Battleforge

Genre(s): Strategy/Turn-Based Strategy

Metacritic Score: 75 out of 100

Price: Free; Cash Shop

Link: http://www.battleforge.com/

Description:
BattleForge is a fantasy online real-time strategy game where you assemble your own army with collectible trading cards. Win, trade and buy your cards online to create your ultimate deck. Mix and match the elements of your cards to play with your friends online and conquer massive online battlegrounds. For mortals caught in a clash between insane gods and ancient giants, standing together is the only option. Using the forces of Fire, Frost, Nature and Shadow a mysterious Forge which makes legends come to life, is their single hope to create armies powerful enough to overcome these impossible odds. It is now time to set out and reclaim an epic fantasy world which has been overthrown by sinister powers in the twilight of a dying sun.

The gods are gone and the sun is beginning to die while under the surface of Nyn the mortals live in pain and fear. But not all is lost as the Sovereigns of the Heavens awaken and enter the Forge of Creation. A place where strange energies allow the Sovereigns to bring back to live everything that has ever been written down or sung about. With this power it’s the duty of the Sovereigns to destroy evil and help the mortals to conquer their fear and get back up to the surface.

BattleForge is a real-time strategy game mixed with elements from trading card games like Magic: The Gathering. After logging into his account, the player has over one hundred cards available which are divided into four different categories: Fire, Frost, Shadow and Nature. Each card represents either a unit, a squad of units or a building with different abilities and requirements. The player needs to pick up to 20 of these cards to form a deck. He isn’t bound to take only cards from one category but instead can use whatever he things might be useful in the upcoming fight.

If he isn’t satisfied with the cards available to him, he can also buy BattleForge points for real money to spend on additional booster packs (8 cards) or hit the auction house and trade cards. In addition after successfully completing a mission the player earns up to four cards as a reward. Having two or more of the same card together with an upgrade card for it and some gold allows the player to upgrade the original card, making it more powerful but also more costly at the same time.

When a deck is complete, the missions await on a map of the world but as the game has a heavy focus on multiplayer, only a small portion of them can be completed alone. In most cases the player has to join other willing sovereigns in the fight for good and can do so even while the battle is already raging.

Once on the battlefield, the two resources of the game come into play: Energy and Spheres. Energy is automatically produced by energy points on the map which are captured by placing a energy fountain on it. Spheres on the other hand are placed on top of monuments also scattered around the map. Which kind of sphere the player places on top decides to which kind of units he has access to. Placing a green sphere allows the usage of green cards for example. The more powerful a card is, the more active spheres are necessary to be able to use them but they don’t necessarily need to be all of the same color. A unit can for example require two spheres to be available: One of the same color and one random. In addition once a card has been played a predefined number of times, it needs to recharge before it can be used again.

When a card is available to be played out and enough energy available, the player just takes it from his deck and places it on the battlefield near a friendly unit to spawn the corresponding units or buildings at that point. This allows the player to get reinforcements everywhere on the map as long as one unit is still alive. If everyone is dead, energy fountains and monuments can be used as a spawn point. Once a unit or building has been placed, the game plays like every other real-time strategy game with ordering units around and activating their special abilities.

Publisher: Electronic Arts, Inc.

Developer: EA Phenomic

Release Date: March 23, 2009

Players: One to Four players

ERSB: T (Teen)

Sample Gameplay Video: