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