Magic 2014 XBLA Review (DLC added 5/11/13)

Developed by Stainless Games

Published by Wizards of the Coast

Price: 800MSP / £6.75

First things first, I'll admit I'm not a Magic the Gathering player nor was I at all versed in the rules of Magic the Gathering prior to playing this game. So if you are reading this review expecting a huge rundown of the differences between Magic 2014 and it's three XBLA predecessors, then you have come to the wrong place. I am however able to provide a beginners point of view to those who might be interested in dabbling in a bit of Magic but have never taken the plunge.


For the uninitiated, Magic 2014 is based on the real-life collectible card game which pits players against each other in deathly duels. Each player represents a powerful wizard, whose cards represent spells, items and creatures used to knock seven shades out of the other players. On first impressions, it isn't the most straight-forward of games either, so for newcomers it can certainly be daunting.

Starting up the game, I was pleasantly surprised by a cinematic introduction and a big-budget, dramatic sounding theme tune. Thankfully, Magic 2014 also starts by asking you how much Magic you've played before; none, a little or a lot. I selected none, and it launched me straight into a tutorial mode, which is split into six battles, each one introducing a new aspect of play, starting with how land is required to summon creatures, and moving on to explain special cards, such as 'instants' and 'enchantments'. The tutorials are all fairly comprehensive, and certainly helped me gain a good understanding of the game. If you are unable to do all six tutorial battles in one sitting, or you just want to brush up on your skills, you can always access them again from the 'help and options' menu, which is very useful.


After a good couple of hours playing through the tutorial battles, I got started on the real meat of the game. The standard campaign consists of 5 chapters, each with 5 battles. Outside of this mode, the game also offers 'sealed-deck' play, a mode where you actually get to open booster packs and build up your ingame deck from the cards you find. You are limited to holding 2 custom decks though, and while more can be purchased, the idea feels a bit too much like a micro-transaction style scheme you would find in free-to-play games, not in full paid titles. Throwing this small niggle aside, this sealed campaign treats you to 7 new battles. Further to this, there is also a challenge mode, which gives you 10 extra, tougher battles.

Winning duels and playing through the campaign unlocks new characters, individual cards and whole decks, and you can keep track of all your unlockables using the 'player stats' option on the title screen. Unlocking new cards to add to your decks is a nice touch, as you feel like you're making your deck that bit stronger with each game, and so feel ready to take on tougher opponents as you go along.


The looks of Magic 2014 are adequate. I'm not actually sure how much you can do with a card game, but the cards are placed on a futuristic glowing table, and the cards themselves are clean and crisp. The controls are simple yet responsive, and the HUD is clear and easy to read. Sounds are minimal in the game, consisting mainly of the clicks of card selection, and the sounds of magical attacks and swords swinging as you attack your opponent. It serves its purpose well and isn't at all out of place.

In terms of longevity, This game will really last you some time. There are 42 unique battles across the three single player game modes, and then endless combinations of battles via Xbox Live with up to 4 players. 400 gamerscore is offered, and you will need to play varying degrees of all the game modes to obtain all of the achievements. With each battle taking anywhere between 10 and 45 minutes, you're looking at a lot of game time for your measly 800 Microsoft Points.

Magic 2014 can seem somewhat boring to those who don't know the rules, and for these people, it's not really a game you can start to enjoy until you have sat down and really spent some time with the tutorials to fully appreciate the gameplay mechanics. It's certainly not the most accessible game, and it's definitely for a niche market. Once it clicks into place however the game picks up the pace, duels become faster to play and the whole experience becomes much more enjoyable. Magic 2014 works well as an introduction to the series and being the fourth XBLA Magic title, newcomers that do enjoy it now have three other games to go back through when they get the urge for some more Magic action! Overall, this is a very pleasing strategic game, if you're willing to put the time in to learn it that is.

Score 8/10

 




November 2013 Update: Magic 2014 Expansion

So I've had some time to sit down with the DLC pack recently. Booting the game back up, I had forgotten how truely awesome and atmospheric the title music is on Magic 2014!

Music aside, what does this DLC pack offer?  Well, it adds five new card decks (for a total of 15 decks), new campaign levels, areas and Planeswalkers to duel, and five new challenge levels. It also adds 8 new achievements, giving you an additional 100G (totalling 500G). The DLC pack itself costs £3.39/$4.99, so for the amount of new cards this gives you access to, it is still a significant saving over getting into the real-life paper version of the game.

