Marvel Trading Card Game [PC]

My score: 7/10

Pros: Addictive, fun-filled gameplay, once you get past the steep learning curve.

Cons: Lame single-player story, poor tutorial, clumsy patching

I’ve known no shortage of geek pursuits to (over)indulge in. I’ve read comics all my life; my growing collection of longboxes has only recently met its match--in the form of the cramped realities of New York City apartment living. I played DOOM hours after it was released, and at one point, my academic progress actually came to a grinding halt as a direct result of my addiction to MUDs, years before World of Warcraft spawned a cottage industry of WoW addiction therapists. I spend several nights a year in a West Village bar with Doctor Who fans. Yet, if there was one phenomenon that was too geeky and weird, even for me, it was the rise of the trading card game. Perhaps due to the arcane rules, or the fact that none of my friends ever played them, or because continually buying booster packs in the hope of getting that one rare card seemed like such a blatant scam, I was content to leave TCGs to those kids I would see playing Magic: The Gathering at the bookstore.

Until now, that is. More accurately, until a few months ago, when Moe handed me a demo copy of Konami’s Marvel Trading Card Game Online, a piece of loot he had picked up at this year’s New York Comic Con. Based on the physical Marvel Vs. TCG (DC Comics Vs. cards are also available in physical form), the demo proved to be addictive enough to spur me into preordering the full PC game (it was already available for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP).

The game consists of a story-based single-player game and a multiplayer mode where you can buy cards online in order to fill your deck. Budget-minded gamers will be glad to hear that it also supports LAN and internet play that uses the cards that you unlock in single-player mode, though this mode doesn’t support ladder rankings; also, there are additional cards available through the online card store that do not appear in the single-player game.

The rules of the Marvel TCG are indeed arcane, and the tutorial does a poor job of explaining the basic aspects of gameplay to novices. It took Moe and me a couple of hours each of playing the demo against the computer to get some idea of what was going on. However, once you get past that learning curve, the game is actually a lot of fun. It’s essentially a turn-based strategy game, where the players place character cards on the table and use their superpowers to chip away at each others health. Each character’s special powers work appropriately within the gameplay mechanics. For example, characters like the Punisher and Yelena Belova both have “KO target character” powers, reflecting their predilection for dealing death to their opponents without mercy, while Invisible Woman provides reinforcement to her teammates with her force shields.

Being able to build many different types of decks gives the game high replay value, as the game experience differs every time, depending on how your cards are dealt, which cards are included in your deck, and the kinds of strategies you employ. The convenience of the computer taking care of the game calculations is also a plus.

Hardcore Marvel comics fans will be pleased at the inclusion of several lesser-known comics teams, in additional to the usual appearances of Spider-Man, the Hulk and Wolverine. X-Statix, the ill-fated team of celebrity mutants, is featured quite prominently in the card selection, as are the Squadron Supreme (the mid-80s Mark Gruenwald version) and the Thunderbolts.

However, the single-player story is largely forgettable, with the barest outline of a plot and none of the characters exhibiting any personalities. The cutscenes consist of panels of static images, with the occasional character shifting within the frame to simulate movement, akin to the Marvel Superheroes cartoon of the late ‘60s. This technique was used with great style in Irrational Games’ Freedom Force, with its special blur and lighting effects, as well as its stellar voice acting and storytelling. But in the Marvel Trading Card Game, it all seems like wasted effort that might have been better spent towards applying this technique the in-game battle sequences between cards.

The graphics during gameplay are quite basic, consisting of the playing field, and the cards themselves, which in many cases feature gorgeous art by an assortment of comics artists, who aren’t normally known for drawing those characters. The music

Konami has recently announced a new game upgrade that fixes some of the bugs and video card issues that users have been experiencing. However, this game’s console roots are evident in the fact that instead of a patch, this upgrade will require downloading an all-new build of the game—over 1 GB in size. Company reps have said that this is due to Konami still being new to PC software development, but this kind of upgrade process in 2007 is clumsy at best.

Despite these issues, the game is well worth buying for its fun gameplay, especially at the bargain price that it’s selling for.