Review Score
Gameplay
Fun, strategic card duels that are easy to pickup but hard to master.
Replay Value
The addictive quality of card games is refreshed by Alteil's fresh take on the genre
Graphics
card art is made by Japan's greatest artists, but it still only has card game graphics.
Audio
Exciting background music coupled with simple sound effects make for fun but average experience

Overall
Addictive card game with original gameplay aspects with the additional possibilities afforded by virtual gameplay makes for a fun experience.

Alteil Official Website

Introduction

Alteil is an online flash-based “online card dueling game” that you can play for free.  It is NOT a trading card game for the simple reason that you can’t actually trade cards with other players.  The card duels are semi fast-paced, flashy, and really fun.  According to the official website, Alteil is the “English version of Japan’s #1 Online Card Game.” It is made with flash so Alteil requires no long downloads.  Different screens take only seconds to load, which is great to play a quick match or two when you feel like it.  For a quick rundown of what Alteil is like go to the official Alteil website.

Alteil has an interesting background story behind it that they keep updating, which helps immerse players into the game’s world.  Japanese games are famous for having lots of story and this game is no exception.

Gameplay

Dueling

A card duel plays out like this:  during each phase of play, each player makes their decisions for that phase.  After both players have finished deciding what to do for that phase, their decisions are executed step by step.  There are set rules governing what happens first.  So this is different from other card games in that players don’t have “their” turn to act.  Also, players only put one card into play each round.

Each player does everything they can to try to reduce their opponent’s Life Points (LP) to zero.  Players can put unit cards into play that can attack your opponent’s unit cards.  You can damage your opponent’s LP by defeating their unit cards or by ordering your unit to attack your opponent directly with an Iczer attack (card duelists are called Iczers).  Iczer attacks can only be performed if your opponent has no unit cards in play.

Of course there is A LOT more to it that involves a lot of strategy.  Unit cards can have special abilities, where you place unit cards matters, you can cast instant spells, and you can resurrect unit cards if you have a copy in your deck.  Also, each unit card has stats:

• Level – How much SP this card costs to play.
• Hit Points – How much damage this card can sustain.
• Attack – How much damage this card can deal to enemy unit cards.
• Defense – How much damage is reduced from attacks of enemy unit cards.
• Agility – Higher value allows your unit card to act before other unit cards with lower agility.
• Range – How many occupied rows can this unit attack through.

Of course playing cards and using unit card skills cost SP, which you only get two of every round.

Deck Building

You are given a complete starter deck to begin with from one of the four Spheres of Influence.  These spheres are like the colors of Magic the Gathering.  You usually build your deck around one color, but you’re welcome to build one with more than color.

Your deck consists of a total of 30 cards:  25 cards you can play at anytime if you have enough spell points, and 5 Soul Cards.  Your Soul Cards automatically activate their Soul Skills when your avatar’s Life Points (LP) take damage.  You can pick any 5 cards to be your Soul Cards, but some cards do not have a Soul Skill.  Each card also has an LP value associated with it.  When that Soul Card’s LP is depleted, it unleashes its Soul Skill.  So say you put a card with 2 LP in your Soul Card slot when building your deck.  You get attacked directly during your opponent’s turn, so you lose 1 LP.  Your Soul Card now has 1 LP remaining.  When you get attacked directly again, you lose 1 more LP and your first Soul Card unleashes its Soul Skill.  In essence, Soul Skills are like traps.

More Cards

Now it is true that it costs Gran (the in-game currency that you can buy with real money) to buy buy cards.  However, there are several ways to get cards for free:

1. Leveling up – The easiest way is to level up your avatar by playing matches.  You get one free card each level until you are level 20.  Another at level 25 and 30.  Then one more every ten levels.
2. Treasure battles – Occasionally, a treasure battle will occur in a ranked match.  Treasure battles offer a prize card to the winner of the match.  Make sure you win!
3. Buy with free Gran – You can get Gran without actually paying with real money.

Here are the ways to get Gran for free:

1. Play Mirage Master – There is a mini game you can play that can give you up to 30 Gran per day.
2. Recycle cards – You can exchange cards for Gran.
3. Site contests – There are contests from time to time that offer Gran as a prize.
4. Weekly rankings – Every week everyone is given Gran if their win/draw/lose record is good for the week.

Graphics

For card game it looks pretty nice.  The card art is varied, colorful, and full of personality.  Of course, it is only to be expected of some of the best artists that Japan has to offer.

Alteil’s effects are nice, but you don’t get to see actual fireballs exploding.  Instead, you see card flips and colorful numbers showing up from damaging a unit card.  Of course, it is a card game so fancy 3D graphics are not to be expected of this genre.  Also, Alteil was made to be easily picked up and played anytime, so unexpected fancy graphics would only hinder that objective with long downloads and higher computer hardware requirements.

However, with the current state of gaming technology, the oomph of the graphics is not as exciting compared to other games today.

Audio

Like the graphics, spells and card summons do not have their own unique sound.  But there sound effects like a thud sound when a unit card successful strikes another unit card.  Nothing special or unexpected  here.

The background music on the other hand successfully conveys a sense of action that gets you excited; the music is generally fast pace with quieter lulls that make you feel that like something epic is happening.

Conclusion

Alteil is a unique card game with a lot of strategy involved; it really captures the addictive qualities of card games:  collecting cards, building up your own deck, and unleashing your strategy against intelligent opponents.  Alteil sets itself apart from traditional card games, which has players taking turns being active, by letting both players be active in every phase of each round.  The ability to access your entire deck from the beginning also makes the game feel more strategic and less about the “luck of the draw” of other card games.

If you like card games and want to try something different, you might as well try out Alteil.