Culdcept

Written by John Scalzo  on February 23, 2004

Review: Go directly to the game store. Do not hesitate to buy Culdcept. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

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Culdcept is Magic: The Gathering meets Monopoly. That kind of pitch is usually reserved for a Hollywood studio (check it out, it's like Office Space meets Silence of the Lambs!) but the comparison is apt for Culdcept as well. It might sound like a strange combination of genres, but it works surprisingly well.

In Culdcept you are a Cepter, a player of the game Culdcept. One of the gods (who takes the form of a walking stick with the head of an old man) falls to Earth to ensure it's survival against the onslaught of the evil Geminigh. He trains you in Culdcept to take on other Cepters and for the eventual duel with Geminigh with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance. The story isn't very deep, groundbreaking, or even slightly good. And it actually plays out like a series of ridiculous pro wrestling feuds among the Cepters. But the story is secondary to the hot card game/Monopoly action. And I'm not kidding.

The goal of the game is to gather the target amount of magic power (called G) through a combination of collecting tolls, raising levels, building chains, and buying symbols. Each level also has a unique board design that pulls more than a few rules from Monopoly to be a coincidence. You travel around the board passing forts and castles to earn extra G (like passing Go). Each board features several colored territories that a Cepter can claim with a monster (buy property). As you move around the board, you have to pay a toll (rent) if you land on another player's territory (property). A Cepter can build chains and charge higher tolls if they own more than one territory of the same color (a Monopoly if you will). During your turn you are also able to buy level upgrades (Houses and Hotels) to force players to pay a higher toll if they land on your territory If your magic goes bankrupt you have the option to sell (mortgage) one of your creatures. And if you lose all of your magic, you're Magic Depleted (or Bankrupt).

Culdcept also culls plenty of substance from Magic: The Gathering with it's card battling system. Creatures have two gauges, Hit Points and Strength. If a creature's strength is greater than it's opponent's Hit Points then they win the battle. Creatures can also gain extra strength or hit points through the use of item cards like armor, weapons, or other mystical items or if they're part of a color chain. Combing Monopoly and Magic also gives you the option of Land Transformation, (which is like turning New York Avenue into a blue property) so a blue creature can get blue territory bonus hit points. Rounding out these Magic elements is the little booster pack of cards you receive at the end of every battle.

The management of all of these elements and game rules together create a very bizarre, but fantastic gameplay experience. Monopoly meets Magic is a common phrase thrown around about this game (just read any other review out there, on second thought, don't) and while these thoughts are not very unique or even clever, that's the best description of the game you can get. And it's in this bizarre play mechanic that Culdcept is so engaging. You want to play, you need to play. Not out of some desire to see the half assed story develop like some RPGs, but because the game is just so incredibly different that I'm always finding new reasons to like it. Culdcept is actually one of the few games in recent memory that has gotten better the longer I play it. Which is strange since, aside from different cards, the first battle is just like every subsequent battle. However, the game does build a little complexity on it's simple concept with branching pathes and multiple opponents on the boards.

The reality is that anyone that's even remotely interested in Monopoly, Magic, or RPGs in general will find a lot to like in Culdcept. Hell, it's just so different that everyone should give it a look, but if you're in any of those three groups, then you need to play this game. You will not be disappointed.

But on that note, there are a few problems with Culdcept. Dumb luck plays much too big a role in the outcome of individual fights and the total battle for my taste. It will often come down to the dice and if you can pull the right cards needed to win. While this is in keeping with the board game mentality, it just feels off sometimes. Because I'm not really holding the dice (and the number I roll is actually determined by the computer AKA my opponent), it feels out of my control. This isn't a huge deal, but maybe I just play too many board games.

Also sometimes the rules on some of the cards are unclear. After jumping into your first game of Culdcept it's very easy to pick up all of the icons, rules, and meanings behind 99% of everything. But there are just some pieces that I still don't get. For example, the rules of First Attack and what order some cards receive bonus abilities in battle is often hard to figure out. And these rules are what separates good creatures from bad ones. First Attack is a powerful skill and several times I've been crushed in battle because the cards are unclear about who really gets First Attack.

These minor quibbles aside the game's one real flaw is that games can turn south very quickly and at that point it's no fun. A run of bad luck in the middle of the game can force you to the back of the pack so quickly and put you so far out of contention that there's no way to get back into the game. At htat point you have to play out another half hour of a battle you cannot win and a game that will not let you quit just so you can try again. It's frustrating and a quit option would have been greatly appreciated. The game does include a suspend option for really long battles so that you stop in the middle and come back later, but a forfeit option is needed.

For a game that is built on it's concept like Culdcept, graphics and sound are often pushed to the side. The graphics are not very high tech, but the makings of a good old fashioned RPG could be in this engine. It actually looks and sounds a lot like the original Secret of Mana. No graphical tricks, just simple characters moving around a board. And of course the big face picture of who's talking and text boxes that go with lots of old school RPGs. The card designs themselves are drawn by many well known Japanese illustrators and almost all of them are pretty impressive. The cards also "attack" each other in a neat little presentation during a fight. Very clever. The music and sound effects are also your basic mixed set from Super NES era RPGs and with the look that's been created for Culdcept it fits very well. Still not very technically impressive, but it fits.

And in a truly inspired bit of added value play, Culdcept has a very interesting multiplayer mode that allows up to four players the chance to duel it out. Each player can use a basic starter deck or they can all jump in with imported customized decks that have been built from playing the single player game. It's just one more way to build replay on a fantastic game and the feather in the cap of an already amazing title.