Dragon Collection Preview

Konami prepares card battle deck with Dragon Collection

An ancient evil is awakening, and only the dragons can stop it. In this time of chaos, only one person can bring salvation to the world: someone with a Dragon Collection!

In Dragon Collection, players must amass an army of dragons and other creatures from a “massive number of collectible monsters,” combine them to boost their abilities, advance through quests, collect treasures, fight evil villains and powerful bosses, and (of course) square off against their fellow players in head-to-head duels. As with most collectible card battle games, questing is simply a matter of tapping the screen to move forward to the next step along the path, earning experience and treasure by default. But defeating other players in battle does require a certain degree of strategy – or at least enough patience (and perhaps a willingness to part with a bit of cash) to assemble a powerful digital deck.

Pre-release screens look pretty decent, although the cute, colorful and heavily Pokemon-inspired aesthetic is neither unique nor particularly interesting. It does promise “epic fantasy music” from the Konami Music Team, however, and coming from Konami as it does, the game should bring top-notch production values to the table. Like most free-to-play releases, die-hard Dragon Collection fans can spend money to purchase in-game items that will smooth out the experience, like rare cards or potions that will instantly replenish your energy.

It doesn’t sound like any new ground is being broken here, but the game is big in Japan (with more than six million registered users) and will probably appeal to CCG fans with a taste for Pokemon.  Expect Dragon Collection to hit the iPhone soon.

Andy Chalk

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Long-time PC gamer and shorter-time freelance writer, with work at Gamezebo, The Escapist, PC Gamer, Joystiq and parts unknown. Owner of many cats, drinker of fine beers, eater of too much. A steadfast javelin in a flaccid world.