Marvel Snap Review – MCCGU

With the advent of digital collectible card games, there has been an explosion of different approaches to the genre. For the most part, though, new games adapt the basics of his CCG physics. Hearthstone veteran studio Second Dinner uses Marvel Snap to scale collectible card games down to their most essential parts and reimagine them in a combination of elegantly simple systems that don’t feel simple. is created.

Like many other modern card games, Marvel Snap automates the equivalent of mana or energy, adding 1 unit per turn. Each game he lasts only six turns, with no direct combat between characters or the choice of “facing” to damage enemy scrubs or directly damage the player. Instead, the goal is for him to accumulate maximum power in three locations. At the end of 6 turns, whoever controls 2 of the 3 places wins the match, with the draw determined by his total power in all 3.

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These three locations are randomly selected from a large pool, each introducing its own complexity and elements, with areas ranging from simple to silly. The symbiotic planet Clinter undermines all cards played there, while New York’s Central Park adds 1 power of Squirrel elsewhere. The location is revealed from left to right in the first 3 turns. Due to its random nature, a surprise third place in the middle of a match can completely shake your strategy, and in some cases you’ll have to blindly play your hero to undisclosed locations to gamble. sometimes.

As you can imagine, the locations are inspired by famous locations from the Marvel Comics and Cinematic Universes. Westview, taken from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, turns into another random location on turn four. This is WandaVision’s homage to the story. Bruce Banner’s Gamma Lab turns all cards into Hulk. If you can stash a lot of low value cards there, you can create a big power swing. These locations are his one of the most original homages to the Marvel canon. Especially if you’re familiar with the comics and can recognize things like Space Throne.

The hero cards themselves are also built around Marvel’s mainstays, more similar in concept than location but less original at times. It’s a clever imagining of how to express it within the mechanics of Snap. For example, Iron Man doubles his level of power in a place by equipping every card with an Arc Reactor. Captain America inspires teammates and gives other cards continuous boosts wherever they are. And in a cute touch, Quicksilver is visualized by arriving before all other cards. As such, you always start with the first hand. Half the joy of picking up new cards is seeing how these famous heroes are properly empowered in the game. There are some cards that feel like they’ve been beaten, but they’re rare exceptions.

And amidst these mechanics, Marvel Snap isn’t afraid to break its own rules. With one location, the game lasts 7 turns instead of 6. Another location sets its area of ​​control goals to have the least power, so if your opponent accidentally plays or generates a card, you may win by not playing anything there. And sometimes the game will surprise you with a completely unexpected curveball. was. This essentially made it a two-sided AI match that was hard to watch. These wild situations seem designed to happen very rarely, so it’s a pleasant surprise when they do.

By centering the game on a randomly assigned location, no two games feel exactly the same and it encourages thinking on your toes. Traditionally in his CCG, he builds his deck around a game plan or win condition, with most games revolving around fending off opponents and enforcing his plans. Marvel Snap certainly maintains that level of early planning strategy, but field conditions can change quickly. Just by adapting and anticipating your opponent’s moves, you may end up winning in a completely different way than you planned. And sometimes, for better or worse, field conditions prevent us from functionally completing our plans. I built my deck around his big one-two punches on turns 5 and 6, but when I played a match summoning a Time Variance Authority location that ended the game after turn 4, it didn’t work. I understand.

Even if you draw badly or lose a match in a strange place, you will never be penalized for losing. This is because the game itself is extremely fast and poorly worded. snappyMatches last only a few minutes at most, so it’s easy to shrug off the loss and move on to the next match without spending a lot of time. It is also due to

The game looks familiar to bot matches that are presented like real opponents, but you’ll soon find yourself facing real opponents to compete in ranks. In this case, Rank is represented by the Cosmic Cube. He needs 10 cubes to rank up, and by default he gets 2 cubes for every win. However, at any point during the match, you or your opponent can “snap”. This means that he can double his bet and bet that he will win. If one player snaps and the game continues, you are playing with four cubes. If both players snap, you are playing on his 8. This introduces an element of bluffing. You can hide big game-shaking plays until the last minute, reassure your opponents so they can snap back and get more cubes. But it also means that you can retreat whenever you are unsure of your victory. This is not just a standard concession. In fact, you can retreat some cubes instead of continuing the match that you end up losing. Coming out of a doomed match where he only lost one cube when his opponent tried to raise the stake to four he actually feels like a relief rather than a loss.

Shorter games also mean smaller decks (only 12 cards total), which makes deck building more appealing and less intimidating. Even after playing Hearthstone for years, I often find it difficult to build decks with 30+ cards. In Marvel Snap, the deck size is so small that it’s easy to mess around with. Swap out one infrequently used card for your latest find, sample it in a few lightning-quick games, then tinker some more.

A similarly sophisticated approach has been applied to the progression mechanism. With the explosion of digital CCG, the collection approach popularized by Magic, Pokemon, and similar physical card games many years ago is now commonly used. You pay for random packs of cards and use them to build your deck. Marvel Snap breaks this paradigm and embraces another form of his CCG progression that is only truly available in a digital context. Build your collection by visually upgrading existing ones instead of opening packs of randomized cards. Earn upgrade materials through play and use them to upgrade cards with several levels of visual effects such as coming out of frame, nifty he 3D effects, and animated backgrounds. Upgrading these cards earns you a “collection rank” that progresses along the path of earning more upgrade materials and, most importantly, new cards. Then you can start upgrading those new ones and the process will start all over again.

It’s a terrifyingly compelling system that affects itself, and one that could easily be looted. Anything is possible in a live game that will continue to add content for the foreseeable future, but right now you can’t simply spend on all the best cards. There are only a few of them, so it’s pretty inefficient to level up. Instead, the monetization strategy seems to be primarily about buying variant art, such as pixelated or baby versions of characters. It seems impossible to measure how much, but it’s also purely visual prosperity.

Another form of monetization comes in the form of Season Passes, which reward new cards, credits, and other bonuses for completing missions. In my experience so far, this is also surprisingly generous and low impact. rice field. After just a few days, I was already catching up and was able to start pocketing new missions as they gradually unlocked. It doesn’t take long and takes a big step towards the Season Pass mission. This is a game that we want you to check in on often for a few moments, rather than immersing yourself in it for hours at a time.

It’s too late for that, honestly. I’ve already spent hours on Marvel Snap and am hooked. The game is tweaked, well-designed, and so easy to digest that it’s hard to put down. After completing a daily or season pass mission, you find yourself continuing to play simply because you want to play another match or try a new card. Second Dinner has laid an incredible foundation here. I think Marvel Snap will continue to fascinate me.

https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/marvel-snap-review-mccgu/1900-6417991/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f Marvel Snap Review – MCCGU

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