My desire to find a good trading
card game (TCG) for a modern gaming system continues to burn. My past experience
with Magic: The Gathering keeps me hunting for a TCG video game that will
provide the same excitement I had years ago. While I’ve tried a few games
recently, such as the Marvel Trading Card Games for DS & PSP and SNK Card
Fighters for DS, I’m still searching for that TCG with “It.” Does Neverland Card
Battles have “It” and just what is “It” that makes a good TCG video game?
Well that is really hard to explain
unless you’ve played a TCG before. The excitement of winning a close battle, the
allure of finding rare cards and the strategy involved in deck editing are all
parts of “It.” While you’ll find plenty of TCG games that offer all of these
parts the interface is a critical piece that often seems to fall apart on a TCG
video game. It’s hard to replicate playing a game designed for a large table on
a television screen and even harder on a portable system. While you get all of
the features of the deck editing, close battles and rare card hunting, you
usually get a cumbersome interface that makes you want to stop playing instead.
Neverland Card Battles is a
different kind of TCG, especially when compared to Magic: The Gathering. The
gameplay is a unique combination of a turn-based Strategy (TBS) game and TCG.
You have a deck of cards that you can edit and you will collect new cards after
each battle. More than 200 cards can be collected to use in your decks. You can
have up to three different decks in your inventory that you can choose from
before you start a battle. The TBS portion of the game is based up the gameplay
map. The map is composed of blocks that you seize control of when you walk over
them. Each block that you control lets you summon the cards in your deck.
For example, if you control four
blocks on the map you can then play a card that has a casting cost of 4. Then on
your next turn you can move your character to seize more blocks. The ultimate
goal is to win your battle but you will need to keep moving around the map
gaining control of more blocks so you can play more cards. But the game really
surprised me by letting not only your character move around the map but all of
the characters you summon move around the map seizing blocks for you. Each
character has a certain limit in how far they can move on the map so you’ll need
to prioritize where you’re moving your characters.
Another part of the TBS elements
will be moving your summoned characters from your deck next to an enemy to
attack. Yes, you’ve read that correctly you’re moving your “cards” around the
map in order to attack. You will need to be within the attack range of your
character in order to go into a battle mode with an enemy. If you lose the
battle, not only will your card go back into your deck but you stand the chance
of losing precious blocks on the map. You will lose a block once an enemy walks
over it, if you have no creatures you control on those blocks. So it’s a game
not only about the cards but about real estate as well. The more real estate you
control the more cards you can play. So the premise might be a card game but the
actual gameplay is very similar to a TBS game with elements such as moving
around a map and attacking within a certain range.
Now you’ve probably noticed that
I’ve mentioned that you’re moving your character around the gameplay map. The
deck holders in the game are called Dominators and each Dominator has a certain
number of hit points and attack points just like the character cards in your
deck. So once again the TBS elements are present since you can think of the
Dominators as your field general or captain that needs to remain alive during
combat. You can have the Dominator engage in combat if you want but you will run
the risk of taking damage that can be very costly later. Once your Dominator’s
hit points are reduced to zero the battle is over.
The rest of the game has your
typical Japanese anime overtones we’ve seen in plenty of PSP games. You get some
fantastic looking 2D artwork of the Dominators and the cards. But the actual
gameplay map and battles look like an early 16-Bit title, with very bland
looking sprites and very limited battle animations. This definitely isn’t a game
to show off the PSP graphics to your friends. The story centers on a god called
Hellgaia who wants to destroy the Neverland world simply because of the conflict
between man. It’s up to your character, called Galahad, to become a card master
in hopes of banishing Hellgaia forever.
But the biggest problem with the
game is the constant caching from the UMD disc. When you’re on the battle map
you will hear the disc spinning each time your cursor goes over a character. So
you might want to simply move around the map to look at one specific character,
but each time you go over any character the disc will spin briefly and the game
will freeze for a second. This will put a big strain on the PSP’s battery life,
which has never been the best part of the PSP anyway. So be prepared for
constant battery charging or hope you can find an extended battery for your PSP.
Neverland Card Battles is a unique
combination of a turned-based strategy game and trading card game. Unlike other
games with similar goals, I’m talking about you Culdcept Saga, Neverland Card
Battles doesn’t feel like a game based on pure luck. If you plot a good strategy
and follow it through you should still have a great chance of winning even if
you haven’t done much tweaking to your deck. If you’re a TCG junkie Neverland
Card Battles will be a great addition to your collection.
|
Review Scoring Details for Neverland Card Battles |
Gameplay: 8.5
A great combination of turn-based strategy and trading-card game never feels too
complicated or overblown to actually play.
Graphics: 6.5
The card artwork looks great on the PSP screen but the battle graphics will
definitely having you wondering just which system you’re playing.
Sound: 7.0
Plenty of voice acting in Neverland Card Battles which fits in with the anime
style. Just like an anime, be prepared for some decent-to-not-so-decent
dialogue. The music and sound effects work well but the cancel sound effect will
get old after just a few minutes.
Concept: 7.5
There seems to be a new cycle of anime-influenced trading card games coming out
that are similar to each other. The turned-based elements in Neverland Card
Battles help in keeping the game from falling down a bottomless pit other TCG
games seem to fall into.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
If you’ve never played a TCG before you might have some initial challenges in
getting used to the concept and gameplay. For veterans of the genre you’ll be
able to fit right in with no problems.
Multiplayer: 7.0
Sadly no true wireless internet gameplay is offered with Neverland Card Battles.
Only the local, player versus player, Ad Hoc mode is available for multiplayer.
Overall: 7.3
The gameplay is the greatest strength of Neverland Card Battles due to
turn-based and Trading Card Game elements. The gameplay maps really helps in
keeping the interface from getting too cumbersome. Visually the game won’t win
any awards simply because of the battle graphics. Yet I found Neverland Card
Battles to be an engaging game that sucked me in with its intriguing gameplay.
