Magic: Legends

I was actually pretty excited for Magic: Legends before it came out. The idea of mixing a dungeon crawler style of game with a deck building game was something that really did grab my attention. Add to this it being set in the Magic universe with a brand new story and it was something that appealed to me a great deal. Well, the game was released in beta form and it never caught on the way they had intended it to. Today I am sharing my thoughts on the game, both the good and bad!

Being A Planeswalker

There is a bit of a multi-dimensional story going on where you play as a Planeswalker. If you know what Magic is, you will know, but those coming to Magic: Legends with little understanding of the world of Magic, just know it is like you are a powerful spell caster!

This is a story that has a kind of multiverse thing going on where warriors need to band together to take on a big evil. I was excited to see this new story and while it is not bad, it is kind of average fantasy stuff that fails to leave an impression.

Playing With A Full Deck

If you were to watch a gameplay video of Magic: Legends, you would think that it is just another Diablo clone. You would be partially right. The game does look like a hack and slash style of game, but the big difference here is that it plays into the world of Magic The Gathering TCG. You can pick 12 cards to have in your deck at any one time. You are then given four of these cards at random as you play a stage. Apart from picking the initial 12, you have no idea what order you will be given these cards.

Chaos In Randomness

Some people who played Magic: Legends hated that they could not learn or develop a strategy due to the random nature of the attacks and abilities that they will be given at any one time. I actually liked this and thought it was a neat idea. Granted, rather than playing a specific kind of role, you do end up making sure that your deck is more balanced. However, I found it kept me on my toes and it is an idea that I think did show a great deal of promise.

Stop Exploding!

I have to say that visually, Magic: Legends is not all that great. The cut scenes and the voice acting are both fantastic. However, during gameplay things take a big nosedive. I am not saying this is a terrible looking game. It just feels very uninspired, but the biggest annoyance is that when an explosion or some kind of magical effect happens, it takes up way too much of the screen and far too many attacks and abilities have some kind of graphical effect that gets annoying after about the third time you have seen it.

I have to say that Magic: Legends did not exactly go the way I wanted it to, but I do feel this game was nowhere near as bad as many people made out. I think that there were some very neat ideas in this game and I wished that it had worked out better for the people involved.

Pros:

• The deck building aspect was something I found interesting
• While basic, the story has some great voice acting
• I also thought the cut scenes were very well done
• They were so close to having something awesome with this game

Cons:

• The game has some very annoying visual effects
• I get that the random nature of combat may not appeal to everyone