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Battleforge is a thoroughly enjoyable game that we recommend to anybody who finds the idea of an online mixture between an RTS and a collectible card game appealing.
Battleforge is an unusual take on the RTS genre, taking fundamental gameplay mechanics present in physical card collecting games such as Magic the Gathering, and mixing them with standard Command and Conquer type real-time strategy (RTS) gameplay.
There is also a slight dose of the MMO sensibilities that players familiar with the likes of World of Warcraft (WoW) will recognize.
The comparison to Command and Conquer is to a large degree quite superficial, as Battleforge innovates more than enough to make it an appealing option to most jaded RTS veterans looking for something fresh. Likewise, making a direct comparison to an MMO like WoW could also be construed as misleading.
However, Battleforge does draw from these genres, and it does so admirably whilst creating something that not many gamers will have seen before.
The bigger picture
While the story and concept behind Battleforge is fairly compelling, the manner in which it is executed will not be enough to appease those looking for rich and enthralling narrative in their games.
There is an admittedly deep and complex story that is told by way of unlocking chapters of a virtual novel after each campaign mission, and there are many gamers out there that will squeal with glee at the potential depth that this technique allows for.
Unfortunately however, the majority of gamers will most probably skip the entire thing. This particular shortcoming reminded us of ex WoW director Jeffery Kaplan’s recent criticism of his MMO’s longwinded story line, stating that developers have to remember that “games are not books” and that most players do not want to read through pages of text in a video game.
It would not be too bad if the story tied in with the actual missions in a more direct and obvious way. Often the link seems tenuous and most players will forgo any attempt to follow it closely, and are likely to develop more of an attachment to their deck and creatures than to any actual storyline characters.
Having said that, the basic premise is actually quite nifty. Players essentially play the part of a Skylord who is able to summon a host of mythical creatures on the battlefield in order to wage battles with opponent Skylords.
The storyline has players fighting to save humanity through 19 unique and enjoyable missions, most of which are played with two to four person teams online.
Player can opt to neglect their human allies and the campaign, and instead sit around playing cards with other Skylords. This player vs. player (PVP) component involves facing off against opponents online over a series of standardized maps.
Both the player vs. environment (PVE) style co-op campaign as well as the PVP style instances are worth doing, and are both highly enjoyable and rewarding. This bodes very well for the long term appeal of Battleforge.
How it all works
Firstly there are the cards. Like in Magic the Gathering; players are presented with a starter deck of cards consisting of the most basic creatures and spells available. Players also start out with 3000 Battleforge points which can be used to buy additional booster packs which consist of 8 random cards, one of which will be a rare card.
Players can also buy Tomes which are essentially 6 booster packs for the price of 5. Players can also buy additional Battleforge points using real world currency.
Another feature of Battleforge that MMO fans will recognize is the auction house. This allows players to buy or sell cards using Battleforge points. While a touch unrefined, the auction house does work and if manipulated cleverly can keep players’ Battleforge point count in the green, while also providing the occasional must have deck changing card.
The cards themselves are divided into four schools of magic; nature, frost, shadow and fire. Casting each card requires a certain amount of power which is obtained by controlling power wells on the battlefield. The more power wells the player has, the faster they will accumulate the power required to cast spells. It’s a very basic mechanism that has been used as far back as the original Warcraft, but it works well.
On top of the power wells players must control monuments which players can construct power orbs upon. Players can choose between one of the four schools of magic when creating an orb. Each card requires a certain amount of energy, as well as the possession of a certain orb. For instance, nature cards will always require the player to possess a certain amount of nature orbs. The better the card, the more orbs it will require. Therefore, it is best to build a deck sticking to one or two different schools of magic, and to focus on building one or two different power orb types.
The missions are instance based, and apart from a few single player maps, they require players to team up with other players. This is done very simply and intuitively through the map overview which displays the different available instances and also indicates how many people are currently waiting to play each.
Latency was not an issue playing with 384Kbps ADSL line using Axxess’ semi-shaped broadband packages. The pings were obviously lower at night when the unshaped bandwidth kicked in and SA’s international traffic became less congested.
