Magic 2014

Trading card games are something that I have not touched since I was in my early years of high school.  Back in those days I had a friend who I would play Magic: The Gathering with and a few other friends who I would play Yu-Gi-Oh with.  These games were fun and all but they drain money so fast that eventually we all ended up turning to video games.

That said, I haven't played a trading card video game since I first bought my PSP so Magic 2014 was my first experience with a Trading Card video game in years.  I'm really glad I did decide to give Magic: The Gathering another shot though, because Magic 2014 is quite easily one of my favourite games of the year so far.

The plot is pretty irrelevant to me but I'm sure it means something to someone who is into their Magic lore.  The game consists of a campaign mode where you play through battles against various dudes with various decks, some of which have some kind of annoying gimmick that will make your life hard.  Upon winning games and clearing scenarios you can unlock more decks and more cards to fine tune the decks you already have.

Aside from the campaign, there is a challenge mode which I have not tried yet and another thing called Sealed Play.  Sealed play is a mode where it gives you a few booster packs and you have to build a deck using whatever you ended up with.  It's an interesting mode but I don't really like it as there is no way I could ever build a deck as effective as the preset ones, but I'm sure people who know their Magic really well could have some fun with this mode.

The game also sports a really good multiplayer feature which supports up to 4 players for free for all or 2on2 modes.  Playing with a group of friends is actually really fun as it can end up being a massive series of backstabs and general hilarity when someone just flat out fucks over someone else.  That said, if you don't have any friends I've found the match making rooms to be a little thin on the ground so you might want to go seek someone out if you're looking to play multiplayer.

So even if you don't think you like Magic: The Gathering, give this game a go anyway since it's quite a lot of fun and doesn't require you to break the bank in order to build a deck.  The game is also really cheap at a mere £7 due to the fact that you can buy the locked decks if you don't want to spend the time playing to unlock them.  That said, I wouldn't bother paying for them because it doesn't take long at all to get them for free, and not having them will not make life any harder since as far as I can tell they all seem to be pretty well balanced.