Review:
Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers (PC)

I recently received a copy of Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers for the PC to try out via Steam. While this game has been out for some time on XBox Live, it made its debut for the PC on June 15th with a few differences.

Before I get into the review of the game, I think it's important to know what kind of background I have with Magic the Gathering, as it affects my view of the game. I started playing MtG (the CCG) back around 1996, when 4th edition and Ice Age were all the rage. I played in some local tournaments then, as it was a lot harder to find sanctioned tournaments in the area I played. Since then, I've left the game and come back about half of a dozen times, with me actually taking part in sanctioned tournaments during the Time Spiral and Lorwyn blocks (during which time I also played on Magic: the Gathering Online). So I have a strong grasp of the game.

Now, on to the game itself.

MTG:DotP is simply a platform that allows players to play the collectable card game. The game seems to be designed with new players in mind, since there's a lot of simplification going on. The game comes with an extensive tutorial that does an excellent job teaching the game from scratch. Certain simple actions are done automatically to streamline games (assigning damage, tapping mana), allowing players to get more games under their belt in the same amount of time. For the beginner, it is an amazing tool.

The interface is spectacular, compared to MTGO version 2.0 (I haven't had a chance to try 3.0). The game is streamlined, where players need to freeze the game in order to cast spells at some of the less common times (MTGO would pop up a window you needed to click). However, during major actions, such as your opponent summoning a creature, where it will wait for your confirmation. Whenever you want to look at a card, simply scroll up on the mouse wheel to zoom in. It will even explain what creature abilities mean for every ability, until you tell it to stop. Apart from some bugs that caused the demo version to shut down, I couldn't be happier.