Platforms: PlayStation 4 (reviewed) Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows, iOS, Linux, macOS
Cardpocalypse tells the story of Jess, a 10-year-old kid that’s new in town and trying to survive her first week at school. Set in the 90’s, everyone at Dudsdale Elementary is obsessed with the TV show Mega Mutant Power Pets and during her first bus ride, Jess is introduced to the collectible card game inspired by the show. Unfortunately for Jess, by the end of the first day at her new school, she has to take down the school’s bully for being a dick and gets Power Pets banned for everyone, while also unleashing something far more threatening than teachers and principals. From here on out, a majority of the game revolves around playing Power Pets and improving your card collection, while trying to uncover the mystery that Jess has unleashed.
Cards in Cardpocalypse come in a few varieties. The first, and most important, are champions. Each deck will have one chosen champion and it will start on the battlefield at the beginning of the game. Each champion has 30 life points and your goal is to whittle your opponent’s champion down to zero in order to win the game. However, once a champion’s health has been dropped to 15, it will go Mega. As it transforms, it will usually get a buff in stats and trigger a special ability, which is different for each champion in the game.
Outside of the champions, there are minion cards. These are creatures that can be used to attack an opponent’s champion, as well as protect your champion. Minions have a variety of stats and abilities and most lend themselves to one of the four unique factions of the Power Pets universe. Each faction has different strategies that you can utilize and each deck you use must be tailored around only one faction, so there’s no mixing and matching of different faction cards. This aspect really helps keep things fresh and allows for just about anyone to find a strategy they can enjoy.
The final card type you’ll be dealing with are mutations. These cards are played face-down, so your opponents will never know exactly what they are, and will trigger when certain requirements are met. For instance, one might give a minion +3 health if it survives an attack, while another could give your champion the ability to attack a second time after it attacks for the first time during a turn. There are a wide range of mutations and, like minions and champions, each can each only be wielded by a specific faction.
Now that you have some cards in hand, it’s time to actually play the game. Gameplay in Cardpocalypse is rather simple, but battles can get pretty tough if you’re not prepared. At the beginning of each turn you’ll get a food counter, which increases by one each turn. So on turn one you’ll have one food, on turn two you’ll have two food, and so on. Each card can only be played when you have enough food, as specified on that card. So the further along in the game you go, the more powerful the cards you’ll be able to play. Now your goal is to simply strategize which cards will be best to play in order to take down your opponent’s champion. The structure of the games felt similar to something like Hearthstone, if you’re looking for a comparison.
As you progress through the game, there will be a number of changes and augments to this gameplay formula. The most used of these being stickers. Stickers in Cardpocalypse will allow you to modify your cards in different ways. This can be as simple as changing the name of the card or as powerful as adding a new ability. There will also be times where you can mutate cards, create your own cards, and even outright change up the rules of the game. All of the new elements will keep you on your toes, which was good in one sense, but at times also felt like a bit too much and could be hard to keep track of, especially later in the game.
As far as progression goes in Cardpocalypse, the game is broken down into six different chapters, each of which is basically a different day of the week. On Monday, Jess will be given a tutorial of how things work at Dudsdale and then the game opens up more the following day. From Tuesday on, Jess will be able to freely roam around the school and progress the story. This main narrative was okay, but when you know pretty much everything is going to end in a card battle, it can get a little boring at times.
As much as I appreciate the variety that they tried to give the battles, I just didn’t find this to be a very compelling card game to play. Not to mention that some of the later battles felt rather cheap, as my opponents felt overpowered. So I either had to get extremely lucky or spend too much time experimenting with different cards or even all new decks. So by that point I was both bored and annoyed. Luckily, there’s an option to turn on Story Mode if you want to skip some of these battles and just get to the end of the game.
Outside of the main story, Jess can partake in a number of side missions. These offer up a bit of variety and some even take place over multiple days, but much like the main quest, most of them end in a game of Power Pets. If you’re looking to expand your card collection or get some of the best cards, these side missions will be where you spend a majority of your time.
There are also plenty of opportunities to trade with other kids in the school. You can trade your own cards, as well any candy you might acquire to get new cards or stickers. There are also a number of kids in the school that will offer the most challenging of battles for you to partake in, should you wish to do so.
If the story mode wasn’t enough to get your fill of Power Pets, there is also what is known as Gauntlet Mode. This mode is pretty much a Roguelike version of Cardpocalypse. You’ll pick a champion and then battle through increasingly difficult opponents all while adding new cards and other rewards to your deck after each win. Each run here will be different from the last and this mode does offer up a way to keep playing if you find yourself really enjoying the gameplay.
Cardpocalypse is an okay collectible card game wrapped in a mediocre story-driven RPG wrapper. There’s nothing particularly bad about it, but there’s also nothing all that memorable either. In the beginning, I found myself having some fun, but by the end I was a bit bored and happy to see the credits roll. If you’re looking for a new card game, you could certainly do worse than Cardpocalypse, but for me it was just a middling experience that I can’t fully recommend.
