I am returning to PSPGN today to write a special review. I received several requests for a review of this game, so here goes.
The title of the game offers a pretty good description; Neverland Card Battles is a fantasy-themed card collecting RPG. The game, produced by Yuke’s, was released last week in the ‘States. The fundamental game play involves building a deck, drawing cards, and using them against your opponent’s cards. Defeating an opponent will earn you new cards with which you can improve your deck and move on to tougher opponents. The twist is that battles take place on gridded map. Each grid square that you land on will add one point to your territory score, or mana. These points allow you to summon and keep monsters on the board, as well as perform magic.
The game features 2 modes: story and versus. The story mode only includes 16 different levels, but the replay value is high thanks to 200 unique cards to collect. Versus mode allows you to play against a friend using different characters (sadly, ad-hoc support only).
So, how well do the mechanics work? The difficulty is well balanced. You can challenge new opponents at your own pace, choosing to either build your deck in the easier levels or plan your moves carefully in the more difficult ones. I do have one complaint about the game play - you never seem to have enough cards. You can only draw one card per turn. So, if you play a full hand in one turn, it can take you another 5 turns just to get a full hand again. There are times when you will have to spend several turns running away from your opponent until you even get a playable card.
The biggest downfall in the game, however, is the graphics. The top-down board view looks great, but as soon as you enter attack mode or shuffle through your deck, the graphics take a big dive. Editing your deck should be simple enough, but it becomes troublesome due to the fact that all your cards look like abstract pixel art. The animation in attack mode looks like it belongs on the Gameboy Advance.
The storyline attached to Neverland Card Battles isn’t great either. To its credit though, the game does features some pretty good voice acting.
Overall, Neverland Card Battles is really fun. The first time I popped the game in, I wasn’t that impressed. However, the game drew me back in again and again. If you can set aside the weak graphics, lame story, and minor game play bumps, then prepare to lose your evenings over this addicting title.
