Magic: The Gathering is quite a simple game really, you attack your opponent until his life points are no more, to do this you have plenty of cards at your beacon call which can be cast by tapping the required amount of mana (which is basically power which you draw from the colour land cards). During the game you will be able to summon creatures, cast enchantments to make them stronger and also cast spells to make your opponents or their creatures weaker.

 

Thankfully for anyone who has never played the card game, the developers have included a tutorial in the game, this will allow you to read the rules, have help when you are playing and also read helpful hints should you get to the stage where you are scratching your head wondering what to do next. The tutorial is very in-depth, therefore if you have the patience you will have no problem in learning the ways of the game.

 

Other modes in the game include a campaign where you play against computer controlled opponents, a challenge mode where you have to play using the pre-set conditions that the game has lined up for you, and there is also the ability to play offline with up to three players, and finally the game also includes an Xbox Live mode for two, three or four player matches, so there are certainly plenty of options for those who like choice.

 

 

As with the real card game, each deck in Magic is based on five colours, red (fire), blue (water), green (forest) white (good) and black (evil). Each deck has its own strength and weakness, and obviously some of these cards can negate each other, or in some cases cause even more damage. Unfortunately you cannot really tailor decks to your need, although I don’t imagine anyone who has never played the card game finding this much of an issue.

 

Graphics wise you will not see anything fancy here, basically the cards are lined up on either side of the screen, then when you play a card or attack etc, any damage for effect will be animated, however there are no creatures battling it out or anything like that, just a bit of basic animation that’s all. On the plus side though the games do move along at a decent pace, therefore they will not drag on for too long and this actually helps the game have that “one more go feel”.

 

For anyone who has played the card game before this game will probably be an enjoyable enough experience and for anyone who likes a bit of strategy, you will have no problems picking this up thanks to the excellent tutorials provide. Magic is a solid enough game, so if strategy and/or card based games then you should consider it.