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BattleForge

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6.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 37 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 84 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: EA Phenomic

Genre(s): Real-Time Strategy

Players: 12

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: March 24, 2009

Summary

BattleForge is a fantasy online real-time strategy game where you assemble your own army with collectible trading cards. Win, trade and buy your cards online to create your ultimate deck. Mix and match the elements of your cards to play with your friends online and conquer massive online battlegrounds. For mortals caught in a clash between insane gods and ancient giants, standing together is the only option. Using the forces of Fire, Frost, Nature and Shadow a mysterious Forge which makes legends come to life, is their single hope to create armies powerful enough to overcome these impossible odds. It is now time to set out and reclaim an epic fantasy world which has been overthrown by sinister powers in the twilight of a dying sun. [Electronic Arts]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Total PC Gaming

A seamlessly realised and original hybrid that breathes life into the RTS genre. [Issue#18, p.48]

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GamingXP

Concerning gameplay, this game won’t be on top, but the fusion of collecting, trading and gaming makes Battleforge unique. Even if you have never played a trading card game in real life, this title won’t disappoint you!

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PC Games (Germany)

Aside from some minor flaws in the community system, Battleforge is a highly addictive and very innovative RTS that promises lots of fun.

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GameStar

Playing cards is just something for the elderly? Not Battleforge. The game combines card collecting with fast real-time strategy. After the good tutorial you have to digest a lot of information. Just imagine starting a strategy game with the last mission. But it's worth hanging on, there are a lot of possibilities. The game even looks good.

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Cheat Code Central

EA Phenomic has successfully pulled off a surprisingly natural convergence of two very different types of gameplay. The combination is wickedly addictive. BattleForge isn't entirely a flawless victory, but it looks good, plays great, and gives card hoarders something new to obsess over.

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NZGamer

Phenomic Studios and Electronic Arts have done a fantastic job in presenting a game that is both original and fun to play.

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MEGamers

BattleForge is a unique spin on the RTS genre, with a fairly strong appeal and a rather active community of players. Break out the mana globes and obliterate your enemies!

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Gamers.at

The gameplay provides easy accessibility and still manages to be tactically challenging. Too bad that the MMO-RTS-concept of BattleForge is countered by the lack of a story.

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Absolute Games

While BattleForge is quite costly to play and has some shortcomings, it is one of the most thought-out and engaging multiplayer RTS of the last few years. And it is definitely the most original one.

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Gamers' Temple

As with most games of this nature, you can do well-enough at first using the default decks and some of your free booster cards and good strategy, but to compete at the highest levels it's going to take some of your cash to get the cards you need to build a strong and competitive deck.

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Gamervision

Though the idea of micro-transactions in a full-priced game might turn some people off, BattleForge provides plenty of content for the retail price, and doesn't require additional funds to stay competitive.

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PC Gamer UK

A flawed but irresistible MMORTSCCG. [Apr 2009, p.74]

3DJuegos

Battleforge is a fascinating hybrid of real-time strategy and collectible card battling. The idea of micro-transactions in a full-priced game might turn some people off, but BattleForge provides plenty of content for the retail price.

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Cynamite

Because of the variety in the card decks, BattleForge is tactically demanding. But the paid content makes us worry about fairness.

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PALGN

The genre mixture that gels well together. Good RTS elements and responsiveness compliment the CCG aspects. Just be prepared to potentially get your wallet out for those microtransactions.

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Play (Poland)

This novel RTS in a slightly overdone but nevertheless interesting fantasy setting appeals with its fresh approach, especially to those among us who have a bit of a collecting bug. And who doesn't? [Apr 2009]

LEVEL (Czech Republic)

Take the graphics and easy controls of WarCraft III throw in the addictive and working system from any trading card game and you will get an excellent piece of playability and fun – you’ll get BattleForge. [Mar 2009]

GameSpot

This fascinating hybrid of real-time strategy and collectible card battling offers a unique and enjoyable take on both genres.

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Meristation

Battleforge is an interesting hybrid that arrives to the PC market with options to became a game played by lots of people. Mixing elements of RTS and MMO, it packs an impressive number or game cards that the player will treat as creatures, spells and structures. Featuring a cooperative-competitive gameplay, and lots of elements directly taken from the massive online games, it quickly becomes a fun entertainment. Either collecting the cards with the micropayment system or getting them as reward for the gameplay, Battleforge is a fun experience, whose only downsides come from the nonexistent balance of forces at the game.

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Eurogamer Spain

BattleForge is a very original game that covers different genres and factors. It can't be compared to any other game.

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Worth Playing

BattleForge largely succeeds in trying to blend together RTS and card games. It's a fast-paced RTS that really rewards players for being able to adapt quickly in the middle of battle.

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AtomicGamer

Ultimately, BattleForge isn't the embodiment of the next-gen RTS but it's a beautiful, flawed step in that direction.

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Computer Games Online RO

And although BattleForge doesn’t always perfectly combine the genres it belongs to, with delicate attention and a thorough balancing of gameplay, it could actually become an electronic sport. Maybe one to match StarCraft.

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Pelit (Finland)

BattleForge spices the RTS genre with aspects from collectible card games, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts: the strategy elements are too repetitive and the CCG side feels pointless. [May 2009]

SpazioGames

Battleforge succeeds in reproducing the spirit of the classic card trading games in a modern Real Time Strategy fashion.

