Marvel Trading Card Game
Imagine casting world-shattering magic spells or sending cute monsters out to battle, just by laying cards out on a table. Trading card games (TCG) were quite the fad, especially in 1999 with the Pokemon TCG. With the Marvel Trading Card Game, developers Konami have now brought the Marvel comics to virtual cards, just like for the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. (Yu-Gi-Oh!, for the uninitiated, is a popular Japanese anime and manga series.) Based on the TCG publishers Upper Deck\'s Vs System, you control heroes and villians as they pound and plummet other characters in your opponent\'s control. You spend resources to bring out characters and play plot twist cards to turn the tables. All the Marvel comic big guys from Wolverine and Captain America to the lesser known heroes like the Squadron Supreme are here.
In this game, you and your opponent take alternate turns. At each turn, you draw two cards, play new characters, equipment and locations, and lay the smackdown on (or attack) the opponent. A mix of different elements and the need to build your own decks of cards provide for some compelling strategy. For instance, do you attack Spider-Man and boost your offense with a plot twist, or wait it out? An engaging, but excessively long story mode provides for the bulk of the single-player gameplay. With a total of 14 chapters and more than 10 battles each lasting under an hour, this game is great for burning away long periods of idle time. Every battle in story mde also earns you points for use in the card store, where you can buy various booster packs to add to your collection.
If you crave for some multiplayer action, you can use your single-player decks via the ad hoc mode, with other friends who own a copy of Marvel TCG. There is also an online play option, though you will need to spend additional money buying cards for your online set. You may find Marvel Trading Card Game quite a different experience if you have not been acquainted with TCGs before. Experienced TCG players, however, will find this game a polished introduction into the Marvel TCG universe, with the largest set of Marvel characters any video game has ever seen.
