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BattleForge is a fantasy real-time strategy game notable for its use of trading cards to generate units, structures, and spells on the battlefield. Its primary influence is WarCraft, both the strategy series and the persistent world role-playing game, with bright, cartoon-like visuals, amusing sound, and fast-paced combat. Even its generic title sounds like someone used a thesaurus to look up "war" and "craft," perhaps with the hope that millions of Blizzard fans might think this is an unofficial spin-off.

It's in the Cards

BattleForge is only playable online, so those without an Internet connection or stuck in the private hell known as dial-up are out of luck. Once online, you'll create a profile and start toying with the game's card-driven mechanics on a practice map called, appropriately enough, the forge. Four starter decks are included, grouped by fire (strong offense), frost (strong defense), shadow (undead), and nature (healing). The retail release ships with 16 cards per faction and 3000 points to spend on booster packs. In-game booster packs cost 250 points apiece and offer eight random cards of common, uncommon, rare, and "ultra rare" quality. No word on "really, really, I mean, seriously" rare cards yet.

The 200-card set can be acquired in various ways. Several cards can be earned and upgraded by winning campaign scenarios on different difficulty levels (there are three settings), or through ranked PvP matches. Gold can also be gathered on each map, which is used primarily for card upgrades, auction fees for selling your duplicate or unwanted cards, and sending mail to other players. BattleForge points, as they are called, can be purchased using real cash, at a rate of $20.00 per 2000 points. Thus, booster packs will set you back $2.50 per eight digital cards, which is roughly the same price as "real" packs from other trading card games. And you don't even have the satisfaction of tearing through the foil.

Might and Magic

BattleForge includes a tutorial level and a series of seven single-player missions linked together on a world map. Complete a mission on one difficulty setting and you'll unlock the subsequent difficulty level as well as co-op missions. The more challenging a level, the greater the "loot" you'll receive in the form of random cards and upgrades. Neither the play mechanics nor mission designs will be a shock to strategy fans, although the emphasis here is more on combat than on resource gathering. In addition to the seven single-player missions, BattleForge offers five two-player, five four-player, and two 12-player cooperative scenarios. There are also 12 maps designed for ranked or unranked competitive matches.

Before you enter battle, you can choose a custom or pre-built deck of 20 cards, which fall under three types: units, support structures, and spells. Each card requires a certain amount of power and orbs before you can use it. Power points, which let you build your army, are derived from taking control of wells. Orbs are generated from monuments, typically found near power wells. The strongest cards require four orbs of the same element before they become playable. Units are initially summoned near power wells, but in an interesting twist, you can continue to build your army anywhere on the map. The only condition is that you have at least one living ground unit nearby. There are no barracks, bases, workers, or tech trees to worry about.

The great thing about this system is that it's fast and dynamic. You can instantly summon archers to flank an enemy that is tearing through your spearmen. The worst thing about the system is the amount of micromanagement associated with maintaining your forces. Most units have multiple special abilities, and there are spells to unleash, towers to erect, cool-downs to manage, and so forth. Your units are not particularly bright either, forcing the need to babysit them. You'll madly scour battles like a raid leader in World of WarCraft -- only you're controlling the entire raid instead of one character.

Need or Greed? 

Like a traditional MMORPG, you can expect BattleForge to evolve over time as the developers tweak card values, introduce new decks, add more maps, and offer other improvements. Yet some might not have the patience, or the cash, to wait that long. The novelty of using cards to summon creatures may quickly wear out its welcome depending on how hard or expensive it is to build a competitive deck. Otherwise, you won't be able to easily counter what you'll likely see from more dedicated opponents. Without the booster packs, expect to be spanked like a naughty monkey in PvP matches, which at the time of this review, lack capture-the-flag, king-of-the-hill, and other diverse play modes. BattleForge is certainly an interesting spin on the genre, but its curious design decisions may prevent it from realizing its full potential.
 
Article Written By: Scott Alan Marriott