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Gamer.nl

Mix Warcraft with Magic the Gathering and you'll get BattleForge. It's not a bad mix, but you'll have to get used to it. The learning curve is pretty steep and rookies will get their asses kicked within seconds. But, the game rewards the one that keeps trying with some tasteful gameplay and a delicious fantasy topping.

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Gameplanet

In an attempt to find as much fan favour as possible, Electronic Arts have managed to spread this title a bit too thinly over both the RPG and card playing genres. There is an entertaining game here, but you might struggle to find it.

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Everyeye.it

Quotation forthcoming.

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Edge Magazine

It's a vivid, rapid, entertaining strategy game, shot through with strikingly smart design decisions... It's problems are, inevitably, of balance. Developer EA Phenomic has accepted an impossible task - weighing all possible combinations of 200 units against one another. [May 2009, p.96]

VideoGamer

There's fun to be had, but only if you're playing the game with friends, since playing with strangers more often than not results in a similar feeling of frustration experienced in pick up groups in MMORPGs.

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InsideGamer.nl

It might seem that Battleforge is a terrible game, but just to make it clear: when you hear the term 'card based MMORTS' you instantly get sparkling eyes out of curiosity. It's then somewhat of disappointment when you find out that it's just a simple RTS in which you can needlessly fiddle around with cards that don't differ much from each other.

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GameShark

Whether or not you enjoy BattleForge depends largely on how much of a purist you are. It has the cunning and diverse combos of a CCG, but not the pacing for patient maneuvers. It has the tactics and resource-management of RTS, but not the stability in foes to plan for every possibility.

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IGN

The missions themselves repeat the same formula again and again, which severely undercuts the point of having such variety and flexibility in the card system. When you add in the awkward auction interface and the additional cash required to collect the cards you really want, it makes it that much harder to see the value in the few things that BattleForge gets right.

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Eurogamer

A naturally divisive game, a few will succumb to its slightly wonky charms. Most, however, will find that the gimmicks have only limited appeal.

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PC Zone UK

BattleForge runs smoothly and is pretty enough, with a wide selection of large units to choose from. However, battles see you going up against the same units - the ones players have identified as being the best. So the only real variety BattleForge provides is on paper. [May 2009, p.73]

Game Informer

BattleForge is a combination of strange mechanics and bad design. Units are diverse – and yet none of them are terribly interesting. Missions have a ton of variety on the surface, but in practice they’re variations on the same few objectives.

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Teletext GameCentral

Microtransactions all but ruin this unusual real-time strategy and its flawed collectible card game.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 84 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Craig R gave it a10:
This is the first game I've been hooked on in ages. I've owned my own video game store chain, so I was pretty jaded. This game is awesome. If you can get past the fact that they reel you in "Magic" style to buy new cards, it's unbelievably fun and varied. If you on;y spend $50 on cards, you will have a better time than most games you would drop $50 on without blinking.

Steve gave it a3:
A great idea translated into a disastrous videogame. Right from the start, Battleforge is really hard to grasp. The playerinterface is so cluttering and poorly designed that managing cards, finding matches and navigating the world is a pain. The card auctionhaus is also a joke. The lack of attention to detail and clumsy, outdated functions to buy and sell cards is terrible (Ebay – hello?). Leveldesign is bad, with some levels forcing the player to play time-based missions that can only be understood by a lot of trial and error and some other levels so low on resources that the player has no choice but to sit and wait for many minutes before he has enough energy to play some new cards. There is also no strategy at all: this game is about playing cards as fast as possible, then waiting for the energy to charge up and then playing cards as fast as possible again. Dull. The game is also badly balanced. PVP matches are resolved in the first 60 sekonds of the match, with little chance of coming back from behind. Also, it sucks that players who spend more money simply have access to more and better cards, making this an unfair game. On the bright side, playing cooperatively with other players and complementing their cards with yours can be fun. A shame, since the visuals during the match time are actually great, but horrible gamedesign and very poor execution turned Battleforge into a mediocre videogame.

Rehab Twelve gave it a9:
A great game different to most of today's popular market. Allows you to have fun with mates over vent as you challenge each other in a different environment to shooting say zombies or raiding instances.

Eubie B gave it an8:
Battleforge is dogged by the usual teething troubles that affect any new, large scale multi-player game, but aside from a somewhat clunky UI the starting package is a solid mix of deck building and RTS action. EA essentially refunds the retail cost of the software in game currency, which helps to ensure new players are able to build a solid deck without feeling hopelessly outmatched by hard core collectors. There are some issues with card balance in PvP, but as long as EA remains committed to the project and tweaking the game accordingly, Battleforge may earn itself a following among RTS and card game fans yet.

Steven O gave it a10:
I played the last few days of beta, loved it and so bought the game and it's absolutely fantastic. At first i didn't like the idea of cards but as soon as i had played the tutorial, in the beta, and understood how it all worked i was amazed.i truly recommend getting this game to anyone.

Mark gave it a9:
Great, easy to use RTS which sets itself apart from the crowd with a unique, simple to understand card based system. Although you will have to pay out (quite a bit!) more money to have all of the units/spells/buildings available at once it does have an online auction so that you can trade away the troops that you don't want for those you do.

Aaron G gave it a9:
A great game if you like collectible card games and a good game if you like RTSs. It has a bit of a learning curve, but once you get into it, there really is a lot of strategy and the customization you can put into your deck is great. Spending time to tailor a deck to your liking is really something that adds a lot of value and is missed in most other RTSs.

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