Culdcept Saga is one of the most surprisingly enjoyable games I have played in a while. I ignored the demo entirely, but when the retail version arrived for review I gave it a shot. And I have been completely hooked ever since. There is just something about this strategy-collectible card game that is incredibly addictive and very rewarding. It isn’t going to be for everyone due to the investment of time it takes to play and the hardcore nerdiness it usually takes to play any CCG, but Culdcept Saga is amazingly fun and well worth checking out.
Quick HitsTitle: Culdcept Saga
Platform:Xbox 360
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Developer: Omiya Soft
ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
Genre: Strategy, CCG
Pros: Incredibly addictive and rewarding; cool card designs; $40 price; Xbox Live play;
Cons: Very difficult; battles can last for hours; graphics and sound are decidedly last gen
Features
Culdcept Saga is sort of the director’s cut of a game that came out on PS2 a few years ago called Culdcept. The major differences are that Saga features 200 new cards, bringing to total to 487, and Xbox Live play. The graphics have been bumped up to high res, but still look very much like they were created with a lesser system in mind. For just $40, though, which is as much as the PS2 version costs used if you can find it, Culdcept Saga has a lot to offer at a pretty reasonable price.
In case you aren’t familiar with it, Culdcept Saga is a collectible card game (CCG) that is best described as Monopoly-meets-Magic the Gathering. The gist of it is that you build a deck of monsters and weapons and armor and magic and then battle it out with up to three others on game boards. There is quite a bit more to the gameplay, but more on that below. There is a story that winds its way through the card battles, but it doesn’t really have any impact on what you do and is pretty forgettable overall. One other interesting thing about the game is that there isn’t any overworld to explore. Your time spent with the game is only in menus customizing your character or building your deck, and then in actual card battles on the game boards.
Gameplay
Namco BandaiThe real meat of Culdcept Saga is in the battles. I’m not going to go into all of the details of the gameplay in this review, because it would take a lot more space than I have available. The basics are that you roll a die and more around a board and can place monsters on each square you land on. When a character lands on a square occupied by an enemy monster, a battle sequence begins where they pick the monster they want to use and then both players can assign weapons and armor to make their monster stronger. All of the monsters have different HP and ST, some will get bonuses, some will always attack first, etc. and it is up to you to learn all of the ins and outs of the game so that you can make the right choices about what and when and where to play.
One thing that needs to be said about Culdcept Saga is that it can be very difficult. The outcome of a game can come down to one lucky (or unlucky) roll of the die and the entire landscape of the current game can change on one turn. The battles can also be very, very long. 1-3 hours has been my average. And when you lose you have to do it all over again. Just to show you how difficult it is, on the fourth match you have in the whole game, it took me 6 tries to finally beat it. One very smart thing about this game is that you earn new cards whether you win or lose, and you can go back to previous battles and earn new cards there as well.
And that is really what makes Culdcept Saga so fun and so addictive. You constantly earn new cards to use, and customizing your deck to take advantage of your new toys is just plain fun. And, like I said, the game is very difficult, but when you win a long battle it is incredibly satisfying because you really had to earn it with smart play and a fair bit of luck. Even when you lose long battles, you never really feel frustrated because there is almost always something you could have done different or better and that motivates you to keep playing.
Graphics and Sound
The presentation in Culdcept Saga isn’t going to impress anyone. The game board suffers from bland backgrounds and the models for the characters moving around the board and the little animated monsters occupying the squares lack anything resembling detail. The artwork on the cards is very nice, though, and has been drawn by an all-star team of artists from Japan. The sound isn’t too bad, but you hear the same monster sound effects over and over and over and it starts to grate. The music is generally acceptable.
Bottom Line
Namco BandaiCuldcept Saga is a fantastic game that is an absolute blast to play. It is not for everyone, though. The length of time it takes to play is definitely an issue, and the difficulty might turn some people away. But like I said, it is very rewarding to collect new cards and extremely satisfying when you win, so the difficulty shouldn’t be too much of an issue. It takes quite a while to really get to where you know what you are doing, but if you can get over that 6-hour hump, in which you’ll likely have already fallen in love with the game, then the game is golden. Having the option to play other people over Xbox Live is a very welcome addition to the game, and playing humans is usually far more interesting than the AI characters, but the games can take seemingly forever to play through. I guess, though, that if the people you could potentially play with liked the game enough to buy it, they probably are going to be willing to see things through to the end. All in all, Culdcept Saga is a surprisingly fun game that hooks you and won’t let you go. I can’t quite recommend it for a blind purchase, but it is definitely worth checking out so give it a rental or play the demo and then decide if you want to buy it.
