Magic: The Gathering



Microprose (1997)


Magic takes place on the world of Shandalar, and in the universe of the Magic: The Gathering Card Game. In this universe there are many different worlds or planes of existence. Occasionally some wizard will develop enough power to become a "Planeswalker." This wizard will then be able to move freely from one plane to the next. On Shandalar, where mana is plentiful, only one wizard became that powerful and he decided to protect the planet from more vicious planeswalkers. Unfortunately, one planeswalker managed to get into Shandalar and cause two major wars. After the second war, a Gaurdian was created to protect the planet and he errected a Great Barrier to prevent other planeswalkers from entering the planet again. However, the Gaurdian's five counsel members were influenced by an outside planeswalker and were convinced to kill the Gaurdian. But they managed to only kill the Gaurdian's body. His spirit managed to survive and has convinced you, a young apprentice wizard, into defeating the five major wizards and preventing the destruction of the Great Barrier.

This game was pretty enjoyable overall. And if you ever played the card game (which I didn't) I bet it would be even more addictive. It was rather enjoyable to try and develop an impressive deck of cards. Although it was challenging if not irratating trying to start the process. However, by the end of the game you can roam around and feel pretty powerful.

There were several problems with this game however. One of the major ones was the fact that you couldn't really run away from any of the enemies on the world map view. I would have preferred random attacks from invisible enemies than being attacked by guys you couldn't escape from. It made moving around on the world map more tedious than challenging. Another problem was the graphics. This game was made in 1997, and it is using graphics you could have found in 1994 or earlier. The same can be said of the sound. Finally, this game really needed to work on its storyline. It was an enjoyable game just figting monsters and collecting cards, but after giving a several page introduction in the instruction manuel, it felt like the game was unrelated to that story.

Ratings

Graphics 7.2
Gameplay 7.5
Plot 6.2
Overall 7.5


Bottom Line: This game was fun to play, especially if you liked the card game. However, it just isn't good enough in graphics, gameplay, or plot to be considered a great game in 1997, let alone 1999. If you like this kind of game, then you will probably enjoy Magic, if not, spend your money elsewhwere.


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