'Shadow Era' Review (iOS Game)

Shadow Era is a trading card game similar to Magic: the Gathering and World of Warcraft: Trading Card Game that's available online for free. While browsing online for good iOS games, this game popped up. Since it's free, there' no harm trying, right? Well, in a way, yes. But after playing it for the past week or so, I got attached to it ever so slightly (maybe more than I thought I would) and now, I'm thinking of how to get more cards to customize my deck so I can challenge others online.

How Does The Game Play Out?
I've never actually played M:tG or WoW:TCG. But I have a feeling it's more towards WoW:TCG. There are 2 factions - the humans and the shadows. With each faction, you can find 5 classes that includes the warrior, hunter, mage, priest and rogue. When you start the game, you choose one of the class and have a pre-constructed deck of 30 cards available at your disposal. You are then brought into the world map where computer opponents are available based on your character's level. Select one of the opponents and you are brought to battle him/her. If this is your first game, it will be your tutorial game.

You first start with 5 cards. At the beginning of your round, you draw 1 card from your deck. Each card lists the card's ability and the cost of resources needed to use it. So one of the most important thing to build up is your resources. Since you can only sacrifice 1 card and turn it into a resource point, your first 4 - 6 rounds consist of you building up the resource pool. With more resource points, you will be able to pull off more cards each turn, as the resource pool refills at the beginning of your turn. Too many resource points makes it redundant if you do not have the cards to use. So a balance of useful cards and enough resource points will aid you in finding a strategy to defeat your opponent.

Allies, Neutral Cards & Class Power
Allies are crucial to winning the game. With more allies that you deploy, you will have a high chance of defeating your opponent. Knowing that, the opponent will try to eliminate your allies if they are smart. You also need neutral cards that both you and your opponent possess. These cards can aid you by either protecting you and your allies, or by damaging your opponent. Then there are the class power cards that only the class that you play possess. A warrior's power cards will be very different from a mage as the warrior tend to favor high hit points and damaging single foes, while the mage focuses on damaging spells on single and multiple enemies. Knowing well the cards available in your hand and when to use it is crucial to winning the battle.

Game Balance Issues
At this moment, I've only played about 20 times and posses the warrior and mage base decks. From my experience, the mage edge out the warrior quite substantially. Initially, owning only the warrior deck, I was able to even out the winning ratio when combating other warrior and rogue opponents. As I level up and higher level opponents start appearing, the winning ratio dropped drastically, especially when my opponent is a mage. After I acquired the mage deck, I defeated my opponent quite easily, even with the base deck. This made me wonder how balanced the classes are. The luck factor also affects the balance strongly. Even when I know all my warrior cards, as long as the cards that I needed were buried deep in the deck, my opponent (that I won easily the previous round) defeated me without a flinch. As I looked through the deck of cards that can be purchased through the website, I saw powerful allies that I think can turn the tide easily. This made me realize why I've never gone into CCG games prior to Shadow Era. They are just going to burn a hole in my pocket.

Beautiful Artwork!
For an online game, the artwork is phenomenal. Currently, it supports iOS, PC and Mac, so the game is multi-platform. This is really a great implementation! As I don't own an iPad right now, I have to borrow one whenever I play iOS games. For Shadow Era, I could run it through firefox and play as if I were playing it on an iPad. I look forward to other card gaming company implementing their games beyond the iOS format. Sure, the iPad paved the way for iOS games. However, not everyone have an iPad on their hands but I believe most people have a PC or Mac, or at least access to one. For those interested in a physical copy of the game, Wulven Game Studios is now crowdfunding the project. If you pre-order the game, you are rewarded with shadow crystals, their in-game currency, that you can use to buy their virtual cards.

Interface & Play Modes
One thing first: there's only online mode, meaning, you cannot play the game when you have no internet connection. Wulven Game Studios have mentioned that they will add an offline mode where you can play against computer A.I. but will not gain any XP or gold through that means. The interface, as of now, is pretty clunky. Eventually you will know where to find what, but for newcomers, it is a drag to try and navigate through the links. The battle interface is also not as refined. There are camera options that can be switched from a close-up to a mid-shot and a wide-shot of the playing field, but they don't come close to being intuitive. There's no option to choose which angle to go to. Instead, you just have to cycle through them. Cards also have a slight delay when being drawn from the deck to the hand, or when it's being used. Combats, though fast, also suffer from an initial delay when they are being drawn. Compared to Ascension the iOS game, Shadow Era's interface simply cannot compete. When players are losing, each small delay increases their frustration level.

Conclusion
CCGs (collectable card games) have the tendency to attract its players for a long time such that by the time they are done playing the game, they have spent quite a considerable amount of money they never thought they would spend on a game. For Shadow Era, you can get the game for free, not spend even a single dime and be able to construct a deck substantial enough to challenge other players online. Currently, there are about 200 cards in the game. As you win battles (both against the computer A.I. or online players), you earn gold and experience points. The accumulated gold can be used to buy better cards, which can then be added to your deck and provide you with a higher chance of winning. In a way, it's a good option for people who are not willing to shell out money. On the other hand, I believe most people will head into the cash shop and plunge in some money just to get the cards they need. And in this era where buying things online is as simple as clicking on a button, many players will not have the patience to acquire the cards via the long route. For me personally, I wouldn't mind paying $5 to get 6 pre-constructed class decks and then use in-game gold to get specific cards to build up my hand. It is that fun to play.

Overall: B