Graphically, this pack is identical to the main game, and the gameplay and control mechanics haven't changed either. The addition of different cards however brings new tactics and ways to play, and creating custom decks with these new found cards will keep battles fresh and mix things up nicely when duelling online.

The new campaign levels and challenges will last you a good few hours, so longevity is pretty reasonable, particularly for an XBLA piece of DLC. What I found great about the way this DLC is incorporated is that it adds 'Expansion Campaign' as a separate item on the main menu of the game. As you have to play through the campaign levels in order, defeating each level to unlock the next, this means that if you get stuck in one campaign you can swap and change for a bit rather than getting frustrated and giving up. As I have yet to finish the main campaign, it was a relief that I wasn't forced to do this first to enjoy the DLC campaign levels! The game's narrative breaks a little with this design decision however, as the story of the expansion is clearly told as if picking up from the end of the main campaign. So if you haven't completed it beforehand, there is a huge chunk of the story missing. Thankfully the storyline to the game is very shallow (although admittedly thematic), so this oversight isn't a game-breaker by any means.

Overall, there is not a great deal to say about this DLC pack other than this: if you loved the main game you will love the DLC. Magic 2014 (+ Expansion) is still a great game to introduce you to the world of Magic: The Gathering, and as such this DLC pack merely enhances the longevity of Magic 2014 and so scores exactly the same as the original game did.

Nice review pal.
Like yourself I have never played any of these but the tutorial sounds great should I ever have a crack at it.

Very well done review matey! Never played anything like this, I've thought about trying the previous version in the past as I think i'd quite like it if I was in the mood, but with having so many other Xbla games I never got round to it. Maybe one day! Your review certainly helps my intrigue levels!

Good work Waggles me old china!

Well done matey, great work!

Great review but not for me

Nice work mate

I think I have three versions of this bought on sale. Think I should work on those before having a crack at this!

Good work though mate. 

Edited in a quick review for the DLC. Been meaning to get this up for a little while now,   but here it is incase you don't want to scroll to the top:


November 2013 Update: Magic 2014 Expansion

So I've had some time to sit down with the DLC pack recently. Booting the game back up, I had forgotten how truely awesome and atmospheric the title music is on Magic 2014!

Music aside, what does this DLC pack offer?  Well, it adds five new card decks (for a total of 15 decks), new campaign levels, areas and Planeswalkers to duel, and five new challenge levels. It also adds 8 new achievements, giving you an additional 100G (totalling 500G). The DLC pack itself costs £3.39/$4.99, so for the amount of new cards this gives you access to, it is still a significant saving over getting into the real-life paper version of the game.

Graphically, this pack is identical to the main game, and the gameplay and control mechanics haven't changed either. The addition of different cards however brings new tactics and ways to play, and creating custom decks with these new found cards will keep battles fresh and mix things up nicely when duelling online.

The new campaign levels and challenges will last you a good few hours, so longevity is pretty reasonable, particularly for an XBLA piece of DLC. What I found great about the way this DLC is incorporated is that it adds 'Expansion Campaign' as a separate item on the main menu of the game. As you have to play through the campaign levels in order, defeating each level to unlock the next, this means that if you get stuck in one campaign you can swap and change for a bit rather than getting frustrated and giving up. As I have yet to finish the main campaign, it was a relief that I wasn't forced to do this first to enjoy the DLC campaign levels! The game's narrative breaks a little with this design decision however, as the story of the expansion is clearly told as if picking up from the end of the main campaign. So if you haven't completed it beforehand, there is a huge chunk of the story missing. Thankfully the storyline to the game is very shallow (although admittedly thematic), so this oversight isn't a game-breaker by any means.

Overall, there is not a great deal to say about this DLC pack other than this: if you loved the main game you will love the DLC. Magic 2014 (+ Expansion) is still a great game to introduce you to the world of Magic: The Gathering, and as such this DLC pack merely enhances the longevity of Magic 2014 and so scores exactly the same as the original game did.

Good work mate

Well done fella for going back and adding more content did grab the recent freebie 2013? will have to give it a go see if changes my original thoughts about getting this.

Yeah I grabbed the 2013 freebie recently too. Haven't tried it yet, but I think it's pretty safe to say that if you like one of these games you will like them all.

Good shizz mate.