A couple of times lately I’ve posted about games I’m not crazy about but which have good reviews in the App Store.  But I made clear that this may have been my personal taste and preferences. Orions is another game that has very solid reviews in the App Store (a four star rating).  I can’t even to seem to find anything other than glowing reviews on other websites.  And the core card-battle gameplay is, indeed, great.  But the rest of the game is just weak.  Looking at all those great reviews I’m starting to think I’m crazy.  But I strongly believe that the main Campaign mode of the game is riddled with major issues and really poor design decisions.

The reason I snatched up Orions is because I love collectible card games.  And that’s what Orions’ core gameplay is, and it does it well.  Now, it’s nowhere near as deep as Magic: The Gathering or anything, but it’s fun and somewhat addictive to battle it out with the AI.  You have separate “mana” for each of the elements in your deck (i.e. water, air, light, dark) and the cards have a summoning cost.  Your deck is right there for you…there’s no waiting to draw a card you want.  Each time you summon a creature you place it in one of five slots.  There are also a variety of spell cards, which require an empty slot, but do vanish after casting.

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