I see your Frost Nymph and raise you a Cerberus
The card game, War, works on a fairly simple ruleset. Two players split the deck. Each player shows their top card. The player with the higher numbered card takes both cards for their own deck. Gradually, one player will end up with all the cards and be declared victor. Fantasy card game, Orions: Legend of Wizards, takes this simple premise and adds a few more elements. First, a player's health is contingent upon hit-points instead of the amount of cards in their deck. Second, each card is evaluated based on creature or spell attributes instead of a single number.
These changes create whole new layers of strategy in Orions. You can lay down a series of creatures to defend yourself--think of a line of pawns on a chessboard--or you can cast spells like Fireball that directly decrease the opposing player's health. The game's built-in tutorial explains the rules in more depth, but the battles themselves are fast-paced and well-balanced, with creatures' strengths and weaknesses fitting together in Rock-Paper-Scissors combinations.
Leave the women. Bring me their cards.
In addition to one-on-one card battles against a friend or the AI, Orions offers a more expansive Campaign mode. While duels often depend on the luck of the draw, the campaign mode gives players more control over their cards. At the start of a campaign, you're dropped onto a map dotted with floating land masses. You have the choice of defending your home island or attacking those of your neighbors. As you defeat opponents, you gain attribute points to build structures at your base, thereby giving you access to more powerful cards. The more we played, the more we wanted to collect all seventy-five cards, all of which are adorned with wonderful fantasy artwork. Orions: Legend of Wizards is one of the deepest card games we've played, tabletop or digital.
Both the card battles and campaign management tools are addictively fun and challenging against the AI. Our only complaint is that we couldn't share in the fun with other players on the net. The game lacks online multiplayer, but the local multiplayer on a single iPhone mitigates this flaw.Orions: Legend of Wizards is a stunningly deep card battle game with a simple ruleset, balanced combat and an engaging card collection mechanic.
Beautiful artwork. Engaging combat. Strategic building elements. Challenging AI.
No online mutliplayer.
