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This afternoon at Gen Con Indy, I had the opportunity to play the Stargate Online Trading Card Game against an AI opponent.
If you’re familiar with the universe depicted in the Stargate SG-1 television series, then you will probably be far more interested in this card game than those who have never seen the show. To be honest, for the show’s first four or five seasons, I had no interest in it. Somewhere during the fifth or sixth season, I happened to catch an episode and found it interesting. I watched more. Soon, I found myself hooked on it. I ended up buying the entire thing on DVD so I could catch up. So, from that perspective, the game interests me.
The mechanics of the Stargate Online Trading Card game remind me a little of the Star Trek card game from Decipher, Inc. Only a little, though. It’s really its own game.
There are six types of cards in play in the game. Character cards represent members of Stargate Command and others you’ve seen in the series on TV who help SGC. Mission cards represent the goal that the SG team must achieve in order to win the game. Gear cards, as their name implies, represent tools and weapons which can help the SG team complete its mission. Event cards represent critical moments during SGC’s adventures that help them complete the mission. Obstacle cards can be thrown by the player representing the forces fighting the SGC so that it won’t complete its mission. Adversary cards are similar to character cards and represent forces who want to stop SGC from completing missions.
At the start of a round, the player representing SGC has four character cards on the tabletop in front of him and some number of other cards. The player representing the forces fighting the SGC will have cards in his or her deck as well. A mission card is placed on the table. The SGC player looks at the mission requirements and decides if the mission should be attempted. If some combination of character cards and cards in the player’s hand can meet or exceed the mission requirements, he or she plays those cards. The opponent then has the chance to play adversary and other cards to prevent the SGC player from completing the mission. The SGC player may then play more cards to overcome the updated conditions, or pass the turn and fail the mission.
As with other games on the Station.com web site, the Stargate Online Trading Card Game is available free. If you want additional game cards, you have to buy them from Sony. You may also be able to trade them with other players.
I was given the opportunity to play the game against a computer AI opponent at Sony’s booth at Gen Con. While this gave me a good feel for the game mechanic, graphics, etc., the computer AI made some very poor choices that even the Sony representative found surprising and amateurish. Clearly, to have a really challenging game you’ll need a human opponent.
If you decide to give the game a try, you’ll have to download the client software, which is only available for Windows (i.e., you Mac fans are out of luck unless you’re running Windows as well). The client is a 60.2MB download. If you have a broadband connection, the download speed seems pretty good overall. From the hotel where I’m staying as I write this, the download speed has ranged from 95KB/sec to 55KB/sec, meaning it should take me about 24-30 minutes to download the client. Naturally, your experience may vary based on traffic, the number of other people downloading the client, your Internet connection, etc.
Graphics, sound, and video in the game are more than adequate to the task. The video clips were very crisp and clear, and don’t slow down game play. In fact, they add a little something you can’t get from a "real" card game.
There are reportedly almost 300 cards you can collect and play in the game. This should keep a player interested for quite a while. On the other hand, you’ll be shelling out some cash to get those 300 cards. They’re priced at the time I checked at $3.49 per booster pack and $10.99 per starter deck. (Earlier I reported that you get a starter deck free, but that’s apparently not the case, as I found after downloading the client and setting up an account.)
