BattleForge (PC) Review
Posted by Ty Huston on 05.13.2009
EA makes an attempt to blend two gaming genres together ... but to what result?
Title: BattleForge
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Phenomic
Genre: Real-Time Strategy / Collectible Card Game
Players: 1 Player (Campaign Missions) / Up to 12 Players Multiplayer Online
BattleForge is a breed of its own. The basic idea of the game rests around combining the genre of collectible card games and incorporating it in a way to create online multiplayer battles with visualization through the means of real-time strategy.
What the game provides is a way for addicts of collectible card trading games such as Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering to focus their compulsion into an online environment. While these games are very popular in sales, I know exactly zero people (and I have two daughters ages 11 and 12) who actually play these games. They must either be in hiding or have secret meetings that the general populace knows nothing about. It’s like being a Dungeons & Dragons gamer in 1989 or even a Dungeons & Dragons gamer in 2009.
This is a title that was developed for Electronic Arts through one of their in-house developers, EA Phenomic. Based in Germany and formerly known as Phenomic Game Development, they are best known for its other franchises such as The Settlers and SpellForce.
The game’s story surrounds the players who are deemed “Skylords” and wield the powers of fire, frost, nature and shadow against a force known as the Twilight. You are residents of a place known as The Forge, a floating fortress. When the Twilight threatens the world below you, its up to the Skylords to take matters into their hands to preserve it.
Gameplay
The whole of the gameplay is played like a collectible card game. You begin the game with so many BattleForge points and you spend them on buying decks of cards or booster packs, however you feel like blowing your wad. Either way, just like other collectible card games, you end up with an unbalanced mess that you either need to trade, sell or buy additional cards to create a decent deck that is actually worth playing.
The game has four different decks, or powers, that you can choose from: fire, frost, nature and shadow. Fire is primarily based on attacking, frost for defending, nature is all about healing and buffs and shadow is simply crazy stuff that does major damage to your opponent but puts you in a position of jeopardy if you don’t play your cards right (pun intended). During gameplay, you are limited to a deck of 20 cards which you can use during a single game. Just like other card games, you’re required to have a “power” monument for the cards and that requires building one on the strategy-based map. To unlock higher cards, you have to create more power monument. One of the biggest gripes I have about the game is the great lack of power monuments. What ends up happening for the greater portion of the single player missions, is that you end up using a very one-sided deck or even a deck full of the same type cards because you won’t find enough power monuments to unlock truly powerful units if you split your deck and resources. Cards require a certain amount of time for recharge before you can use them to create more units and resources are limited just like in other real-time strategy games. While this is functional, it creates a bit of difficulty getting used to as instead of going to a building and choosing what to upgrade and what units to build, you’ve got to try and manage your cards, your buildings, your units and ultimately – the goal of the scenario.
Another thing I found lacking was the defense abilities in the game. While you can get some decent defense units, in certain scenarios it is quite difficult to manage them and keep them from getting overwhelmed. In several of the scenarios, and again this is in the single-player mode, units come from off-screen to rush you and try to break down your forces. While that would be acceptable to a point, you are again left with very little resources and power sources to build these defenses and a lot of your time will be spent trying to save your own resources from being destroyed rather than actually maintaining some sense of battle. Attempts to build your own “base” such as you have in games like Starcraft are virtually impossible because you aren’t given the option to build walls where you want them. In select areas you can destroy enemy walls and resurrect them as your own, but they are never placed in a strategic location that makes them viable to spend time and resources to reinforce.
The meat of this game lies entirely within the multiplayer portion of the game. Through the various available scenarios you can build massive battles of up to 12 players going at it. Unlike the single player missions where you are simply rushed to death, you actually get some intelligent opponents to play against and this is quite fun. It’s here where you really learn to use the cards and actually make some decent decks.
Beyond the standard fare of playing the game, there is also a place to chat and trade cards with other players or buy and sell cards on the open market. When the game first released, people were still trying to figure out the true worth of the cards but now they’re starting to tune in those prices just like any other online game and it can be pricy.
Graphics
Time was definitely spent on the visuals of this game. It blends some excellent scenery with some entertaining animations and creative characters. Watching the battles can sometimes be much more fun than actually playing the game when you get some of the higher powered units. Overall, the graphics in the game are crisp and mostly without glitches, though you’ll occasionally stumble across a few.
Sound
From the music, to the sound effects and down to the voice acting, the game does a great job of using audio. One thing of note is that many times during the single-player campaign you’ll be reading the story rather than having audio relay it to you. Far too many other games in the RTS genre provide this, so you really feel like this is tiring after a while.
Lasting Appeal
Beyond the multiplayer aspect of the game, it features a 19 mission campaign mode that goes by very quickly. Once you’ve created a powerful deck, it is really all about strategy and you can compete at higher levels. While the developer is continually tweaking the game and fixing issues here and there, another issue presents itself that may hurt the longevity of this title. You are given a set amount of BattleForge points at the beginning of the game to purchase cards and build decks, but once those run out you are then forced to spend additional funds on buying more BF points to buy more cards. You also acquire cards through victories in single and multiplayer games, but the easiest course of action to get a decent deck fast is to buy more points. Therefore, after spending $50 on the title from the shelf, you’ll be spending more money to essentially get an advantage in the game. It’s a double edged sword that will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Fun Factor
Honestly, the game is pretty fun. While it is not really my type of game – I gave up collectible trading card games long, long ago, even before Pokémon was huge – I had an enjoyable experience with this game. I enjoy real-time strategies, but the mix of the collectible trading cards can become tiresome and where most RTS fans are used to technology trees to plan their battles, your hands are tied with the cards being the defining factor in gameplay.
The 411
BattleForge is a unique title that stands on its own as a quality game, but not without its faults. It is a solid effort from EA to try and mix these two gaming genres, but the points system for buying additional cards after already having paid full price for the game will really turn some fans away. It is, however, not unlike MMOs who provide content on a regular basis and charge a monthly fee, so it really is a toss up. Some will love this game and others will hate it.
Graphics
8.5
Quality animations and crisp detail make this a very visually appealing game.
Gameplay
7.0
The card-based powering system for higher level cards make this game a tough one to learn.
Sound
8.0
Good voice acting and music help the missions and keep the intensity going.
Lasting Appeal
5.0
I am against the idea of charging your customer for additonal content that is already in the game.
Fun Factor
8.0
Once you've got the game down, it is a very fun game but shines in online multiplayer.
