What type of game is this?

BattleCON is, put simply, a turn-based fighting game. It is a translation of a board game into digital form.

You have a hand of cards (some generic ones, and a set determined by your character), and you choose two together to create an attack (hence "battle connection"). Players reveal their attacks simultaneously. An attack has 4 important values; Power (damage done), Range (how many and which spaces it can hit), Priority (whose attack goes first), and Stun Guard (if you take damage greater than your stun guard, you skip your attack, i.e. hitstun). Most attacks have additional effects, like preventing damage or moving your character. Once both players execute their attacks (or skip them due to stun), then the two cards you used go on cooldown (two turns), and you move to the next pair. The first to 0 HP loses. There's some additional mechanics (like finisher moves), but that's the major ideas.

What does this game do well?

This game wonderfully replicates the feel of fighting games without the need of long button combos or tight reflexes. Lots of fighting game staples like footsies and hitstun, are present in some form.

The huge cast of characters all feel distinct in their style: some like to fight at long range, others like to do a single large hit, and still others prefer to avoid attacks or hit-and-run. Characters have a huge range of abilities, from draining life without fighting, to healing, to teleporting.

Where could this game improve?

This game's greatest weakness is its difficulty. In order to play well, you need to be familiar with your own character, as well as your opponent's. While the mechanics I outlined above are fairly straightforward, every fighter has its own set of quirks and adjustments to the rules. There's resources besides cards to keep track of, bluffing and double-bluffing, and if you fail to predict your opponent well enough, your attack may simply miss.

How does this compare to the paper version?

This is the game's greatest failing. While the animations and greater availability of players is nice, the game stumbles in the same way that many paper-to-digital translations do. Playing the game digitally is much more of a chore than playing in paper. The timers, animations, confirmations, and waiting for your opponent all eat up time. I can play a game of paper BattleCON in 10-15 minutes. A digital match takes 30. The sluggish nature of the digital game is simply not fun to play.

It also lacks a decent tutorial. The board game has another player to walk you through things, explain the rules, even let you take back mistakes. The digital version lacks this.

In a single sentence: A fantastic translation of fighting games to a turn-based system, hampered by a sluggish digital version and high learning curve.

Verdict: This game is still in early access. They're continuing to add new characters and new costumes. I assume they will import other things found in the paper game; things like the dungeon-crawl mode, boss battles, and 2v2/1v2/1v3 battles etc.

But the game needs more than that. Compared to the cardboard version, it is not fun to play. Clicking my way through a game feels like a sluggish chore. The timers and choices add up. There's a huge amount of dead time and all the animations feel too long. An animation/text speed slider might alleviate this somewhat, but I fear the problem lies deeper than that.

I play a lot of board games, and the tabletop version of BattleCON is one of my top five board games of all time. So it hurts me a lot that I cannot recommend this. If and when the digital version feels good to play, then I will be happy to change this verdict. But until then, if this game catches your fancy, I urge you to try the paper version.

[b]What type of game is this?[/b] BattleCON is, put simply, a turn-based fighting game. It is a translation of a board game into digital form. You have a hand of cards (some generic ones, and a set determined by your character), and you choose two together to create an attack (hence "battle connection"). Players reveal their attacks simultaneously. An attack has 4 important values; Power (damage done), Range (how many and which spaces it can hit), Priority (whose attack goes first), and Stun Guard (if you take damage greater than your stun guard, you skip your attack, i.e. hitstun). Most attacks have additional effects, like preventing damage or moving your character. Once both players execute their attacks (or skip them due to stun), then the two cards you used go on cooldown (two turns), and you move to the next pair. The first to 0 HP loses. There's some additional mechanics (like finisher moves), but that's the major ideas. [b]What does this game do well?[/b] This game wonderfully replicates the feel of fighting games without the need of long button combos or tight reflexes. Lots of fighting game staples like footsies and hitstun, are present in some form. The huge cast of characters all feel distinct in their style: some like to fight at long range, others like to do a single large hit, and still others prefer to avoid attacks or hit-and-run. Characters have a huge range of abilities, from draining life without fighting, to healing, to teleporting. [b]Where could this game improve?[/b] This game's greatest weakness is its difficulty. In order to play well, you need to be familiar with your own character, as well as your opponent's. While the mechanics I outlined above are fairly straightforward, every fighter has its own set of quirks and adjustments to the rules. There's resources besides cards to keep track of, bluffing and double-bluffing, and if you fail to predict your opponent well enough, your attack may simply miss. [b]How does this compare to the paper version?[/b] This is the game's greatest failing. While the animations and greater availability of players is nice, the game stumbles in the same way that many paper-to-digital translations do. Playing the game digitally is much more of a chore than playing in paper. The timers, animations, confirmations, and waiting for your opponent all eat up time. I can play a game of paper BattleCON in 10-15 minutes. A digital match takes 30. The sluggish nature of the digital game is simply not fun to play. It also lacks a decent tutorial. The board game has another player to walk you through things, explain the rules, even let you take back mistakes. The digital version lacks this. [b]In a single sentence[/b]: A fantastic translation of fighting games to a turn-based system, hampered by a sluggish digital version and high learning curve. [b]Verdict[/b]: This game is still in early access. They're continuing to add new characters and new costumes. I assume they will import other things found in the paper game; things like the dungeon-crawl mode, boss battles, and 2v2/1v2/1v3 battles etc. But the game needs more than that. Compared to the cardboard version, it is not fun to play. Clicking my way through a game feels like a sluggish chore. The timers and choices add up. There's a huge amount of dead time and all the animations feel too long. An animation/text speed slider might alleviate this somewhat, but I fear the problem lies deeper than that. I play a lot of board games, and the tabletop version of BattleCON is one of my top five board games of all time. So it hurts me a lot that I cannot recommend this. If and when the digital version feels good to play, then I will be happy to change this verdict. But until then, if this game catches your fancy, I urge you to try the paper version.