Duels of the Planeswalkers: First Impressions

I will post a complete review of the game when I'm finished with the campaign (I only have to finish a couple more rounds) and do some online play but I wanted to discuss my first impressions.

Interface:



Pretty! After staring at magic workstation for hours upon hours doing deck testing Duels' interface was a welcome sight. The controls are easy enough to figure out and it is very beginner-friendly which I think was the goal for this game. That being said, there are a few weaknesses to the interface. The timer keeps things reasonable but also makes doing any combat tricks and playing instants during the combat phases very difficult. It also automatically skips phases if you have no cards that you can play during them. This has screwed me up more than once as I impatiently hit the Y button to move from my first main phase into my combat phase. It sees that I don't have anything I can play and automatically skips my main phase and goes straight to combat and of course I'm hitting the button to continue so I end up skipping my combat phase as well as my main phase. This is just an example of a few things that I will have to get used to..

Decks:

The decks for Duels are pretty straight forward for beginning players but there is very limited deck editing and customization. You cannot alter the colors of your decks ( at least in the campaign. I haven't tried custom duels yet) nor can you alter the makeup of your deck to any desirable degree. Some decks are more effective/powerful than others and you will just have to figure out which one works best for you. More to come on this subject after some online play!

AI:

I couldn't help but laugh a little when the computer opponent regnerated his tapped troll 4 times before I swung past unblocked for lethal damage. At times the AI impresses me and other times it severely dissapoints me. Overall it is fun and at times challenging (especially for newer players or older players giving duels a try) and I dont feel like it is TOO easy.



I am almost done with the campaign and mostly done with the challenges so after i complete those, unlock some more cards, try out all the decks and give the online play a test drive I will give a full report. Until then, happy dueling!