An Exact Match
I have been playing Warcry the card game for some time. The game’s complexity sits in between Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic the Gathering. The focus of this game is war, and although on the surface this game might seem simple, it has many strategic nuances that can change the balance of power quickly. The game consists of 2 decks an Action deck and an Army deck. You can have a maximum of 3 cards of one type in a deck and you need a minimum of 30 cards in each deck. I prefer to play around 30 cards in each deck, as it makes the deck more predictable. You start by “mustering” your army onto the battlefield. Each unit has a cost and the total cost of all the units on the field cannot go over the gold allocated for the battle. You then enter into a “battle” phase where you take turns attacking your opponent. Here you use your Action cards to shift the balance of power to your favor for each combat. Your goal is to maintain the most Victory points at the end of the battle. Victory points are calculated by adding up all your unit’s strength plus/minus any Victory bonus/penalty.
The Game Interface
Warhammer on the PSP plays just like Sabertooth’s collectable card game Warcry. The first thing I was impressed by is how smoothly the game interface works within the game. Moving from card to card is effortless, and the controls behave in a consistent manner. You may examine any card on the table at any time.
Combat is arranged in an easy to read format. You have access to ANY played tactic from an action card or from a unit on the field at any time from you or your opponent. You can switch back from combat to the battlefield to view any card on the table as well.
The game also offers information about if a particular tactic will be successful by displaying a check mark, or not be successful by displaying an X.
The game keeps track of many of the important stats so you can focus on good game play instead of trying to track everything. I have found myself playing the PSP version of the game more than the card game which it emulates.
The AI
This is by far one of the best computer AIs I have experienced with a computerized card game. Magic the Gathering, eliminated its AI a long time ago, and Yu-Gi-Oh’s AI is very easy to beat.
Card game AI is challenge to create as many of these card games contain many rules and it behaves like law with game “rulings.” To have a computer play and follow these rules and “rulings” is no easy feat. The decks in the game have particular strategies and the AI follows the strategies of the deck very well, and with excellent timing. I only saw the AI make mistakes a couple of times. All in all an excellent single player AI.
Multiplayer
This game is the most fun when you get to challenge a friend. The network is easy to setup, you have one player initiate the game, and the other join. You can select which deck you wish to play with and the playfield to play in.
The network is robust and solid. Each game can take up to 40 minutes to play and my fat fingers have hit the power button or the WLAN switch a time or two. Imagine the fear when I was slaughtering my friend and I got a black screen because I flipped a switch. Preparing for the worst I awoke my PSP to find the display “do you wish to attempt to reconnect.” WOW. After a few seconds we were right back where we left off.
Deck Construction
Making and modifying decks is an important part of CCG’s and where the most fun is. Creating a deck to test on the AI or you friend is extremely satisfying. So if a game does not have a robust editing system that could hurt the game. Thankfully Warhammer has a good editing system. I would have like to have seen a sort feature but it’s only a minor setback. With each deck you really only have 10-15 unique cards for each of the Action and Army decks so moving around your deck is a simple affair. The library of cards that you collect is on the top, and you have access to many filters to reduce how many cards show up. Many of the filters are cumulative so you can select “orc” and “cavalry” and only Orc Cavalry cards will appear.
You can save up to 6 decks for use in single and multiplayer battles. The “battle for atluma” campaign contains an additional deck that is unique from these 6 decks as well.
Trading
If you have a friend available you can trade collected cards with them. The trading system only allows for fair trading, so a noob can not be taken advantage of by an experienced player. The cards are valued by its rarity. Common cards are the cheapest and Foil cards are the most expensive. If you place cards on the table and the values are uneven the computer will offer up some of your or your opponent’s gold to balance the trade. You can then begin the trade, and that’s it, you now have some new cards.
The Store Another way to acquire cards is to buy cards from your local store. You can buy a booster pack with random cards within, or select cards from the bottom and pay a value equal to its rarity. The store is quick and easy to use, and each time you come back there is a different set of cards available.
Summary
Warhammer: Battle for Atluma is an extremely addicting and satisfying game. The excellent AI, robust multiplayer, and all the additional features keep you coming back for more. It plays identical to the card game, and I found myself tweaking my decks to see if I could find additional advantages against the computer. The deck construction is easy enough to use and not frustrating, although I would liked to have seen a sort feature. In my opinion if you like CCG’s or have played Warcry, this game is a must have.