[REVIEW] Minion Master

Nick Mucciarone

(PC [REVIEWED])

The world of collectible card games is a deep, strategic, and rewarding experience, but it has one fatal flaw: you can never actually see the epic battles that take place between you and your opponent. That’s where Minion Master–a new free to play strategy game created by BitFlip Games–comes in. Minion Master is a collectible card game in which every card that gets played during the game comes to life as an animated 3D model, and wreaks destruction on your enemies.  

In Minion Master you get to choose from a variety of starter decks, each of which is drastically different from one another. You could lead an army of medieval knights and footmen, or take control of hordes of kobolds and trolls, or even wield the magical might of a sorceress — the choice is yours. In each deck there are two types of cards; summons, which are cards such as knights and kobolds; and modifiers used to enhance the summons. Each of these cards will determine just what kind of monster you will have on the field, and how strong it will be.

Each battle takes place on a hex-based grid in which there can be many types of tiles, such as grass, dirt, and lava, each of which will affect your movement on the battlefield. The point of the game is to destroy the enemy’s tower before they destroy yours, which is simple enough, but every move you make plays itself out on the field of battle. I found the game play to be very frantic, yet entertaining, and it is even more so with three or more players on the field.

One thing that you have to remember about Minion Master is that, at its heart, it is a strategy game. I can’t tell you how many times I would just play whatever card was the most powerful in my deck without thinking of the ramifications. The reason you can’t just go playing your best cards right away is a system that brings strategy to Minion Master, and that is the mana bar. Each turn you can gain mana by discarding some of the summons or modifiers from your deck, and, by doing this, you are able to summon other monsters to the field using that same mana. This keeps the game a constant strategic battle, not only between you and the enemy, but also between you and your resources.

 

Let’s talk about the multiplayer: a traditional card game is typically played between two opponents, and this method is completely available in Minion Master. But the true fun of the game comes from playing with large groups of opponents. There is something truly satisfying about going up against five other people, and defeating them one by one, using pure strategy.

Minion Master is the exact kind of game I love to see. It not only combines strategy with card games in an innovative way, but does it in a manner that is fast paced and fun. While the graphics are nothing to write home about, it’s the game play that truly shines through, and will offer you an experience that is truly rewarding.