A new game has hit Facebook very recently (I think within the last hour) and I'm already hooked. It's a game derived from an episode of the funniest show on television: The Big Bang Theory. In one of the earlier episodes the gang is playing what seems to be a card/board game called Mystic Warlords of Ka'a. Raj wants to win a local tournament and is trying to find a way to get Sheldon (who is awesome at the game) to team up with him. The hook ends up being WHEATOOOOOON!!! and is the episode which brings Wil Wheaton to the show as a sporadically recurring nemesis for Sheldon.
The game showed off in the show seemed to be little more than players playing cards with ludicrous names until someone won. There seemed to be some hierarchy for what cards beat which other cards but they didn't flesh anything out beyond the fact that enchanted bunny was really bad.
The game on Facebook shares a name, and it shares some characters from the show, and a primary mechanic is that you play ludicrously named cards back and forth until someone wins. They added on a concept of life totals, and a sub-game with combat that reminds me a lot of the Facebook game The Warlords in that you randomly get cards in play and they attack according to a predefined AI with no player input. The also turned it from a card/board game into a full on CCG where you build your own deck. One of the promotional quest cards you can earn? Enchanted bunny!
I was hoping the game would just be a marketing engine for CBS and the tv show (seems like a great use of funds would be to hire a couple co-op students and have them churn something like this out) but unfortunately it seems to be taking the standard path of a Facebook game. You get a limited number of actions which recharge over time and you can pay some real money to get more actions. Because it's a CCG you can also pay money for more cards to build stronger decks.
I'm going to play it for a while for sure, if only because it's themed on The Big Bang Theory and (like most people who would read this) I strongly identify with one of the characters on the show. I don't intend on shelling out cash for a marketing tool, but I will be part of the marketing engine itself by posting about it... Go play the game! Send me some free gifts and I'll send some back!
I actually think the game is really well designed if you play matches instead of duels. Duels are about who has the biggest numbers, but I've been trouncing people in matches based on having a better thought out deck already.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty amazed at the balance. Obviously there were a bunch of random things happening, but I was impressed that 1's are more powerful on the battle board than 3's (which is completely right given the game mechanics, but not intuitive) and that there are 6's and 7's around the right power level to have a chance to come back if your opponent got an early lead.
While the game has a significant random element, I'm finding lots of areas for my play to improve, and I can even see how someone who was ridiculously good at the game would have a very large advantage over someone playing an obvious strategy.
I agree the limited actions thing is a nuisance, but I'd say that this is clearly the best facebook game I've played so far.