Culdcept

In this age of eye-melting blockbusters and ever-more complex ways to simulate real-world physics, it's refreshing to come back to something that flies in the face of current trends. Striking out in its own direction, I'm sure that the vast majority of 360 owners will take one look at Culdcept Saga, shake their heads, and move on to something that's pushing a lot more polygons and fits neatly into one of the established, popular genres.

Game Description: The merging of board game and trading card game brings a unique, engrossing multiplayer experience to the Xbox 360 in Culdcept Saga. Join the journey of a powerful queen and a young boy who must fight for their world. The boy, endowed with the power of a Cepter, or one who can control magical cards, battle monsters and nefarious adversaries in an attempt to bring peace back to the land. Conquer the elements, takeover lands, and defeat your foes. You are a Cepter. Your cards are your weapons.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Partial Nudity, and Suggestive Themes

So, after what was a playtime that ran on for far too long, I finished (but not completed) the game tonight. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it, and definitely had a good time in terms of the singleplayer mode. Apart from a length that overstayed its welcome, the difficulty curve was right where it needed to be and most of the tweaks that had been made to the PS2 formulary were good ones.