Elder Scrolls: Legends First Impressions

Gamers interested in slinging some digital cardboard certainly have no shortage of options. Hearthstone dominates the market , but Magic: The Gathering Online , SolForge , content and Witcher 3's Gwent are just a few of the other card games competing for the niche market. Bethesda is preparing to join the CGC war with Elder Scrolls: Legends and Game Rant has been playing the closed b


While it was once considered an entirely niche market, online card games have now become a staple on PC and mobile devices. What was once a genre almost completely dominated by Magic: the Gathering Online has blossomed into an attractive revenue stream for major video game companies, and developers have begun to take notice. Blizzard's Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft totally changed the game by capitalizing on the elements of card games that could only be done in a video game medium, relying on RNG-based effects and smooth, crisp card animations rather than overly-complicated mechanics that reduce the amount of luck involved in a given g


Portal 2 , Skyrim , and Batman: Arkham City are just a few of the games (as expected) earned multiple nominations, but Uncharted 3 - even as acclaimed as it was - is not in the running for "Game of the Year." Other titles with multiple nominations include L.A. Noire , Battlefield 3 , and Basti


"The Borderlands universe is no longer just a console experience. With intuitive, touch-based commands and slick UI, Borderlands Legends combines the inventory and skill tree management that gamers already love about the franchise with a layer of strategy that is popular on mobile devic


One way or another, we should know soon enough. New games generally appear on Apple's App Store late Wednesday night in North America (around 11:00PM EST), meaning that we could be playing Borderlands Legends in just two days - unless, of course, 2K Games plans to wait until the last moment and release the game on Hallow


There are likely still plenty of bugs and balancing fixes on the way as the game's closed beta continues, but so far Bethesda is working with a very solid foundation. The game felt a little too much like Hearthstone at first, but once the runes, Prophecies, and lanes were introduced a few levels in, Legends really started to stand on its own. It's hard to make room for another card game in the rotation, but this one will be worth the ene


The Game Developers Choice Awards committee will also be announcing its Special Award recipients before the ceremony, including honorees for the Pioneer, Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement Special Awards. There will also be a special reveal as to the identity of this year's Game Developers Choice Awards h


While the set definitely makes for some entertaining callbacks to Skyrim , it also doesn't really do much to push Legends forward, either. None of the mechanics feel as though they are a significantly different playing experience than ones that existed previou


The ability of Dire Wolf to capture the feel of Skyrim in its new set is definitely the biggest draw toward the expansion as a whole. Werewolves have innocuous abilities - or none at all - until an enemy is damaged enough that they lose a rune, and then they become powerful creatures with aggressively slanted keywords. Dragons are, quite suitably, some of the biggest, baddest cards in the entire game, and can often win on the spot unless they're answered quickly, which is how a dragon should f


The Brady Games Borderlands 2 Digital Strategy Guide is responsible for blowing the cover off Borderlands Legends . An advertisement for Legends appears in the guide, and a copy of the ad made its way to the Borderlands 2 forums, though the post has apparently been deleted. No matter - images of the add itself are currently all over the net. Check it out be


There are no limitations as to which games are nominated, and the winners will be selected by a group known as the International Choice Awards Network, an invitation-only committee housing 500 leading game creators from all over the indus


It may be a mobile game, but this is still Borderlands , and that means one thing above all others: there will be lots and lots and lots of guns. The Legends ad promises "thousands of different weapons," which is well short of the "bazillions of guns" touted by the Borderlands 2 launch trailer , but should be more than sufficient to get the job done. How those weapons are acquired, though, appears to be somewhat different than in the console games. The ad notes that players can "collect in-game cash by destroying enemies and purchase new weapons." Does that mean that there won't be any random loot drops or chests to scour? It might. It might also be a clue that that players can get right to the good stuff via in-app purcha


Borderlands Legends brings back the cast of the original Borderlands - Mordecai, Lilith, Brick and Roland - in a wave-based shooter. Missions are randomized, characters can be leveled up, and players will be able to take advantage of a "strategic cover system." Conspicuously absent from the Legends ad is any mention of multiplayer, which is a huge part of Borderlands' allure on conso