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GameSpy's Review (4/5)

Culdcept is one of those games that comes out of left field and robs all of your attention. Oh, I'd heard of the series before, but I deal with games for a living and play imports by the truckload. It began on the Saturn in Japan, continued on the PlayStation and Dreamcast, but never arrived in the U.S. -- until now. In fact, it's popular enough to support a tournament scene in Japan and Korea, but no publisher had been courageous enough to bring one of the games to the U.S. until the niche-friendly NEC did this year.

But what's the big deal? Well, Culdcept is a totally fascinating, deep, and addictive hybrid of the best elements of non-electronic card and board games, like Magic: the Gathering and Monopoly. But the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and with a dash of inspiration and clever game design, Culdcept proves that adage. The premise is thus: The world Culdcept takes place on mystical cards created by the goddess Culdra, each which contain fearsome creatures or powerful spells. The wizards who can use these cards, known as Cepters, are famed for their powers. Of course, some are good, and some are bad -- and that's where you come in. Culdra needs a powerful but good Cepter to destroy Geminigh, an evil one. You hook up with her helper, Goligan, and travel through the land searching for Geminigh.

The story takes a total backseat to the gameplay within moments of the game starting. It's not very interestingly presented, relying on translated talking-head text boxes and scant dialogue. It's just enough to present a premise for entering into Culdcept battles across the game-world. Which is fine, because if you're anything like me, you'll catch Culdcept fever within the first hour and be uninterested in anything but customizing your deck and heading to the next showdown.

As a typical round begins your customized deck of cards is shuffled and a hand is dealt. You and a flexible number of opponents travel around a board and capture elemental (fire, earth, water, sand) properties with magic points, by placing creature cards on them. If you land on an opponent's creature, prepare to do battle with one of your own or pay the toll. Weaving together two unrelated game types into one sublime whole is what makes Culdcept so unique and addictive. The fact that you get more cards for your deck if you win or lose, means that it's easy to get addicted to collecting new and better ones every time you play.


Card-on-card crime.

The game's balance is maintained by increasingly potent A.I. equipped with stronger and stronger cards. In fact, the single-player mode gets very challenging as you wend your way across the world. There's no exploration to worry about, though, as the developers know that the focus of Culdcept is the card battling and monopolizing. Those of you who've played real collectible card games know that they're made or broken by flexibility and adaptability, and Culdcept has both. Each creature has HP and strength, but these stats can be modified by spells and items, placement on the board, and elemental affiliation. The creatures themselves have myriad special abilities, making sure that collecting an assortment of cards and assembling the best deck leads to strategic variety.

In fact, there are almost 500 different cards in the Culdcept library, and unlike a real CCG you don't have to tear open countless foil packs or subject yourself to the dank interior of a collectible shop to grab them. And, of course, there are many, many boards for you to play on. Since this is a video game, it's not limited to the kind of stuff you'd pull out of a Milton-Bradley box, either. Boards intertwine, cross ravines and bridges, and generally meld into shapes that would require too much effort to be plausible in a real-world game.

As you might expect, Culdcept really shines in its multiplayer -- just like real card and board games. Friends can play using their own save data. If you're lucky enough to have one who's also playing the single-player game, that means you'll be neck-and-neck for the best cards. But even if your friend doesn't have his or her own copy, it's OK. Your pal can still save a game on a memory card and earn cards in the versus mode, allowing for robust competition after a few matches. Of course, you can make multiple decks out of your stock of cards, too, and go easy on the poor sucker.

If Culdcept missteps anywhere, it's perhaps in its lack of support for online features. The game would benefit greatly from online play, but its omission is forgivable given the game's niche status in the United States. The translation, too, hasn't improved since the previewable copy I played a couple of months ago, which disappoints me. It's a non-native English speaker special, and while it's totally understandable it just doesn't sound quite right. Sometimes card descriptions get a bit jumbled, which is much more problematic -- but you can figure 'em out once you use the card a time or two, so it's not a huge hassle.


Better check for athlete's foot.

Culdcept is such a pleasant surprise, with so much depth and variety it's hard to let go. This is one of those games where my brain just starts to percolate as soon as I sit down with it -- strategies bubbling through my mind, ideas for new combinations, and the desire to collect more and better cards resulting in a heady brew that's irresistible. In fact, my mind wanders back onto the subject even when I should be doing something else. I'm a confirmed Culdcept addict, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It offers something different from much of the PS2's library, and it's so polished and well-executed that I can't get enough. Hopefully enough gamers will catch the Culdcept wave to propel the series to great prominence in the U.S. as it's found in other countries. I doubt it, but I insist that everyone who thinks it sounds even vaguely interesting to try it. You'll be hooked.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 08:48

Card of the Moment

Subsidence PS2
G:120
Lowers level of target enemy Cepter's highest-level territory by 1.

Culdcept PS2/DC

culdcept_ps2_usa.jpg

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