Ok so after playing for a about 4 hours tonight and finally "getting" the card system I think I'm ready to post some impressions.
First of all, for first time players the Tutorials are pretty good. I played through the initial three and felt like I got a good feeling for how to play. But of course it wasn't until I actually started playing on my own did I forget how some of the things worked. I ended up going back to the Tutorial only once to review. For the most part I found the Tutorial helpful and did a good job of explaining the mechanics and everything of the game.
The gameplay system, I've only played about 7 matches so far, seems to be pretty good. I like it. The only thing that I really dislike about the game is that sometimes things seem to happen a little too fast and I'm not sure which card the computer is using to power up which one, and which abilities are being used, etc. The game can get to the point where it seems very cluttered on the screen, which brings me to my biggest complaint of the game....
The presentation is AWFUL. My biggest gripe, you can never zoom in or get a close up of the art that's on the cards! That really ticks me off. One of the best things about the Marvel license I thought would be was being able to see these cards in high resolution and up close. You basically get just a "thumbnail" of each card and that's it. Really disappointing to me. The game needed a "Card Viewer" mode of some sort to be able to admire the cards up close. Also like I mentioned earlier, the game screen can get kind of cluttered. The text is a little small, but not really hard to read. It will just strain your eyes definitely. After playing for a couple of hours I needed a break from staring at the tiny text on the screen. In short bursts, this is not so bad, but in longer play sessions I found that it was some obvious discomfort from staring at the screen. I only noticed this because I don't feel this way playing any other PSP game.
The story mode in single player is a nice touch. Kind of like MGS Digital Graphic Novel you watch comic book style cut scenes in between each card match. Then you play a game. They really don't add anything to the game, but it's a nice filler and I suppose it gives you a decent recent to plow through the story mode so that you can read more of the story. But really it's nothing special.
To sum it up, the gameplay is fun, addicting, and challenging. But the presentation of the game as a whole seems like there was no effort put into it. If it wasn't for the Marvel license I would probably have no interest in the game itself. It's an average game with great gameplay but weak presentation.
I like the game and will probably continue playing it for weeks on end, but I can recognize that it's very underwhelming and did not live up to the potential that came with a great Marvel license.
I give it a 5 out of 10.
