Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 is the latest release from Magic: The Gathering, kicking off the Magic 2013 campaign that entices players to “Face A Greater Challenge” against the ultimate evil mastermind of the Multiverse, dragon Planeswalker Nicol Bolas. Players take on the role of Planeswalkers - powerful mages who battle others for glory, knowledge and conquest. Their weapons include spells, creatures, and artifacts gathered from a vast Multiverse of unique fantasy worlds. With more than 12 million players and fans worldwide, Magic is printed in 11 languages and played in more than 70 countries...

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 is the latest edition of the award-winning video game franchise. If you don't know anything about the series then you're advised to try the free demo first as this won't be everyone's cup of tea. But those that follow the series will need no encouragement to pick this up.

Based on the classic collectible card game, this latest console game looks and plays better than previous outings. Although, sadly, yet again it's not possible to customise your entire deck.

Online you have the option of playing in ranked matches or as well as player matches. When playing offline the computer AI can be relentless in its attacks.

This is a wonderful introduction to the series - there's an in depth, and very easy to follow tutorial. This will introduce newbies as well as give a refresher to seasoned players. Personally I loved this, but I know a lot of gamers will find the thought of playing a card game on their Xbox rather dull.

8

Nick Smithson