Chaotic: Shadow Warriors

Players who haven’t a background with the trading card game will likely feel a bit lost for a while, as the game plops us into the Chaotic world with little in the way of an introduction. A tutorial explains most of the rules and mechanics, but in rapid-fire fashion. It’s unlikely to stick. Thankfully, the difficulty ramps up slowly, allowing players to figure out on their own what all the stats on their cards mean, and how best to select attacks.

Indeed, once you get the hang of things, the battles end up being quite fun, which is good since the rest of the game is kind of painful. The story is virtually non-existent, and the worl you roam outside of battles is confusing to navigate, thanks in large part to an automatic camera that seems to do its best to show you exactly what you don’t need to see. Still, if kids can get past the lame adventuring bits, they’ll likely have some fun with the strategy.