However we do not recommend the use of any other internet connection as our experience with NeoFlex, 3G and iBurst was ultimately unplayable.
The servers are currently busy enough so that finding partners to perform instances with is never really an issue. All in all, the online element works very well and is an essential part of what makes Battleforge a success.
The actual gameplay is great fun, and is one of Battleforge’s greatest strengths.
The instances are all unique and thoroughly enjoyable, allowing players to use a massive variety of different tactics to get the job done.
Most creatures have special abilities which greatly enhance the game's tactical potential with hundreds of different customizable deck types and creatures to keep things interesting.
Upon the completion of each instance players earn a selection of upgrades which they can apply to their cards. These can be distributed throughout the team on a need/greed basis that MMO players will be familiar with.
Visuals and sound
Battleforge is not the best looking game ever released, and players could be forgiven for thinking it came out in 2007.
However, the graphics do the job and some of the spell effects and creature animations are quite impressive.
The sound effects are great, with a fantastic score being written for the game which truly adds to the epic scale of the entire experience.
On the flip side of not being the best looking game ever, Battleforge will run on fairly modest PCs. Anything from a Pentium D with a Geforce 7 series will be able to handle the game well at lowish settings on conservative resolutions.
What’s wrong with it?
Battleforge ticks all the boxes, and offers a unique and deep gameplay experience.
However, the storyline could have been incorporated into the game better, and occasional lag does frustrate, although this is fairly rare.
The game’s main setback is that it probably will not appeal to the majority of gamers. A dedicated minority will be able to find months of gameplay in this title, but many will shrug their shoulders after a few weeks. While being enjoyable and well executed, it cannot compare to the addictive nature and shear mass appeal of true classics that are able to maintain a critical mass over an extended period of time.
Conclusion
Battleforge is a thoroughly enjoyable game that we recommend to anybody who finds the idea of an online mixture between an RTS and a collectible card game appealing. It’s quite simply really: if you like the idea of this game then you will most probably like the game itself.
Battleforge is an unusual take on the RTS genre, taking fundamental gameplay mechanics present in physical card collecting games such as Magic the Gathering, and mixing them with standard Command and Conquer type real-time strategy (RTS) gameplay.
There is also a slight dose of the MMO sensibilities that players familiar with the likes of World of Warcraft (WoW) will recognize.
The comparison to Command and Conquer is to a large degree quite superficial, as Battleforge innovates more than enough to make it an appealing option to most jaded RTS veterans looking for something fresh. Likewise, making a direct comparison to an MMO like WoW could also be construed as misleading.
However, Battleforge does draw from these genres, and it does so admirably whilst creating something that not many gamers will have seen before.
The bigger picture
While the story and concept behind Battleforge is fairly compelling, the manner in which it is executed will not be enough to appease those looking for rich and enthralling narrative in their games.
There is an admittedly deep and complex story that is told by way of unlocking chapters of a virtual novel after each campaign mission, and there are many gamers out there that will squeal with glee at the potential depth that this technique allows for.
Unfortunately however, the majority of gamers will most probably skip the entire thing. This particular shortcoming reminded us of ex WoW director Jeffery Kaplan’s recent criticism of his MMO’s longwinded story line, stating that developers have to remember that “games are not books” and that most players do not want to read through pages of text in a video game.
It would not be too bad if the story tied in with the actual missions in a more direct and obvious way. Often the link seems tenuous and most players will forgo any attempt to follow it closely, and are likely to develop more of an attachment to their deck and creatures than to any actual storyline characters.
Having said that, the basic premise is actually quite nifty. Players essentially play the part of a Skylord who is able to summon a host of mythical creatures on the battlefield in order to wage battles with opponent Skylords.
The storyline has players fighting to save humanity through 19 unique and enjoyable missions, most of which are played with two to four person teams online.
Player can opt to neglect their human allies and the campaign, and instead sit around playing cards with other Skylords. This player vs. player (PVP) component involves facing off against opponents online over a series of standardized maps.
