Before you decide to read this relatively long wall of text about BattleForge, I need to make sure something is understood:  in trying to explain this game to my roommate's boyfriend, we literally talked about it for close to two hours...and I didn't even feel like I was scratching the surface of what the game has in store for players.  He went out, bought the game, and loves it.  Therefore, know that this giant wall of text is really necessary to try and talk about the game (unless Giant Bomb decides to make it far easier to understand, upon which you'll realize they make the "big bucks" and I don't).

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Given that I get to play it for free at work, though...eh, it's worth a shot.

As it stands, I won't be playing WoW for a while, folks.  BattleForge, despite what every review I've read has to say, is a pretty damn interesting title that has grabbed me by the balls.  Maybe it's my addiction to "loot-whoring", or maybe it's the collector in me.  Nonetheless, BattleForge offers enough creative elements to give me a fun time while not pushing me to grind away my life.

So what kind of game IS BattleForge?  Well, it's mostly an RTS, as you'll command units on expansive (though linear) battlefields.  However, since there is no base building in the game, you'll call units out based on a card system, much like a very simple version of Magic: The Gathering.  Cards fall into four elemental groups (fire, water, shadow, and nature), and each element plays very differently from the other elements.  Fire focuses on strength in numbers, frost focuses on strong structure defenses, nature focuses on healing, and shadow focuses on power leeching.  You can mix and match cards in your own decks of 20 cards each, and then bring these into either PvE or PvP gameplay.

Yes, I just used WoW terms, because BattleForge does feature more than just persistent RTS and MTG elements.  There is a need/greed roll system set up in the game for card upgrades (more on that in a second), and chat areas are set up throughout all the different "servers" (or PvE and PvP scenario zones), which are essentially all hooked up to a farmserver.  You can also party up, and many of the same chat commands found in most MMO games work in the chat for BattleForge.  The one issue with this is that there are a lot of foreigners, and not of the Korean and/or Chinese persuasion like many MMOs.  Rather, you'll find a lot of Germans, Dutch, and European folks playing.  It's actually nice to see that the game is getting a large community across the world...but unfortunately, it can make getting groups together for some scenarios rather difficult because of language barriers.

As you progress through PvE and PvP play, you'll get upgrades for your different cards.  PvE scenarios will give you card upgrades upon completion, and these are usually rather stock card upgrades for base uncommon and common cards.  PvP scenarios, however, will reward you with Victory Tokens, Battle Tokens, and PvP Ranks with success AND defeat.  Again, this helps take away some of the grind.  With these tokens, you can "claim" upgrades for any card you want as long as you have the necessary amount of tokens and rank.  It's a novel system to use, as it promotes committing to your decks, and the upgrades are...for the most part...pretty good upgrades.  Increased damage, more cards to be played in a match, etc.

How do you get NEW cards?  Well, there are a few ways...all of which require "BattleForge Points".  With a retail shipped copy of BattleForge, you'll automatically receive 3000 BattleForge Points.  These can be used to buy Booster Packs (250 points each), Tomes (1200 points each), or just buy individual cards on the Auction House.  After that, you have one of two ways to get Points:  pay about $20 for 2000 points via the EA Store, or you can sell off cards on the Auction House for BFP.  In the end, you'll probably put out for a couple of the Points through the EA Store, but really, if you are SMART about your Points...you shouldn't end up spending those initial 3000 very quickly if you know what you are doing.  This means that most of the uncommon and common cards can be found relatively cheap on the AH (about 2-5 points for each), and you don't need that many of them, so it all works out well in the end.  The rare and ultra-rare cards go for quite a large handful more, so buying a few booster packs might not hurt.

Yes, that does mean that microtransactions to fuel part of this game...but for the average MMO player who is already spending $15 a month on a game, you could easily translate that over to points instead of paying a subscription fee...so it all evens out in the end, and decks can last you quite a long while if you know what you are doing.  That may be something you'll have to learn on your own with some time behind the mouse and keys, but it's not hard to pick up.

The beauty of BattleForge is that it offers what most RTS games cannot:  diversity.  While standard RTS games will feature the same units on each team every time, BattleForge allows players to customize their deck however you want.  Each deck you create will have a "deck level" applied to it, telling you and other players how strong your deck is through upgrades and card types.  That doesn't mean a deck level 5 can't take out a deck level 15, but it does mean there will be some difficulty.  Like MTG and games of that sort, there is an IMMENSE amount of strategy that can be had in this game.  Unfortunately, it does mean you'll meet some stalemate matches in PvP, and there are times when you might find your deck isn't properly built for a PvE scenario, but this will seldom happen.

Now that I've gone over some of the general aesthetics of the game, how's the actual gameplay?  It's pretty smooth.  I have yet to find a frame rate glitch or basic game glitch, and if there was one, I damn well didn't notice.  In order to call units onto the battlefield, you'll have to take possession of power wells and monuments located all over the map.  Power wells would be akin to resources in Command & Conquer Generals, while monuments provide you with specific elemental orbs that you'll need to call out your cards.  For instance, a Fire Dragon (a Dominator card type, meaning he's a Hero) requires 3 Fire Orbs and 1 orb of any element to summon him.  Because of these restraints on a player, you can't just load your deck down with ANYTHING, meaning you'll find even more similarities to games like MTG.  Power wells can be completely consumed over time, so you need to use your resources wisely.  Other than that, you just call out and obliterate.

Don't think that means the AI will be forgiving.  They'll put up a fight if you force them to.  Even on Standard (the lowest of three difficulties for any scenario), the computer can bring an excess of units to wipe you out.  Granted, if you bring a smaller force, this excessive amount of units rarely seems to appear.  Nonetheless, it's nice to go against the computer and not have to feel like you are just walking through everything.  PvE Scenarios come in either 1, 2, 4, or 12 player scenarios, and at times, the higher number of players can lead to some confusion and frustrations, especially because of that language barrier I spoke about earlier.

So within this package, there just have to be a few downsides, right?  Well, yes.  Aside from the language barrier, there is a strong lack of PvE scenario play for solo or double player setups.  I'm not TOO terribly far into the game (about 5 single player scenarios, 3 two players, a 4 player, and some PvP matches), but from what I've seen...I can't do anymore single player scenarios at the moment.  I can, however, play them on higher difficulty levels, but in order to do that, I need upgrades.  In order to get upgrades, I have to play the 4 player levels and win the rolls...so in turn, you find that things can be a bit of a vicious cycle at times.  Luckily, as I said before, the PvP is another way to claim upgrades for your cards...and apparently the ONLY way to get your Tier 2 upgrades on cards.

Another major downside that I've found is that there is a lack of a guild/alliance system in any way.  Now, maybe it's just because of all the time I've put into WoW and Guild Wars...but when you have a mass amount of people online, it kind of helps to organize groups for 12 player scenarios if you have an organized roster to look at.  Sure, there is a friends list in the game, but it's kind of ho-hum.  The last downside that you'll find is the expected:  most people try to roll with the same deck builds in PvP play, and because of the price gouging by some players on the Auction House, you'll find that you might just have to make due without some of the super high-end cards.

All in all, though, BattleForge is an impressive package that offers up a unique experience by blending different genres together.  Is it as successful as something like Dead Space?  No, but it also happens to be a product that could easily pick up business over time and offer a very decent little community.

I would recommend people check it out if they have the chance.