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> Results: Marvel Trading Card Game
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The ESRB says:
Mild Fantasy Violence GamerDad spent a lot of time battling supervillains, but everything boiled down to numbers on cards, or small animated cut-scenes straight out of a comic book Alcohol and Tobacco Reference If a character is shown chomping on a cigar in the comics, they're shown chomping on one in this game Blood Nothing graphic, you probably won't even notice the (comic book style) blood in the cut-scenes Mild Language Again, it's all tame comic book stuff, a few "damns" and "hells" Suggestive Themes Comic stereotypes abound ﾖ every female has a heaving bosom and tight-fitting clothing I really quite enjoy collectible card games, especially videogame versions where I don't have to spend a fortune on buying the actual cards. And I've always been fond of superheroes, with the Marvel universe being my favorite setting by far. So you'd think this game would be perfect for me. Unfortunately, the developers have worked very hard to make this as unfun as possible, starting with the dull-as-dishwater title. You can't fault the gameplay itself. Marvel Trading Card Game uses a standard set of rules called the Vs System. It's well-suited for superhero battles, with specific mechanics that reflect the back-and-forth nature of such combat, but it follows the same basic flow as most card games ﾖ two players take turns to place cards, character statistics are compared in battle, and the game repeats until one player has lost either all of his endurance points, or runs out of cards. The rules do get quite complicated, but the game provides a good set of tutorials and does an excellent job of introducing complexity gradually as you progress. You can't really complain about lack of options. The single-player campaign is lengthy, and can be played from either the heroes' or villains' viewpoint, with a story that unravels through comic book cutscenes between battles. A series of puzzle challenges are available, where you have to defeat the opponent in a predefined set of circumstances. If you tire of that, you can choose to go up against any of the foes you have come across in the story mode, or play against friends locally in wi-fi battles, or even against PC-based LAN opponents. Even better, an extensive online multiplayer mode is available, allowing you to pit your wits against other players from around the world in tournaments and straight duels ﾖ as long as you're willing to buy more cards. The problem is that playing the card battles themselves is a tedious affair, mainly because of technical issues that could have been avoided. For a start, load time is horrendous, and you'll be looking at almost a minute of "now loading" screen before every match, plus more time to move around the card store and cutscenes. This might be acceptable if the payoff was a lot of fancy graphical effects or high-resolution card art, but the PSP's large screen is never made use of, with tiny pictures for card art, even tinier representations of the cards on the field, and the bare minimum of graphical flair. Which is why it's even more annoying to discover that the game is plagued with slowdown, and just maneuvering the cursor around the game board is sluggish. When you're up against more difficult opponents with long chains of cards, it can be seconds before a battle is resolved, even when you disable all the unessential effects and displays. There is something here for the real fan of collectible card games, to be sure, and hardcore Marvel maniacs will enjoy seeing everyone from Spider-Man to Super Skrull in card form. Everyone else should probably stay clear.  Other versions: At the time of writing, the PC and DS versions are not available for comparison. Based on preview screenshots, the PC version looks to be superior, with much larger card art and (hopefully) without the slowdown and load problems of the PSP version. Early word on the DS version is not promising, possibly being the worst of the ports, and left out in the multiplayer cold (PSP and PC versions can play together). 
There's very little here to truly earn the Teen rating from the ESRB, due in large part to the fact that the card artwork that is supposedly depicting the objectionable content is so small and hard to make out. In general, if you're okay with your children reading modern comic books aimed at pre-teens, you'll be okay with this game. The most obvious issue is that being based on comic books, all the characters are stereotypes; barrel chested men and voluptuous women, rippling biceps and plunging necklines. The game does give the player the opportunity to play as the villain, but as this is a card game it's not a particularly visceral experience. The youngest players will need to have a good set of analytical skills, and reading skills are a must.
The usual warnings about online play stand ﾖ full text communication is possible in this game, be aware of that. My biggest issue with letting children play online with this game though is that while playing online is free, to be competitive you must purchase (with real money) booster packs of virtual cards, thereby eliminating the biggest advantage of videogame versions of collectible card games. Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "marvel ccg trading card tcg" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Marvel Trading Card Game |
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