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Cards and board game play, all wrapped up in a bow of value gaming perfection. This, folks, is Culdcept Saga.

It's the ultimate in the field of geekdom: a game that combines the cutthroat real-estate experience of Monopoly with the strategic, collect ‘em all mentality of card games. Hotels are denoted as territory levels, money is replaced with spendable magic, and if your Minotaur can't beat up your rival's Red Ogre for control of his red space, then you'd better be ready to pay a handsome fee. This is the game Namco-Bandai has produced for your Xbox 360, Culdcept Saga, and for a reasonable forty bucks, you too can be traipsing around the Colosseum as the curlicue-haired youngster who oh so conveniently stumbles across his fate as a Cepter (a fancy name for a card player) at the outset of the game. Cut to angst, odd hairstyles, and a gameplay experience that is simultaneously addictive and maddening, and you have a vague idea of what you‘re in for.

There are a number of elements that might pop out as being substandard when you compare Culdcept Saga to, say, BioShock, and if you're looking for a game that will push the 360 to its technical limitations, you might want to consider looking elsewhere. The graphics are on par with the RPGs the PS2 churned out in the past, complete with their array of blocky, arm waving movements. But though it may be true that the shadows are reduced to an ominous black disc at the characters' feet, the models' lines are still crisp and the card-wielding cast themselves unique (I defy anyone to find a character whose chin is as bizarrely shaped as Koenig‘s). And once you get past Rilara's… er, blow-up doll features, you might be impressed by the stylistic choices made with the cards themselves, which have been designed by an array of artists to fully capture that Magic element the game designers were shooting for.

These cards are bright, water colored pieces, and with five hundred to call your own, you'll be spending quite a bit of time amassing the creature, item, and spell cards. You'll be spending another few hours picking and choosing cards from your pile to create sixteen custom decks. Depending on how you form and play your deck, these cards can make or break your match online or off. There are a number of stats to look at: G and TG for your Cepter (your expendable income), ST and HP for your creatures (the first rules over your creature‘s strength, the other their health), and MHP denotes the maximum number of hit points you can add onto your Harpy. These stats are altered with item cards like maces and boomerangs, as well as territory bonuses and neighboring creatures and… thankfully there's a tutorial to guide you through the surprisingly in-depth system Omiya Soft has created. Most matches will take a half an hour of strategizing, as there will probably be over fifty rounds played, giving you plenty of time to pull up from behind.

You can choose to plow through the entertaining, albeit corny storyline in single player, or take your cards online to battle against other gamers. You can face off against other people in Alliance or Blind Matches, the former focusing on team play and the latter taking your deck and randomizing it based on your personal preferences. The online matches are where the game really shines, and with the exception of the occasional lag and the occasional scarcity of other players, Culdcept Saga's online mode is what will bring gamers back to the title time and time again.

More than Monopoly, more than Magic, Culdcept Saga packages the ruthless strategizing of Risk in its green colored box, as you are forced to think five rounds ahead in order to maintain a slight edge over your competitors. Your Cepter, the princess, and in fact, the entire world is relying on you to carry the torch to victory, as hackneyed as that may sound, but therein lies the other hidden treasure that the game brings. It's a fun, cheap, feel good gaming experience that although frustrating at times, although backstabbing and merciless at times, Culdcept Saga is always an engrossing and addictive experience. And for forty bucks, people, where can you and your Red Ogre go wrong?

Pros:
- Deep and in-depth gameplay allows for a good deal of customization and strategizing as you take on AI and the international pool of gamers
- Graphics, although a little dated, are still artistically well rendered and the cards are nicely drawn, colorful, and display a wide range of beasts ripe for the picking
- Replay value is extremely high, with a multitude of multiplayer matches, both online and off, to choose from

Cons:
- Game has a tendency to lag online
- Sound is a little subpar, with lackluster voice acting and a musical track that loops over and over during the course of a half hour match

Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 January 2014 14:46