Subject: Neopets Thoughts
OK...  Le'see now...  here's my thoughts on the game of Neopets (Assuming the reader knows how to play)...

Neopets.  Cartoony, fast, and strategic.  A game unlike any other, but comparable to Pokémon in feel.  It plays fast, ten minutes max.  Since the whole game revolves around card management, conventional strategies, like Beatdown, Stall, and Burn aren't really there.

The concept of Heros and Villians is interesting.  Since Villians have insane stats, and stay in play until defeated, they're great for board control/lockdown.  It's just their elemental costs, and the benefits the player gets when they (finally) defeat them.

Heroes are fun.  High stats, insane abilities.  There's just two catches...  Their elemental costs (Tap a 'Pet of the same Faerie Type, put it in that arena), and the fact that they are in play for only one turn.  Their effects, though, can be far-reaching, going into many future turns.

"Something has Happened!"  Well...  not really, but I played a card with that type on you.  These cards also have elemental costs, and act like Magic's Instants and Sorceries.  Do what they say, discard.  Nothing better than playing "Charming the Miamice" and jacking one of your best Petpet cards (Think creature enchantments).

The game uses two decks, which I find rather...  different.  One deck has all of your Basic Neopets (Akin to Poké's Basic Pokémon), who provide both your creature base AND mana.  Yep.  One Neopet equals one mana, equals one game action.  Since you can only have 3 'Pets in play at once, turns go by quick, but I digress.  The other deck has any card that's NOT a Basic Neopet (Experienced Neopets, Heroes, Villains, ShH!, Items, Equipment...).  This is the only deck you draw from, though...

And then we come to Items and Equipment.  Equipment are like Magic's Creature Enchants, so I won't go into them here.  Items are similar, but they're only in play for one turn.  However...  Both Items and Equipment push you closer to victory, because each is worth a certain number of Victory Points.  Here's the snag:  If you take the Item/Equip's effect, you don't get the points for it.  If you take the points, you don't get the effect.  Choices, choices...

As far as flavor goes, it's pretty arcane.  You can't just pick up the cards and expect to understand the world it takes place in...  Lots of backstory isn't even told through the cards; you have to go online for it.  As such, cards like "Asparagus," and "Potatoes" flavor text (Three.) will seem like they have no bearing on the game, or the card, as the case may be.  If you know the Neopets arcana, though...  no flavor text is better/funnier.  Lab Ray is especially good...  Heh heh.  Nova...  people'll get this... "Twinkle, twinkle little star / How I wonder who you'll char."

My only gripe (Other than the Asparagus card...  stupid Adam...) lies with the Boosters, and the foils.  Standard price, 3.50, for only EIGHT cards.  Not exactly a good deal, but, on the flip side, it's not like you need a lot to play this game anyways.  I showed one of my friends a foil, and he said it looked like a sticker.  Which they do.  Then again, this is Neopets, not Magic or Poké.

Overall, I think this game will be a sleeper.  Not many I've talked to know what a Neopet is, and the game is hard to find, but for those who do know, and can find it, it's easy enough to be a first game, yet strategic enough to keep you going for a long time.

My two warp-tokens.

Prof. Archimedes
neoname: labrat145