Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

Before you read know that I did play the original Magic: The Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers and know most of its shortcomings. Well i'm happy to say that this title makes some improvements over its predecessor, but still retains that arcade feel. That may or may not be a good thing, but I feel it accomplishes what it sets out to do. Also, I won't delve too much into gameplay, I will mostly focus on what this title has managed too accomplish as a sequel.

This is the same classic Magic: The Gathering experience you played with the first title. Although there's been some aesthetic changes, almost everything is the same. This time around though everything revolves around the campaign. There is no challenge mode, though there are challenges, which you unlock by progressing through the campaign. There are 10 decks to unlock, one for each of the five colors and another 5 that are muticolored. A few of these decks are recurring (not too mention cards), but manage to offer a different card lineup (somewhat) that makes them feel unique from its predecessor. Oh and now i'll get around too the biggie: Deck Customization. The first game was hammered for not allowing full deck customization, this title improves upon that area. No, there is not full deck customization, but you can swap out the base cards in your deck for the cards you've unlocked, instead of just adding cards to your deck, keeping it at an even 60. If you edit a multicolor deck the game will automatically adjust mana. Another thing this title improves upon is unlocking cards themselves. Unlike the first title where you just unlocked one card at a time, this time you usually unlock multiple cards at a time, which really cuts down on the time it takes to complete a deck.

Aside from the regular campaign , there is an archenemy campaign, which involves you (and two other teammates) fighting against an AI player who has 40 life, but is aided by a special separate deck which makes him a very powerful opponent. You can co-op online to defeat the archenemy or get local players to help., or simply fight it with AI friends. There is also a revenge campaign, which I haven't reached yet but I assume is just fighting the regular campaign opponents again but this time with revamped decks. . There is a custom game mode which lets you (and if you want, a local friend) battle in either 2-headed giant (2v2), free-for-all, and archenemy mode again. The only flaw here is that YOU CAN'T PLAY AS THE ARCHENEMY!!! That is a very stupid decision I think. The online mode is basically the same as last time, except this time you can also play against the archenemy (yes, he's an AI) with human teammates.

Overall, I think this is a good deal. For 800MS points ($10) you're getting a pretty big helping of a fun MTG experience. 10 unlockable decks, better deck customization, and prettier aesthetics make this an MTG experience worth playing. The only real flaws I can make up with this game is not being able to play as the archenemy and the plethora of loading screens, although this isn't a huge problem because they usually feature beautiful art and aren't long, except they require you to press A to continue, instead of automatically continuing.