Is it wrong to be disappointed that a twelve foot tall knight isn’t being thrown into a floating castle by a turtle with a catapult on its back? I’m not sure. Dragon Front is Oculus Rift’s first natively developed card-game, attempting to fulfill the early-00s anime-inspired fantasy of using small bits of cardboard to summon giant monsters to attack each other. Unfortunately, as has constantly been the case while doing this ‘growing up’ thing people try to convince me is great, the reality isn’t quite as nice.
Stick to the mouse and monitor with the best Hearthstone decks.
Here’s the trailer, where must of my problems lie:
Perhaps it’s the fault of Palmer Luckey teasing itbut I was expecting something a bit grander, flashier and with less of an obvious board. The fantasy isn’t playing an actual card game, I can play a real-life card game whenever I feel like it, it’s summoing monsters and reducing life points to zero with them. The little men are nice, but I shouldn’t be looking down at them, I should be standing on their titanic shoulders.
As for how it plays, little info yet. The official announcement post chucks out the same numbers you’ve seen in the trailer and promises it’s coming this year. Exactly how it all interacts, the basis of the game, whether cards or other resources are most important and how it’s monetised are all up in the air. If it’s a good game in its own right, the aesthetic doesn’t matter so much.
Still, it’s not like it’s out yet, plenty of time for change and it will be just the first of many that look at anime and go “wait, we can do that now!” It’s all just a prelude to a Beyblade game anyway. That’s when gaming will truly become art.