Marvel Trading Card Game Review - PC

In reviewing the video game version of a popular card battle game, it’s somewhat pointless to spend much time discussing the merits or flaws of the source material.  So all I’m going to say about the “real” Marvel Trading Card Game is that it’s an elegant and well-functioning game system designed to help avid card battlers part with their cash as quickly and easily as possible.

All Hands on Deck

The Nintendo DS version offers an experience that’s faithful to the original, but it is far, far from elegant.  If you have little to no familiarity with the Marvel Trading Card Game, then you probably shouldn’t even bother with this.  The printed manual, which barely explains the basic rules, isn’t even the worst offender.  That award goes to the in-game tutorial which might go down in history as the worst in-game tutorial ever created. 

Instead of helping the player through a match, step by step as he plays, the tutorial for Marvel TCG requires pages upon pages of cryptic rules and explanations to be read without once letting the player see how they actually fit into the game.  No amount of reading or re-reading of the tutorials will help.  Instead, it’s recommend -- by this reviewer anyway -- to jump right into the game and be ready to lose match after match as you try to understand what’s going on.

How did that happen?

Even after you’ve figured out how to play, the DS interface for Marvel TCG doesn’t do nearly enough to help you understand the cause the effect nature of the gameplay.  As you work your way through the different phases in a match, it’s very easy to forget just when and why you’re able to play certain kinds of cards.  It’s also not uncommon to accidentally “pass” when it’s your turn to attack. 

The developer did the best they could with the screen resolution on the DS.  The game is played by holding the DS sideways like a book.  One full screen is used to show close-ups of the cards you’ve selected.  The other screen is cluttered with tiny little icons representing your cards, and other tiny little icons representing actions you can take.  And not being able to drag and drop cards seems a little odd.

Card Bored

The problem with Marvel Trading Card Game isn’t the gameplay.  Once you’ve figured everything out, it does a decent job mimicking the real thing.  But it requires a lot of patience to get comfortable with the game and you’ll be fighting the interface every step of the way.

Article by: Greg Bemis