Hello readers! This is the first installment of what I hope to make a weekly article or set of articles in this case, in which I will cover new entries to the XBOX Live Arcade, Wii Virtual Console and Playstation Network. I will go a little into what games are coming out, what you are getting for your money and maybe even give you a mini- review, if I am so inclined. If I miss a game or you want me to go back and smack a game in the face with my fiery opinions of JUSTICE, speak up in the comments!

So without further ado, this week on MONKEY IN SPAAAAAAAACE!!!!…err.. wait, I mean, MONKEY IN THE MARKET PLACE!

XBOX Live Arcade

Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers

Genre: Strategy/Card Battling
Developer: Stainless Games
Past Releases: Scrabble (DS/PSP), Red Baron (PC, PS3), Atari Classics Evolved (PSP).
Published by: Wizards of the Coast
Price: 800 Microsoft Points XBLA Game Site
Size: 281 MB

After doing so well on PC it seemed like a no brainer to bring Magic the Gathering to the 360 as a normal release, (ideally with booster packs and theme decks in the form of downloadable content.) but it has arrived surprisingly as a Live Arcade game somewhat rich in presentation and depth, but lacking in cards, deck customization and ease of use.

Duels of the Planeswalkers, known from here on out as DOTPW (because I loooove acronyms.) is a strategy card battling game based on the table top collectible card game Magic The Gathering by Wizards of the Coast. Instead of bombarding players with a massive library of cards from the games 15 + years worth of expansions, set revisions and themed decks, players are give a handful of decks that you can unlock extra cards for. The game looks about as good as you can expect a card game to look, with a fancy play field, official Magic The Gathering card art, (which in all actuality is truly fantastic.) and little effects for tapping (putting a card into play, or using its actions.) attacks and various card statuses. Although the attacking/spell casting is not bad in any way, it could have used a bit more flashiness, as little scratches/ burn marks/slices appearing on the cards when they take damage are somewhat lackluster and ultimately slow the pace of the game down with very little payoff, which brings me to Magic the Gatherings DOTPW (Ha there it is!) glaring problem. It is slow as hell. Not slow in the sense that the game itself is slow, as people that play Magic know that it can get out of hand very quickly, but slow in a way that tapping animations, battle animations, various arrows and visual effects are somewhat of a hindrance when playing. When playing Magic with another knowledgeable player, things move smoother, turns are over faster and the pace of the game is brisk unless you are put in a pickle in which you need some time to think your options over. Very little time is spent on cards turning and imaginary lightning bolts striking Goblin Swine Riders. Actions are taken, spells are played, and creatures are summoned and play moves on. DOTPW seems to slow this down a bit with all the effects and presentation and although it is not ugly or annoying, it does slow the pace down a bit and makes games last longer than they typically would. Aside from that issue, I like how the game looks and sounds and the game is pretty, but again mostly because the card art is entirely shit hot.

Magic the Gathering is a very competitive and strategically demanding game and can be somewhat complicated to learn if you are a first time player. Luckily there is a pretty in-depth tutorial and glossary section to help new players out, or to freshen you up on new additions/changes to game play. Keep in mind that Magic the Gathering is HUGE and the game is deep as hell. Learning card types, effects and details/strategies that go into intermediate and advanced play is pretty complicated and will take some getting use to, but is ultimately very rewarding. Everything you need to learn, practice and have some fun playing Magic is here.

One of the best parts of getting into Magic the Gathering is using the cards to build your own customized decks, and unleash hell on your pals. Here is where DOTPW falls short. It only has a handful of decks (8) and full customization is somewhat limited. What you have is good, but there are TONS of cards in Magic the Gathering and having access to at least the core set and the most recent expansion would have been great, but I can see what Wizards of the Coast was going for as what is available is very playable and the cards selected do draw from various expansions that go back as far as the “Invasion” expansion up to “Shards of Alara” so you have some cool stuff to work with and ultimately, if this proves to be a positive experience for Wizards of the Coast, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a full fledged Magic the Gathering game in the future. As it stands, the game has the 8 decks and carious cards you can unlock for the decks which you can toss in to change up how the deck plays. Again, full customization is NOT available, but you can change things up a bit.

DOTPW is pretty rich in modes for a XBLA game and has the single player mode in which you battle with increasingly difficult opponents which reward you with more cards. The difficulty here is pretty steep, but you will learn and move forward. Experienced Magic players will still find some challenge here as well. The multiplayer modes allow for 2 vs. 2, (2 headed giant rules), ranked play and 2 – 4 player free for all. There’s a lot to do and I am sure that there will be a pretty decently sized player base to enjoy the game with. (Which is more than I can say for the VOOT players, where the fuck are you guys?!?!?)

So in a nutshell, she’s a complicated woman, but she is good looking and fun to be around. It adds up to a damn decent package for 800 Microsoft points. Demos are free people, give it a shot.