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Culdcept is a Japanese implementation of Monopoly (or rather, Itadaki Street) merged with Magic: the Gathering. In Japan, the game has developed into a solid series with some fame and a loyal following, although few of those games have made it into the West. In the NDS version, the series returned to its roots and restored some rules (such as creature races) from the earliest versions, while adjusting the card balance and adopting some improved rules from later versions too. The 3DS version, in turn, is based on the "Culdcept Second" versions, and includes not only a wide range of card abilities from multiple games in the series (plus some totally new ones, naturally), but also some rules improvements and adjustments. While the balance adjustments and rules improvements are certainly reassuring, the most outstanding characteristic of the 3DS game is perhaps its larger arsenal of game modes.

Because of the limited skill of the AI players, Culdcept has been said to be mainly a multi-player game, and the capability of on-line play in the later games has been its major selling point. While fully capable of good quality on-line play, the 3DS version has also received significant boosts in its off-line play value. This is a very welcome improvement, because while on-line play via Wi-Fi offers all the excitement and challenge of playing against intelligent human opponents, depending on one's gaming environment it can get very inconvenient due to the length of the game. One game of Culdcept typically takes 30 to 60 minutes to complete, and during on-line play, as a courtesy to the other players, one is obligated to keep playing until the end. For students with a lot of spare time that may not be a concern, but for adults with a job and a family, that can be a very demanding commitment. The problem is not in the duration itself; it's that the on-line session renders the player unable to pause or leave to handle other emergencies (such as one's child crying hungry) without abandoning (aborting) the game to the dismay of the other players. However, with the solo-player game modes there is no such problem, as the player can freely use the 3DS's sleep feature (i.e. just close the lid) or the mid-game save whenever the need arises.

The AI in the 3DS is not noticeably more clever, but what they are doing in order to provide a challenge is to give the AI players "handicap levels" which grant them extra income (from rent as well as salary) and even starting lands. Yes, they cheat, just like the AI players in Civilization and such. And then they go on to write "level stages" which are post-game scenarios complete with story scenes for every map location. In effect, you have a whole side story for every map location, giving this game's solo post-game play over 5 times the volume of that in the NDS game. The handicap levels can also be set for human players during many game modes; this can be used, for example, to balance a match between an experienced player and a novice.

The NDS version has a flaw, that you cannot set up a match with you and your friend teaming up against a team of AI players for local wireless play. In the 3DS version they have not only fixed this flaw, they have even written an entire game mode with a series of scenarios (complete with handicap for the AI characters, of course) for this play style. (And they have made significant improvements in the team play rules, too.)

The 3DS version also provides much better support for the fan who is trying to evangelize this game. In addition to better tutorials and help functions (including a guiding arrow which points out an AI-level suggested choice for every move) during normal play, there is also an introductory slide show to facilitate explaining the game, and a "download play" mode which enables one to guide a friend without the game cart as a team playing against AI opponents. (No, this is a different game mode from the one mentioned in the previous paragraph: the difficulty is low, and the players use fixed books instead of their own constructed books.)

Another new feature of the 3DS game is the random books, in which some or all of the cards are determined randomly at the start of a match. These can be used when the player wants to try something different from his constructed books, for example in a casual game against less experienced players. The AI characters also have random books of their own, which can be utilized when the player wants to face some unexpected opposition. (Of course, the randomization is done according to certain guidelines, so that the resultant book is usually reasonably balanced and playable.)

From what I have seen, the card balance in the 3DS game is very good. It is not perfect; for example I cannot understand why "Pirate" has to stay overpriced relative to other cheaper cards with better abilities. But it is reasonably close, and the game seems to sustain a rich variety of decks, and a large number of interesting combos and counters. For example, the NDS game seemed to have a problem in the predominance of using invulnerability/reflect (e.g. "Gaseous Form" and "Counter Amulet") for defense, so they introduced a new keyword ability "Revenge" to counter those. (And Counter Amulet is now nerfed to become a Shield, which counts as "armor" and is usable only by armor-eligible creatures.)

Overall, Culdcept 3DS is a rather enjoyable game. However, the bad news for Western gamers is that, not only is the game currently released only in the Japanese language with all the language barrier problems of a complex and text-heavy game, but also the game is region-locked (just like most or all other 3DS games), which means that one can only play this game on a Japanese 3DS. Thus gamers with a US or Europe 3DS can only either cross their fingers and wait, or perhaps try to lobby for an English release of this fine game and nice evangelizing tool.

Last Updated on Friday, 14 April 2017 14:47