Magic 2013 builds on the previous two games with more decks and more opponents, but it is more of the same.

User Rating: 7.5 | Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 PS3
By svaubel | Review Date:
Gameplay 8- Im going to assume that people interested in Magic 2013 either know how to play the card game or have done the tutorials to learn. M13 follows the standard rules of the game and pits you against AI opponents with your choice of deck. There are ten decks available, most of which you have to unlock by defeating the deck's plainswalker.

Unlike Magic 2012 there are more cards to unlock per deck, up to 30 this time and you receive a new card each time you win a match. Strangely though, despite the touted manual land tapping available this time, only one deck is two-color which makes the feature largely pointless until the inevitable DLC decks are released.

The AI has received some improvements, in that it is no longer so stupid that it makes plays that arent timed correctly or even plays that dont make sense. The AI opponents are actually a challenge this time around; depending on what deck you use. The devs balanced the AI, but the decks themselves are not equal in power.

Some decks are mostly pointless, while others are stupidly overpowered, with the Jace deck being able to empty someone's deck of cards before most everyone else is able to get off a reasonable counterattack. Making it possible to win pretty much any campaign AI match. I beat the boss in the first try with it, and only had about 5/30 cards unlocked for it.

Graphics 7- There really isnt much to say about the graphics. Full colored shots of the cards on a field that never changes with light particle effects for spells and attacks. It is not ugly to look at, just nothing special.

Sound 7- Also nothing special. Most everything is recycled from last year's game.

Fun Factor 8- M13 is a mixed bag. Ranging from as fun as close matches can be, to certain games being downright one-sided. All in all, it is still as fun as playing with the real cards, just decks are pre built. I really wish Wizards would release a Yugioh-style game where you are given a starter deck, then you can make your own deck as you see fit with the game's entire history of cards.

Replay Value 7- You will probably run out of things to do eventually since deck construction is limited. But for 10$ the game offers many hours of playtime. Multiplayer is also included and has several ways of playing with friends and opponents. I also see how the game is in some ways going out of its way to advertise to buy the physical cards with an Extras menu that is more or less ads. And DLC later is a given.

Final Score 37/50 (7.4)

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