Card Monsters - Great MMO!

Card Monsters is a turn-based strategy game that uses the familiar concept of monsters with various attributes battling it out on a game board. By using effective strategy and resource management, players overcome a progressively more difficult host of computer managed challenges in the form of quests. Completion of these quests yields rewards and the opportunity to attempt more difficult quests.

When you first begin, you'll be prompted to log in with a username and a password. However, if you choose, you can opt to click the "guest" button and enjoy the game that way. This is a nice feature that is absent from many games.

The next step is to choose your starting monster card. There are three things you'll notice, besides the name and beautiful artwork on each card. The number in the top left corner is the crystal cost to put the card into play. The "melee" label by the sword icon indicates that these cards do that type of damage, and the value next to the heart icon indicates how much life, or hit points, that monster has.
After selecting your card, the game takes you to a well designed tutorial, where you lean how the battle and card placement system operates. Basically, there are three slots you can place monster cards into. In the center position, melee cards can attack only the card on the other side that is in the center position as well. The other two slots are ranged slots, where monster cards that perform ranged damage can attack from.

You begin with three crystals, and each card requires crystals to play. After cards are played, every monster that can attack does, and the turn is over. Your crystals return at a rate of three crystals per turn, which allows you to place additional monster cards or cards that grant beneficial powers to your monsters.

At the end of a battle, should you win, your monsters gain experience and you gain currency and cards. These cards can be used during battle, and currency used to purchase more powerful cards as well. Should you lose, you'll have the opportunity to retry the fight.

Card Monsters has a very intuitive interface and a surprisingly addictive game design. While a simple game to learn, Card Monsters creates some unique puzzles and obstacles to overcome, which sets it apart from the standard monster vs. monster battle game.

Enjoy!

(via MMO)