Both the player vs. environment (PVE) style co-op campaign as well as the PVP style instances are worth doing, and are both highly enjoyable and rewarding. This bodes very well for the long term appeal of Battleforge.
How it all works
Firstly there are the cards. Like in Magic the Gathering; players are presented with a starter deck of cards consisting of the most basic creatures and spells available. Players also start out with 3000 Battleforge points which can be used to buy additional booster packs which consist of 8 random cards, one of which will be a rare card.
Players can also buy Tomes which are essentially 6 booster packs for the price of 5. Players can also buy additional Battleforge points using real world currency.
Another feature of Battleforge that MMO fans will recognize is the auction house. This allows players to buy or sell cards using Battleforge points. While a touch unrefined, the auction house does work and if manipulated cleverly can keep players’ Battleforge point count in the green, while also providing the occasional must have deck changing card.
The cards themselves are divided into four schools of magic; nature, frost, shadow and fire. Casting each card requires a certain amount of power which is obtained by controlling power wells on the battlefield. The more power wells the player has, the faster they will accumulate the power required to cast spells. It’s a very basic mechanism that has been used as far back as the original Warcraft, but it works well.
On top of the power wells players must control monuments which players can construct power orbs upon. Players can choose between one of the four schools of magic when creating an orb. Each card requires a certain amount of energy, as well as the possession of a certain orb. For instance, nature cards will always require the player to possess a certain amount of nature orbs. The better the card, the more orbs it will require. Therefore, it is best to build a deck sticking to one or two different schools of magic, and to focus on building one or two different power orb types.
The missions are instance based, and apart from a few single player maps, they require players to team up with other players. This is done very simply and intuitively through the map overview which displays the different available instances and also indicates how many people are currently waiting to play each.
Latency was not an issue playing with 384Kbps ADSL line using Axxess’ semi-shaped broadband packages. The pings were obviously lower at night when the unshaped bandwidth kicked in and SA’s international traffic became less congested.
However we do not recommend the use of any other internet connection as our experience with NeoFlex, 3G and iBurst was ultimately unplayable.
The servers are currently busy enough so that finding partners to perform instances with is never really an issue. All in all, the online element works very well and is an essential part of what makes Battleforge a success.
The actual gameplay is great fun, and is one of Battleforge’s greatest strengths.
The instances are all unique and thoroughly enjoyable, allowing players to use a massive variety of different tactics to get the job done.
Most creatures have special abilities which greatly enhance the game's tactical potential with hundreds of different customizable deck types and creatures to keep things interesting.
Upon the completion of each instance players earn a selection of upgrades which they can apply to their cards. These can be distributed throughout the team on a need/greed basis that MMO players will be familiar with.
Visuals and sound
Battleforge is not the best looking game ever released, and players could be forgiven for thinking it came out in 2007.
However, the graphics do the job and some of the spell effects and creature animations are quite impressive.
The sound effects are great, with a fantastic score being written for the game which truly adds to the epic scale of the entire experience.
On the flip side of not being the best looking game ever, Battleforge will run on fairly modest PCs. Anything from a Pentium D with a Geforce 7 series will be able to handle the game well at lowish settings on conservative resolutions.
What’s wrong with it?
Battleforge ticks all the boxes, and offers a unique and deep gameplay experience.
However, the storyline could have been incorporated into the game better, and occasional lag does frustrate, although this is fairly rare.
The game’s main setback is that it probably will not appeal to the majority of gamers. A dedicated minority will be able to find months of gameplay in this title, but many will shrug their shoulders after a few weeks. While being enjoyable and well executed, it cannot compare to the addictive nature and shear mass appeal of true classics that are able to maintain a critical mass over an extended period of time.
Conclusion
Battleforge is a thoroughly enjoyable game that we recommend to anybody who finds the idea of an online mixture between an RTS and a collectible card game appealing. It’s quite simply really: if you like the idea of this game then you will most probably like the game itself.