Warhammer: Arcane Magic

The Warhammer Fantasy franchise has always been rich with characters and lore, laying the foundation for epic stories and grand adventures. Unfortunately, that doesn't carry over to Warhammer: Arcane Magic. Originally released as a mobile game, Arcane Magic feels like it had a lot of potential that it just never lives up to. From a visual standpoint, the actual gameplay looks great. Plus, the general mechanics are pretty solid. Unfortunately, that's not enough to make up for an almost anemic level of content.

Right from the start, the experience feels a bit empty. For starters, while technically telling players what to do in the tutorial, it falls short of ever explaining much about how to play. Then, once you finish, you run headlong into the game's "pay to play" model. Players can create teams of up to three wizards to take into battle but only start with two generic ones. Three other generic characters can be only unlocked after you play through a substantial chunk of the story, bringing the total number available to five. There are four other wizards available -- legendary characters from the Warhammer lore, but to use any of them, players have to shell out real money. By the same token, players can endlessly grind matches to earn a few coins to upgrade their decks with card packs, but to have a chance of really building anything worthwhile, they'll have to spend cash in-game to buy better card packs. And the icing on the cake? The only reason players have to upgrade their characters or decks is to fight against the same computer opponents over and over. A game like this is aching for some sort of multiplayer component, but like most of the Warhammer: Arcane Magic experience, it's sorely lacking.