Magic Duels: Origins
Overview -
The 'Duels of the Planeswalkers' series spun off from the collectible card game (CCG) 'Magic: The Gathering', which is immensely popular. The 'Duels' games are developed by Stainless and are more casual in nature than the electronic version of 'Magic': 'Magic: The Gathering Online' ('MtGO'). A new version of 'Duels' has been released nearly every year since 2009.
Video Review
The visuals are decent if not great, but the beautiful art of the 'Magic' cards is fully represented. Maneuvering around the board is still a bit of a pain, especially when trying to get into the opponent’s graveyard, but the series has made serious improvements since the early releases. Unfortunately, there are long load times, and hangs are common during matches. The brief cinematics after each campaign look cheap.
Audio Review
The soundtrack is rather bland, with lots of soft piano and percussion. It doesn't do much to liven up matches, although a few tracks stand out from the rest. The sound effects are adequate and there is no voice acting - during the campaign, all information is relayed via text during the load screens.
Final Thoughts
Every version of 'Duels' over the years has been fun, but has been missing something - a deck builder, an ergonomic interface, etc. This year's iteration, 'Magic Duels: Origins,' is missing several of them and is a skeleton of 'Magic' draped in the fool’s gold of the free-to-play model. Perhaps Stainless can use it to build something really cool in a few years' time, with lots of modes and cards and avenues of play. As it is, it's hardly worth playing even with its asking price of free.
