Platform: iOS

Developer: Konami

Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.

Release Date: September 4th, 2013

Genre: Trading Card Game (TCG), Strategy

Nerd Rating: 9/10

Recently my neighbor told me about this iOS Star Wars themed trading card game, Star Wars Force Collection, as he wanted me to start playing it using his invitation code so he receives a free 3-star rarity card. (Cards in the game vary in rarity from 1-5 stars, with the exception of Special which is the card you first receive and is not tradable.) As a huge Star Wars fan, I honestly had no hope in this game and figured it was just another one of those pay-to-win card games where you simply collect cards and if your card is better you win, which it always will be if you pay real money. Even though I assumed it was going to be terrible, I decided to try it anyway because even if I didn’t like it, my neighbor would’ve gotten his aforementioned free card. After weeks of my whole household playing Star Wars Force Collection, I am so glad to be able to say that my early judgments were wrong.

First thing I would like to mention is this; even though this is a mobile-exclusive title, this is NOT one of those games that you will play for a second while waiting for the bus, or waiting for food, or going to the bathroom, or anything of the sort. Star Wars Force Collection is a highly addictive and fun TCG with strategic elements that will have you checking back every minute to see if enough EP (energy points) have regenerated to do even the slightest action towards leveling up faster. On the contrary of most mobile titles, Star Wars Force Collection is not pay-to-win, and a low level can easily take out a higher level in a card duel if they have strategized their card formation properly. While you can pay real money to receive crystals, (a currency in the game used to buy and level up cards as well as make EP and BP regenerate faster) you also receive crystals in the game by playing, and everything that is available via crystals are also available using the other currencies which you cannot buy with real money (AP for buying cards, or credits for leveling up cards).

The gameplay mechanics of Star Wars Force Collection are pretty unique in my opinion, from questing to card battles and everything in between. In Star Wars Force Collection you have limited EP, or energy points, which are required to complete quests. The general regeneration time of your full EP bar is a little over an hour, though you can choose to increase your EP limit when you level up, and you will most likely keep checking your EP bar and depleting it over and over by questing before giving it a chance to actually fully refill itself. The questing mechanic is fairly simple, as you basically just tap pictures of enemies until you get to a card duel and finally a quick-time event until you have completed the planet you are currently on. While this sounds boring in theory, you will most likely start counting seconds to know when you can continue questing, as you will want to level up as well as receive the benefits of questing which include credits, which can be used to level up cards, vehicle blueprints, which can be crafted into vehicles which are a huge help in battle, and stack cards, which are low-cost cards that actually tend to be quite helpful in battle until you build up a good deck and formation.

Next you will notice a blue bar that contains the labeling BP, or battle points, which are basically the equivalent to EP except instead of questing, they are used to complete battles against other players. Battles take either 2 or 4 BP per battle, depending on the type of battle of which you are engaged in. Battling other players is quite enjoyable and rewarding, as you can steal vehicle blueprints off of other players as well as receive tons of credits to make your own cards better. To the new players out there, here’s a tip: if the person you are battling has a 5 star card in their formation, make sure you have one too or at least a few 4 stars or vehicles. It also helps in battle to have good allies, as one ally card will be called in to help you in the fight. Allies are also extremely useful as simply having them will give you daily AP, or ally points, which are used to buy cards.

My biggest complaints about Star War Force Collection lie in the cards of the game, and they are rather minor complaints. Star Wars Force Collection features a huge cast of Star Wars characters as cards, currently ranging from the main movies to the Clone Wars movie and TV show. However, they could not get pictures of some of the included characters, so they used models that are obviously not the real actors and actresses, th0ugh these are only for some of the non-important roles from the movies and is understandable. I am, however, deeply saddened to see that characters from Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords haven’t been included in the game, as those are by far my favorite Star Wars games in existence and some of my favorite characters. (Nothing has been confirmed, but I personally talked to a staff member of Konami during a Konami Twitch.tv live stream about possibly adding KotOR and KotOR 2 characters, and he said he would personally be interested to see them added, so keep your fingers crossed!)

Konami has done a great job at keeping Star Wars Force Collection alive by having many events from legion battles to the current bounty hunting event. Star Wars Force Collection is a great TCG that I cannot recommend enough as it is free and is available on all Apple and Android platforms. As previously stated, my entire household has been rather addicted to this game along with my neighbor and this is not a game I plan on removing from my devices unless Konami was to drop support of it and let it die, which they don’t seem to have in mind any time soon.

Do you agree with my thoughts on this game, or do I need to force choke you? I’m kidding about that force choke part, maybe. May the force be with you, and feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comment section below!

Written by Nerd Bacon