Culdra's Cepters

I am usually too lazy to post multiple blog entries in the span of a week, but I am too excited about my recent addiction to lay idle. I even went to the extent of creating a club to tame my obsession, Culdra’s Cepters for any of you who may be interested. Culdcept Saga has me so hooked that I’m tempted to trade the left kidney of my first born child for those beautifully crafted stone cards.

For the lucky Culdcept virgins out there, which are probably many of you, who have not experienced the uncontrollable infatuation of constructing the perfect deck, I will give you a free hit from my pipe. The game is basically a trifecta of geek games Monopoly, Magic: The Gathering and an obscure JRPG. You first build a deck of cards and then wage battle on a strategic board that requires you to claim territory by defeating your enemies and collecting tolls to gain a desired amount of magic. The combination of cards and abilities available create a never ending chain of calculated destruction. Describing this game in any further detail would send a caffeinated insomniac with ADD into a deep slumber, so I will spare you the details.

Even the few gripes I have about the game somehow manage to add to the overall experience. One of the first things I noticed about the game was the unbelievably melodramatic voiceovers. Obviously, story mode is not the main attraction for this game, but the main character sounds like he just came from a failed audition for Peter Pan. Although you play as a young boy in this game, they could have at least cast someone who doesn’t sound like they drive a Saturn plastered with rainbow bumper stickers.

Along with the poorly done voiceovers, there are some slight graphical annoyances in the game. Once again, this is only a gripe about the story mode, simply because I haven’t opened Pandora’s Box yet and given multiplayer a shot, which I understand is the hook of this title. After I cut through the cheesiness of my characters first voiceover, I saw one of the main enemies, Rilara, for the first time. Rilara essentially looks like stripper who has just survived a c-section gone horribly wrong. For some reason, they gave the clear sex symbol in the game the most hideous looking belly button imaginable.

As I said, the few tiny “complaints” I have about the game almost add to its obscurity and charm. This is a game that I only hope will grow a larger audience with its Xbox 360 release and I can play it for months, if not years to come. For any of you Culdcept fans out there, or even newcomers who want to know more about the game, feel free to visit cepter-club.1up.com and join the fun. I look forward to seeing you all on the battle field!