Super Battle Cards

Genre: Unlimited Pattern Puzzle / Card / RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Super Battle Cards is a family-friendly game which, while it uses a motif that combines Card games and RPGs, and includes a few RPG-style mechanics, is actually largely an Unlimited Pattern Puzzle game. In it, players shift their hero card around a grid of cards, trading damage with enemy cards, absorbing health and armor from potion and shield cards, and making strategic use of various other helpful items and traps.

The presentation here is pretty simple and straightforward, but not bad. The cards here are adorned with sparsely-animated hand-drawn visuals that get the job done but don’t do much more than that. Likewise, the instrumental soundtrack goes from simple and plucky to understated and moody, but never really goes anywhere memorable. I’d say it all works well for the game, but does nothing particularly great or noteworthy.

However, there is one element of the presentation that could have done with more work. Players can opt to play the game on a 3 x 3 grid of cards, a 4 x 4 grid, or a 5 x 5 grid, and the numbers denoting the attack value of enemies, the healing value of potions, or the defense value of shields are miniscule when you play the game on a 5 x 5 grid. This makes it a bit difficult to see both in docked and handheld modes.

This aside, the gameplay here is pretty straightforward and easy to pick up straightaway – the game does a good job introducing you to its elements, and there’s nothing too complex here – all you’re doing is moving your card around the grid (using either traditional controls or the touchscreen, both which work fine), and every card you move your hero card into has a pretty clear effect on your health or defense value. The simple and straightforward nature of the gameplay here makes it a pretty compelling time-waster, and those looking for a game to just mess around in for a bit to kill a few minutes at a time will find this game is excellent for that.

Really, the only downside to this gameplay is that it’s so simple it seems shallow and doesn’t really seem to have any great strategy to it. New cards seem to spawn randomly, and it’s clear what everything does, so unless you make a particularly bad move, the entire game is just a matter of bouncing from enemy to potion/shield and back to enemies to keep clearing enemies and restoring yourself… until the enemies get to be too numerous compared to the shield and potion cards. There are three game variants (the standard “endless” mode, and two modes that limit your number of moves and overall game time), but nothing that really shakes the gameplay too much.

Despite being shallow and lacking options, Super Battle Cards is nevertheless a fun and enticing distraction. It’s a simple little Puzzle game that’s easy to slip into, play for a little bit, and not have to think too deeply. If you’re looking for a good time-waster on the Nintendo Switch, you could do far worse.

tl;dr – Super Battle Cards is a family-friendly Puzzle game with simple but compelling gameplay that has you moving a hero card around on a grid of health, shield, and enemy cards. It’s a bit shallow and there are some presentation issues, but overall it’s a fun time-waster.

Grade: B-

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