I must be honest.  I wasn’t one of those kind of guys in school that would spend the entirety of their senior high lunch breaks inside the library, whipping out their fine collection of Magic cards and sneaking bites of stale turkey sandwiches behind the librarians back.  I was never immersed in the culture of Magic, but playing MAGIC: The Gathering Battlegrounds gave me a taste of what I had missed several years ago, a fairly solid game experience.

Though I am confident that the main audience Secret Level developed Battlegrounds for is targeted at Magic fans and collectors, gamers everywhere will certainly find something they like with this title.  The game fits into the rarely seen category of strategy-fighter, with certain RTS elements to keep each game you play unique and fast-paced.  Fighting against another foe, given the multitude of playable characters available), you must cast spells, enchantments, and summon creatures to defeat your enemy duelist and anything he uses against you.  Though you wont be seeing any combo punch and kick sequences, the game gives you the ability for basic hand-to-hand combat for protection and assault.  The excitement doesn’t exist as you summon individual creatures or take your time in each attack and defense, because online mode alone would eat you alive and spit you to the Magma Giant for a nice bone crushing.  Only when your screen is filled with creatures and spells, fighting an epic battle for just a taste of their opponent’s blood, does Battlegrounds truly match up to its value.

From researching the card game, the turn-based aspect it carries comes back for the video game.  When a creature sustains damage equal to its toughness, it is destroyed but rematerializes at its casting point for a little more action (presuming that they have some life left).  The battleground is separated by a single line, indicating your area and your opponents area.  Crossing your line will damage your character’s health every 2 seconds and your only capabilities are melee attacks and stealing mana crystals and shards while in your foe’s side of the arena.  There are other interesting curve balls that are thrown to you, but it makes the game play a little extra special.  There are several modes you can choose from: Quest (A six-chapter adventure that is your basic tutorial), Arcade Duel (computer controlled), and Duel Online (fighting against human opponents from around the world).  Though you’ll feel the urge to head immediately into the Arcade and Online modes, it is necessary to learn all the commands, creatures, and spells so as not to be branded “newbie in training.”  Completing the entire adventure will also unlock all the duelists hidden in the game.  You are only given 10 possible spells to use in Arcade and Online mode, so use your spells wisely and keep up-to-date on revising your spell book.  For what the game play had, however, part of me looked for more.  With such a wide variety of cards available for Magic and no real melee potential, its all about the number of spells, enchantments, and creatures available.  I look forward to the upcoming updates for newer content, because without it the replay value would be low.

Graphically, I was disappointed.  For a game that offers one camera angle, in arenas smaller than tennis courts, the capabilities could have been endless.  The character models are quite simplistic, the environment animation is limited, but it did carry some nice magic effects.  The same goes for sound, with little voice acting and soundtrack appeal.  It is obvious that the eggs in this basket went into gameplay.

Generally, Battlegrounds will greatly appeal to fans of the Magic experience.  Combining strategy with fighting, regular gamers and hardcore Magic fans will appreciate the unique style of the game but will probably get tired with the simplistic control currently available.  Patches and updates will help, but in the long run it doesn’t significantly stand out in the crowd.

Gameplay: 8.5
Elements of the RTS and fighting genres will turn heads.  But some will complain about the over-simplicity.

Graphics: 6.8
With only one set camera angle, a small environment to work with, and turn- based fighting, graphics usually aren't jeopardized.  However, the simplicity isn't very attractive.

Sound: 7.0
I always like to say that the sound compliments the graphics.  But in this case, that's not so good.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard

Concept: 8.0
The famous card game in cd-format = cries of joy heard from Magic users worldwide.

Multiplayer: 8.3
Multiplayer comes through, but be prepared for masters of Magic.

Overall: 7.4
It's a solid, simplistic, game that will have its share of friends and foes that play it.