GameNorth's Review (80/100)

I am going to say this up front: Culdcept Saga is not for everyone. However, if you enjoy board games or collectible card games (CCGs), then this union of the two genres is what you've been asking for since childhood.

In the age of anti-aliasing and bloom lighting, THX and 7.1 sound systems, the first thing you'll notice is the rather poor production values of this niche title. This sequel to the PS2 cult classic has improved graphics and sound quality, and even though everything is clean, it is just not on par with what is the standard for games in the current age. They added atrocious voice-acting to Saga, which is quite a downgrade from the text-only dialogue in the previous game. I'm pretty sure my computer can generate some voice samples less irritating than the voices you hear during the cutscenes.

Luckily, most of the time you won't be too worried about the poor animations or the voice acting. You'll be too immersed in deciding what spells to cast and whether to attack with a creature. To get an idea of the gameplay, think Monopoly, except that when you land on someone's property, you have the option of trying to take control of it by battling the creature that is occupying the property. You win when the sum of your money in hand and the worth of your land adds up to the target amount, which is different for each map. You can even level up the land you own, much like buying houses and hotels, but that carries its own risk since it'll make that land a target. The most interesting part is that before each match, you choose a deck of spells, items, and creatures that will be available for you to use during the match. At any point, you will have a hand of six or fewer cards to choose from, so there are some decisions to be made about whether you keep cards to use later.

There is some luck entwined with the strategy, too. Much like CCGs, what cards you draw into your hand affect the outcome. Even the most well designed deck can run into some bad luck. From the board game side, dice rolls determine how far you can move, and since the lap bonuses scale according to the number of laps you've completed around the board, a string of good luck with the dice can often become a huge advantage.

Another trait it inherits from its parents (card games would wear the pants in that relationship) is that Culdcept is best enjoyed with other people. The multiplayer setup provides a range of options such as splitting off into teams, choosing random decks, and even how the colours of the squares on the board is arranged. Imagine if you could play with Board Walk beside Indiana, and you'll get a sense of how this works. You can set the target goal when the game ends, or set a turn limit. And if you're worried that people are going to stall the game until you run out of patience and quit, there is the option to set a time limit for each individual turn. The victor(s) of these stressful battles receive more random cards added to their collection, which they can then use in their various decks. CCG veterans will be familiar with the concept of card rarities, which helps you to keep playing until you have enough copies of the cards you want in your deck.

If you're not into the multiplayer aspect of games, the single player mode has plenty to offer as well. The AI is sufficiently challenging until the quality of the cards in your collection becomes fairly good. It suffers all the stupidities you'd expect from AI, but you can choose to handicap yourself by facing a team of two opponents. In addition to the story mode, there are also special achievements that you can get, which will award unique cards. For example, collecting all the cards of any colour will award you a special card of that colour. I would drop the dollar value to $25 CAD though if you're not going to try the multiplayer.

Culdcept Saga is not a fast-paced game by any means. In fact, my biggest complaint is that you can't skip the animations that you'll be forced to watch hundreds of times. However, Culdcept Saga is a great game if you're looking for a game that relies solely on your mental faculties and a bit of luck, and not on reflexes.