SoulSpark - Battle Cards (RPG) Review

Our Review by Campbell Bird on June 8th, 2015

Rating:

:: CARD COMBAT

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This game is more of a real-time combat game than a card game.

Developer: Copenhagen Creators
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.04
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5

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SoulSpark isn't a card game so much as it is a card-based adventure game with role playing elements. In it, heroes and foes - represented as cards - duke it out in real time using skills drawn from a specific pre-constructed deck. While it isn't really a card game, SoulSpark is a decently good time - though it's nothing terribly special, either.

Unlike more traditional card games, SoulSpark isn't turn-based and it doesn't consist of different phases. Instead, players have a small hand of gear and abilities that are equipped to heroes that can either be used or discarded. Discarding certain items can fill a mana pool that can unleash more powerful abilities, while other cards are simple attacks that do not have mana associated with them.

While questing, players will need to be constantly tweaking their party deck to make sure they have the right ratio of cards in order to survive against increasingly complicated and powerful foes. In order to customize decks permanently though, they have to earn enough gold to make characters study cards so they can become a mainstay of their deck.

Studying is just one of a few free-to-play mechanics present in SoulSpark. Others include a recharging stamina system and in-game ads that pop up between just about every single round. None of these aspects are particularly annoying on their own, but their combination does feel a bit cumbersome and impacts the experience negatively.

SoulSpark isn't a bad game, but it's more RPG combat game than it is a card game. It could easily incorporate animated character models and dice rolls or any other sort of non-card random element, and it would play just about the same way. The free-to-play mechanics are a bit annoying, but overallSoulSpark has enough neat art and mechanics to make it worth checking out.