the game mode gets buggy where all the computers will team up against you, but when they don’t it’s very entertaining to see if you can roll what you wanted. Playing with four people online and hearing everyone scream when the ability card isn’t what they wanted is quite humorous. Planechase is by far my favorite gameplay mode just because the tide of the game can change with the roll of a die.
The new Deck manager finally lets you take whichever card you want out of the decks (except for mana). Being as there are multiple decks, it gets quite annoying to edit each and every deck. Since there are so many decks to edit, the noobs tend to stay away from editing. Now you can tell the pros from the noobs online, this is a great way to versus newer players online if you are new yourself.
The gameplay has been revamped. It is smoother than the previous installments of magic and it transitions from player to player so much better than before. It is still buggy though, but hopefully that will be fixed in the next patch.
The player status screen has been revamped as well. It shows which color preference the player plays most as. It also shows the most damage done in a turn among other things. These are also useful to know when debating whether to versus someone or not. It also helps you choose which deck to use when playing online.
Summary: Magic 2013 is a lot better than its predecessors. It has a smooth graphic interface that players will find easier to use. The game welcomes anyone who wishes to try it. The gameplay is really easy for anyone to pick up. Being that it is only 800 Microsoft points it is a game well worth the money. I would recommend it to anyone who likes card games.
