GAME REVIEW | "Card-en-Ciel" Delivers a Full House of Fun
When I first went hands-on with Card-en-Ciel at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, I didn’t know what to expect. Normally, I’m not the kind of guy who enjoys card-based combat games. However, it showcased a lot of familiar characters from the Inti Creates realm, which was enough of a reason for me to check it out. I walked away surprised by how enjoyable it was, but was still curious to see how the full version of Card-en-Ciel would play out.
Now that I’ve played the complete edition of Card-en-Ciel, I can happily say that it is overall a cool game. With that being said, it’s the type of video game that’s better in smaller doses rather than long play-throughs. The reason for that is because Inti Creates’s franchise showcase suffers from having shampoo-like gameplay. By that, I mean Card-en-Ciel is very much “lather, rinse, and repeat”.
The game has you taking on the role of Neon, the self-proclaimed “Gaming Chair Detective”. He is often hired to take down cyber criminals, who are dealing with illegal activity in a world that hasn’t been properly regulated yet. With a foray of character cards in his back pocket, Neon dives into the many digital dungeons and deals with the villains who are making the virtual world too messy to fully enjoy. And in every world he dives in, he finds a new ally (or even enemy) to recruit into his deck.
Each dungeon you dive into in Card-en-Ciel has a similar layout. Throughout the map, you will come across enemies of different rankings. Most are the easy type, and defeating them can help build up your deck or even refuel your HP. But when you come across the more tougher enemies, the fights they deliver will give you a run for your money. Thankfully, the game encourages you to conquer each dungeon at your own pace, meaning you can either dive head-first into the tougher fights or take on the easier enemies one-by-one.
When you dive into battle, you’ll have an assortment of cards at your disposal. Some are for combat, whereas others aid in defense, with the option to also use them to move Neon away from enemy fire. Perhaps the most useful of these cards are the Muse ones, which not only adds more power to your attacks, but they also perform a special song during the battle. (Over 50 songs are featured via these Muse cards, which are a mixture of video game openings, endings, and even battle songs that fit perfectly with the action happening on-screen.)
Most of the worlds in Card-en-Ciel are based on fictional games, from the like President Ex Machina and Kizuna Connect to Yggdrasil Records IX. Although you only get a bit of what the actual games would be like, there’s enough going for them that make one think that Inti Creates could bring these faux titles into reality. With that being said, the real enjoyable part of the game involves the characters from franchises that already exist, such as Gal*Gun and Azure Striker Gunvolt. (I’ll admit it was the sight of Kurona at the TGS booth that drew me to the game in the first place!)
Gameplay-wise, there’s a lot of fun to be had in this game. When you collect cards, you can sometimes have the option to combine other cards or use cheat codes to power them up. Initiating special skills and breaks will up your chances at success, whilst combining Muse cards with regular cards can sometimes initiate a very cool-looking and powerful attack. However, losing a battle will have you needing to start the match from the beginning, with there being a couple of tries given before you’re kicked out of the virtual world.
Although the fights can be fun, there isn’t much variety to be found when playing these battles. Whether it’s an easy or hard fight, every match is basically the same. And with there sometimes being a time limit before your enemy decides to attack, it doesn’t give you enough breathing space to figure out what you’ve got currently in your hand. As such, your matches will go down quickly, with you sometimes wondering how exactly you won or lost. It’s this aspect that makes the game better to play one dungeon at a time, rather than attempt to marathon through it. Otherwise, you’ll get bored of it.
However, even with its repetitive gameplay, Card-en-Ciel has a ton of replay value. After you conquer each dungeon, you will have the option to replay them in ten different difficulty modes. These can help with not only powering up Neon’s card deck more, but it also allows you to come up with new strategies to defeat weaker and stronger enemies. On top of that, you can even take on a special daily dungeon, as well as face off against other players online with the card deck you’ve built. (I would suggest waiting until you defeat the fifth dungeon before facing players online, as you’ll need some of the nicer cards in your deck to stand even a small chance of victory.)
PROS:
- Great assortment of characters
- Fun battle mechanics
- A surprising amount of replayability
CONS:
- Gameplay can get repetitive
- Card system is somewhat confusing
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you’re new to card battle-based video games, Card-en-Ciel may be a good one to start off with. With 300 cards to collect and nearly a dozen dungeons to conquer, Inti Creates’s nod to its own games and homages to others has a lot going for it. Even though its gameplay can feel same-y after a long time, there’s a lot of good reasons why you should keep dealing out one hand after another in Card-en-Ciel.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Andrew Singleton of Inti Creates. Reviewed on the PS5.
