Marvel Trading Card Game (PSP)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.5 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Ryan Davis
• Reviewed on: 03/06/2007
• Released on: 02/27/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Marvel Trading Card Game (PSP) Review

Upper Deck Entertainment, one of the more prominent purveyors of collectible trading-card games today, has teamed up with Konami to bring Upper Deck's Marvel-licensed TCG to the PlayStation Portable with the succinctly, if dryly, named Marvel Trading Card Game. It seems like a solid representation of Upper Deck's robust, flexible, and rather popular Vs. System Trading Card Game, and it packs a feature-rich online element that's already teeming with activity. As is the case with most digitized TCGs, it's not a particularly exciting game to watch. If you're not already knee-deep in the real-world Vs. System Trading Card Game, or other similarly advanced TCGs, it can be a confusing experience, as well.

In concept, Marvel Trading Card Game is a straightforward exercise in strategy. Two players, each armed with a deck of cards, take turns "attacking" one another by playing various cards with unique characteristics until one player has had all of his or her hit points depleted. Cards are divided into several different categories: characters, equipment, locations, and plot twists. Characters are probably the most significant cards, as these are what you'll use to actually attack your opponent, while equipment and locations can be used to enhance their abilities. Plot twists are also of great import, due largely to the wide range of effects they can have, from simply buffing up one of your character cards for a turn to forcing your opponent to discard cards. Plot twists can also be chained together, which can potentially cause several reversals of fortune within a single character clash.

Before you can put any characters into play, though, you'll need to meet their resource requirements. You can choose to play any card in your hand as a resource at the start of your turn, similar to the way mana cards are played in Magic: The Gathering. Likewise, you can only add a single card to your resources during any given turn, which generally causes the action to build up slowly over the course of a match, since it will take time to garner the necessary resources to put your more powerful characters into play. There's certainly a significant element of luck to your success, since you'll be drawing cards randomly from your deck, but there are several thick layers of strategy to it as well. Which characters you play is important, as each has a unique attack and defense rating that will determine how it'll fare against other characters, but where you actually place them on the playing field can matter just as much. There are two rows you can play your characters in--front and back--and how they'll behave when placed in either can depend on whether they have flight abilities and ranged attacks. Where they're placed in proximity to other characters that share their team affiliation matters, too.

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Marvel Trading Card Game (PSP): $13.99 - $19.99

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	$19.99	Yes

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