BattleForge

Concerning gameplay, this game won’t be on top, but the fusion of collecting, trading and gaming makes Battleforge unique. Even if you have never played a trading card game in real life, this title won’t disappoint you!

Aside from some minor flaws in the community system, Battleforge is a highly addictive and very innovative RTS that promises lots of fun.

Playing cards is just something for the elderly? Not Battleforge. The game combines card collecting with fast real-time strategy. After the good tutorial you have to digest a lot of information. Just imagine starting a strategy game with the last mission. But it's worth hanging on, there are a lot of possibilities. The game even looks good.

EA Phenomic has successfully pulled off a surprisingly natural convergence of two very different types of gameplay. The combination is wickedly addictive. BattleForge isn't entirely a flawless victory, but it looks good, plays great, and gives card hoarders something new to obsess over.

Phenomic Studios and Electronic Arts have done a fantastic job in presenting a game that is both original and fun to play.

The gameplay provides easy accessibility and still manages to be tactically challenging. Too bad that the MMO-RTS-concept of BattleForge is countered by the lack of a story.

BattleForge is a unique spin on the RTS genre, with a fairly strong appeal and a rather active community of players. Break out the mana globes and obliterate your enemies!

Though the idea of micro-transactions in a full-priced game might turn some people off, BattleForge provides plenty of content for the retail price, and doesn't require additional funds to stay competitive.

While BattleForge is quite costly to play and has some shortcomings, it is one of the most thought-out and engaging multiplayer RTS of the last few years. And it is definitely the most original one.

As with most games of this nature, you can do well-enough at first using the default decks and some of your free booster cards and good strategy, but to compete at the highest levels it's going to take some of your cash to get the cards you need to build a strong and competitive deck.

A flawed but irresistible MMORTSCCG. [Apr 2009, p.74]

This novel RTS in a slightly overdone but nevertheless interesting fantasy setting appeals with its fresh approach, especially to those among us who have a bit of a collecting bug. And who doesn't? [Apr 2009]

Take the graphics and easy controls of WarCraft III throw in the addictive and working system from any trading card game and you will get an excellent piece of playability and fun – you’ll get BattleForge. [Mar 2009]

Battleforge is an interesting hybrid that arrives to the PC market with options to became a game played by lots of people. Mixing elements of RTS and MMO, it packs an impressive number or game cards that the player will treat as creatures, spells and structures. Featuring a cooperative-competitive gameplay, and lots of elements directly taken from the massive online games, it quickly becomes a fun entertainment. Either collecting the cards with the micropayment system or getting them as reward for the gameplay, Battleforge is a fun experience, whose only downsides come from the nonexistent balance of forces at the game.

This fascinating hybrid of real-time strategy and collectible card battling offers a unique and enjoyable take on both genres.

Battleforge is a fascinating hybrid of real-time strategy and collectible card battling. The idea of micro-transactions in a full-priced game might turn some people off, but BattleForge provides plenty of content for the retail price.

Because of the variety in the card decks, BattleForge is tactically demanding. But the paid content makes us worry about fairness.

The genre mixture that gels well together. Good RTS elements and responsiveness compliment the CCG aspects. Just be prepared to potentially get your wallet out for those microtransactions.

BattleForge is a very original game that covers different genres and factors. It can't be compared to any other game.

Ultimately, BattleForge isn't the embodiment of the next-gen RTS but it's a beautiful, flawed step in that direction.

BattleForge largely succeeds in trying to blend together RTS and card games. It's a fast-paced RTS that really rewards players for being able to adapt quickly in the middle of battle.

BattleForge spices the RTS genre with aspects from collectible card games, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts: the strategy elements are too repetitive and the CCG side feels pointless. [May 2009]

And although BattleForge doesn’t always perfectly combine the genres it belongs to, with delicate attention and a thorough balancing of gameplay, it could actually become an electronic sport. Maybe one to match StarCraft.

There's fun to be had, but only if you're playing the game with friends, since playing with strangers more often than not results in a similar feeling of frustration experienced in pick up groups in MMORPGs.

It's a vivid, rapid, entertaining strategy game, shot through with strikingly smart design decisions... It's problems are, inevitably, of balance. Developer EA Phenomic has accepted an impossible task - weighing all possible combinations of 200 units against one another. [May 2009, p.96]

Mix Warcraft with Magic the Gathering and you'll get BattleForge. It's not a bad mix, but you'll have to get used to it. The learning curve is pretty steep and rookies will get their asses kicked within seconds. But, the game rewards the one that keeps trying with some tasteful gameplay and a delicious fantasy topping.

In an attempt to find as much fan favour as possible, Electronic Arts have managed to spread this title a bit too thinly over both the RPG and card playing genres. There is an entertaining game here, but you might struggle to find it.

Quotation forthcoming.

Battleforge succeeds in reproducing the spirit of the classic card trading games in a modern Real Time Strategy fashion.

It might seem that Battleforge is a terrible game, but just to make it clear: when you hear the term 'card based MMORTS' you instantly get sparkling eyes out of curiosity. It's then somewhat of disappointment when you find out that it's just a simple RTS in which you can needlessly fiddle around with cards that don't differ much from each other.

Whether or not you enjoy BattleForge depends largely on how much of a purist you are. It has the cunning and diverse combos of a CCG, but not the pacing for patient maneuvers. It has the tactics and resource-management of RTS, but not the stability in foes to plan for every possibility.

The missions themselves repeat the same formula again and again, which severely undercuts the point of having such variety and flexibility in the card system. When you add in the awkward auction interface and the additional cash required to collect the cards you really want, it makes it that much harder to see the value in the few things that BattleForge gets right.

BattleForge runs smoothly and is pretty enough, with a wide selection of large units to choose from. However, battles see you going up against the same units - the ones players have identified as being the best. So the only real variety BattleForge provides is on paper. [May 2009, p.73]

A naturally divisive game, a few will succumb to its slightly wonky charms. Most, however, will find that the gimmicks have only limited appeal.

BattleForge is a combination of strange mechanics and bad design. Units are diverse – and yet none of them are terribly interesting. Missions have a ton of variety on the surface, but in practice they’re variations on the same few objectives.