Richard Haturnmay – March 08, 2022

Magic The Gathering Duel Of The Planeswalkers Download

Overview

Duels of the Planeswalkers is an expanded re-release of Microprose's original Magic: The Gathering game for the PC. Featured in this release are 400 cards from the Fourth Edition ready, plus 80 new cards from the Legends and The Dark card sets. This release likewise features the introduction of Manalink, the new online matchmaking software for employ with the Ten gaming network. If you already own the original Magic: The Gathering for PC, then yous tin go a $15 rebate when you purchase this expansion.

Gameplay

Duels of the Planeswalkers (DOTP for brusque) is really 2 games in one. Microprose has finally shored upwardly the Internet matchmaking capabilities for this title, something that players have been wanting for some time. Let's confront it: Magic: The Gathering was fabricated for man-to-human combat. Y'all get the most challenge, and hopefully the nearly satisfaction, by dueling your friends or competing in tournaments. The original release of this game left a lot to be desired in this area, but happily, DOTP offers the kind of back up that gamers have been waiting for.

With that said, there is a single-player game here, and I must commend Microprose for accomplishing what I thought impossible -- making a successful single-player experience out of Magic: The Gathering. In the single-histrion game, your character moves around a map of cities and works to gratis the world of Shandalar from the oppression of the v Wizards. Y'all do this past dueling the various creatures of the land and, eventually, dueling and defeating the Wizards themselves. Sounds kinda dull, perhaps, but the style it is presented makes it work. Your character can buy and sell cards in the various cities, and tin can complete simple quests to earn Manalinks (which give you lot extra life for your adjacent duel). I spent almost as much fourth dimension playing the unmarried-player game as dueling online against real foes, and that should tell you that this is a versatile and solid gaming package.

The only existent bug I had with this game were with the single-player mode. While information technology was fun to movement around the map and duel monsters and go on quests, I did non similar the fact that there were many times when I had no choice just to duel. For case, I'd be walking towards a city to replenish my nutrient, and a Vampire Lord would set on me from nowhere, leading to a duel. In nigh games you tin can run away if fighting is not on your agenda at the moment, simply here, in one case a monster touches you, you must duel information technology -- pregnant that you could potentially lose a valuable card for simply running into a monster. The other trouble with this is that often you need to become your grapheme from point A to betoken B in a hurry to finish some creature from attacking a town. Only it'due south almost impossible to move more than thirty paces without running into -- and dueling -- a monster. This means that by the fourth dimension y'all go to point B, it's nigh e'er as well late for you to help.

Graphics

One of the areas that wasn't really changed a lot in this release were the graphics. So again, non much needed to be changed. Later all, this actually amounts to a sophisticated card game, and so in that location'due south no need for 3Dfx, super-polygon special effects or anything. Yous take the basic crisp SVGA rendering hither. The cards are shown in all their glory, except that sometimes you lot cannot read all of the text on a card (and therefore cannot fully understand a card'south special abilities). But Microprose did the right thing by making the bill of fare game itself the star of the testify here. Whatsoever actress glitz would have simply run into as superficial and annoying.

Sound

Since Magic: The Gathering is a card game, there wasn't a large need for cool audio effects or a big-budget orchestrated score. The single-thespian game has sounds and music that fit well enough with the action, only the balance of the time you volition probably non notice the audio aspect of this game too readily. That'south the mode it should be.

Documentation

Duels of the Planeswalkers comes with the aforementioned thick transmission as the original game (a wonderfully detailed accounting of the rules and nuances of the card game), every bit well as a supplemental guide for this release just, explaining the Manalink software and roofing the new game features. Nix is missing here.

System Requirements

Required: IBM PC 100MHz 80486DX/4 compatible or faster, 4X CD-ROM bulldoze, Windows 95, 16 MB RAM or college, Super VGA graphics for 640 10 480 ten 256 colors

Reviewed on: Pentium 2-266, 64 MB RAM, 16X CD-ROM drive, Diamond Stealth 2000 video card

Bottom Line

Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers is an excellent PC translation of the popular menu game. This release features many additions and improved multiplayer back up, finally fulfilling the potential of the original game. If you relish playing the card game and have been considering a purchase of a PC version, this is the ane you want. If you are curious almost the card game itself and want a basic introduction, go to your local game dealer and buy a starter kit for the card game, then sit down downwardly with a friend one nighttime to try information technology out. That way you'll only spend $x-20, and you'll get to see Magic the way it was meant to be played.

Samuel Themput

Magic The Gathering Duel Of The Planeswalkers Download UPDATED