Battleforge , where to start? I haven’t written a review in a while but wanted to say something about this game as I feel it’s being slightly overlooked by some people.

Let’s start off by looking at what kind of game this is because it’s a complete genre mash-up, at heart it’s an RTS game much like Dawn of War moving units to capture key points, power nodes that provide energy and monuments that allow you to cast more powerful units.

Now mix that with a collectable card came, there is no tech tree in this game, your units depend on what cards you have, and there is a vast array. Cards are sorted into 4 levels designated by orbs/monuments you control, you start off being able to summon level 1 cards and as you capture more monuments your able to summon more and more powerful units.

This strange mix of Collectable Cards and RTS shouldn’t work, or I didn’t expect it to work, but it does and so very well, there are 4 different card alignments, Fire, Frost, Nature and Shadow each with their own unit advantages and disadvantages. You play each game with a deck of cards, 20 cards of your own choosing, there are way more than 20 cards per alignment so you’ll end up choosing cards depending on how you like playing your game. Now mix the possibility of having a mixed deck of say Fire and Frost cards for example and the choices get even wider, you can really lose yourself in the customisation of your gameplay.

That’s the card aspect of the game in a nutshell, there is more to it which I shall explain later on but for now we need to talk about the last mashup genre which some people claim is MMO esque , making the game an MMOCCRTS…. well I am uncertain about that but it certainly is unique.

So here is the main map of the game, there are 1 player scenario’s, 2 player co-op, 4 player co-op and even 12 player co-op. And co-op MMOCCRTS’s are as much fun as normal co-op RTS’s. You can either invite friends or just create a match and people will join your game. After you complete each scenario you unlock the next in the storyline, and you also obtain gold and permanent upgrades for your cards. Upgrades might improve the units damage output, give it more health, or perhaps even a new ability. So working together to complete the map is key for everyone to be able to upgrade their decks and get even better units for the more difficult maps later on.

In addition to the single player and co-op maps there is ranked and unranked PvP, both 1v1 and 2v2, another way to prove yourself in battleforge or perhaps just to have a friendly PvP match to test out your latest cards and strategies. Winning PvP matches rewards you again with gold and Battle Tokens, Battle tokens provide an alternative of getting that specific card upgrade you require. Can’t pass the map the grants the card upgrade? Buy it with battle tokens instead.

So that’s it, that’s Battleforge gameplay in a nutshell, so what else do you need to know? How about that this game is FREE to Play, huh, how do you like that? And being Free there should be no reason for you (yes YOU the person reading this) not to go and download this if this game to try it out.

However one disadvantage, the starter cards they give you in the Free to Play game are very average cards. Cards vary in rarity from common to uncommon to rare to ultra rare. And the one’s initially provided whilst will get you through the standard mode of the game quite easily, you will have to do some fancy card trading and buy cards for gold if you want the full experience. Luckily this game is CHEAP!! For me it was £4.20 on amazon.co.uk , I hear it might be around 6-8 EURO’s somewhere else, and I’m not sure what Locke picked it up for but seeing as he’s a bargain buster I’m guessing peanuts too.

And when Buying the game this gives you 16 cards of each type (64 cards) on top of the Free to play start deck of 32 cards, so that’s 96 cards in total. You also get 3000 battle forge points, which is enough points to buy about 100 more cards via Boosters and Tomes (1 Tome = 6 boosters), or the smart thing which is pick and trade specific cards you need from the auction house depending on your play style and deck.

WTF are battleforge points? BF points is another in-game currency however you can only get them from the retail package, buying more BF points online with real cash, or selling/trading with other users. The 3000 points you get from the retail is more than enough, common cards sell for 2 BF points in the in-game auction house, uncommon for around 10-20 BF points, some rare’s go for 500 BF points and if you are desperate you can sell off one of the rare cards you don’t use for one you do.

Finally I’ll talk about the main lobby screen of the game, a very MMO feeling place as you have 2 chat windows down the bottom 1 usually filled with people wanting to trade , sell and buy cards, the other unfortunately filled with spammers wanting to sell BF points for gold, but then all MMO’s suffer from this aspect.

On the bottom you can see your current deck; you’re free to customise this with your collection of cards on the left menu. And the centre of the screen you can just summon anything you want to test out your cards, you can summon enemy units to attack, you can summon cards as friendly or enemy, essentially it’s a playground area for you to mess around with, try new cards, and talk to your group before you join in one of the main scenarios.

So that’s it, this is the end of my review, I’ve told you about the game and it’s rich genre-mashing gameplay, if you’re looking for a free game to fill some time download this game, if you’re looking for a twist on the RTS game download this game, If you are into card games in any way shape or form download this game!

And now for you, the person that skipped all the above, looked at the pretty pictures and want to know the verdict.

Pros

• Up to 12 player Co-op Online
• Great Gameplay
• Pretty graphics
• Addictive Card Collecting
• Challenging Maps

Cons

• Free to play is half way between a demo and full game than real Free
• 2.7 GB download puts some people off, but that’s because it’s a full game.

Final Verdict
If it’s Free you should really be trying it anyway.
But this is a very deep game that you can lose yourself in, highly customisable, and which surprisingly clever gameplay. I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with this game, but I did, this review is proof.

DOWNLOAD THIS GAME FOR FREE NOW

If you like the game, and try it out, I highly recommend this starters FAQ from their forum, some great advice for new players.