Game Reviews

Tekken Card Tournament

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Tekken Card Tournament

The problem with a lot of card battlers is that they don't feature much in the way of gameplay. You wander around a map and occasionally sit back and watch as some of the pretty pieces of digital cardboard you've collected have a go at one another.

Tekken Card Tournament is different. Here you need to plan carefully, outfox your opponents, and build up a deck of cards that's going to be able to pull you out of even the most desperate of situations.

Tekken the hard road

First you need to pick a character. There are eight to choose from to begin with, representing some of the most famous brawlers from the Tekken franchise, incluing Paul Phoenix, Kazuya Mishima, Yoshimitsu, and Panda.

Each brawler has his own strengths and weaknesses, which are represented by the cards you can use with them. You only ever take 15 into a fight with you, and at first none of your cards is particularly dangerous.

Fights are broken up into ten-second bites, during which you choose on of three actions. Focus lets you draw a card, Strike attacks your foe, and Block allows you to repel two cards' worth of damage. The first fighter to have his hit points reduced to zero loses.

Your cards do different levels of damage, and some of them have special boosts that only happen in specific circumstances. You don't control the order they come out in, but it is up to you when you start punching and when you duck and cover.

Tekken one for the team

The fisticuffs quickly turn into a battle of cat and mouse as you try and work out what your opponent is going to do next. Do you push on and get another card; risk leaving yourself open and take a swing; or play it safe and block an attack that might not even happen?

After each bout you're given XP and coins. You can spend your coins on tougher and sneakier cards to add to your deck, while the XP increases your level and gives you access to more powerful equipment.

Another currency, Credits, can be spent on special cards and topping up your stamina bar. You need stamina to fight, and while it regenerates over time it's easy to find yourself low after a couple of scraps.

Taking the fight online is simple and adds an extra layer of tension to the cat-and-mouse-style fights. Outsmarting the AI is one thing, but there's something extra sweet about landing a crunching blow on an opponent's jaw as he tries to focus up another card.

Tekken it out for a spin

There's a depth to Tekken Card Tournament that's severely lacking in other free-to-play card games. After an hour or so of play you've only just started to scratch the surface of what the game has to offer, and there's already a burgeoning community of fans and collectors around the game.

That sort of support is essential if the game is going to thrive - there's nothing worse than getting good at a game and not being able to find anyone to batter online.

Some might find the free-to-play model a little too steep, but it makes sense in this instance, turning the game into a digital CCG. So, while it won't be to everyone's taste, Tekken fans will relish the setting, and anyone with a penchant for clever, well-built collectible card games will love it too.

Tekken Card Tournament

A clever and addictive card battler, Tekken Card Tournament offers the sort of tactical consideration its contemporaries sorely lack
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Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.