When I was alerted to the imminent release of "Duels of the Planeswalkers" on PC I jumped at it.  After all, £7 isn't a high price tag compared to the cost of purchasing all the physical cards.  Having been developed and released on the XBox 360 for a year I was glad to get my hands on the game in a platform I could enjoy.  Besides, Free Cell has stolen my "waiting for other people to get their act together in MMOs" time and something else that isn't quite so shameful to play would be good.

I best start off this review by saying that my experience of the actual card game is limited.  I am the proud possessor of 2 starter decks and a dozen bonus packs from the 2010 edition of the game, but a lack of a willing duelling partner has left me little more than enthusiastic newbie with a handful of games under my belt.  Sure I could have gone along to a local game night or two but the thought of having my butt handed to me by a smug teenager isn't overly appealing to me.

First thing to note about this game is the graphics are not amazing but they don't need to be.  You should be watching the cards rather than the engravings on the battlefield after all.  The cards are faithfully reproduced with all symbols as they appear on the physical cards and the effects of these cards are animated in a pleasant and straightforward way.  One thing is clear: this isn't some high budget AAA game, but an acceptable port of the card game into the virtual environment.  I was mildly disappointed that there weren't 3d models of the creatures hovering over their cards on the battlefield.  It would have been a nice touch to see a goblin taking a leap at the opponent or their creatures while forests, mountains or graveyards set the backdrop.   

As I'm not the best M:TG player and it's been several months since my last game, I fire up the tutorial game.  It lays out the various phases of the game, indicates which cards I can play when and directs me to winning the game.  Simples.  It's not always obvious where I should be clicking which leads to a little frustration, but the tutorial and associated help will get any new comer to the game up to speed in no time.

Decks and cards are unlocked by beating NPC Planewalker opponents.  They're scaled so as to provide more and more of a challenge based on your previous M:TG experience and how you're doing overall.  You start off with 2 basic decks (fire and forest), with an additional 17 cards being unlockable and another 6 or so decks to get.  Deckbuilding in the traditional sense is very limited

I have a few complaints about the game.  Mainly that the pace of combat is sluggish.  I expect this can be altered by changing one of the game's many settings (such as turning off animations) but it feels counterproductive to do so at my current skill level so I'm left watching the clock.  Call me impatient if you like.  The music is understandably but infuriatingly repetitive.

That said it is a good approximation of the card game and enjoyable to play.  If you're used to the card version I think you'll find this lacking, but otherwise it's worth the price tag. 

Planeswalker: Faithful to the original game, all the cards without the expense

Lameswalker: Ponderous combat speed, all the cards without the addiction of deckbuilding