A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Justin Gary of Gary Games — better known as one of the Magic Pro-Tour players who founded the highly addicting deck building game, Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer. In this interview he hinted of an iOS version of the first expansion, Return of the Fallen due soon. And “soon” really meant before the holidays. For USD $2.99 you can upgrade your version of Ascension and buy RotF as an in-app purchase for USD $2.99.

BUY ASCENSION: RETURN OF THE FALLEN (USD $2.99)

Return of the Fallen introduces a new expansion deck which can be incorporated into the main game or played separately, albeit for 2 players only since there are fewer cards in this version. RotF is an exact replica of its deck building equivalent, sans the setup. For those unfamiliar, you can read the core mechanic in our initial preview. The new set adds the “Fate” concept where cards in the center row will behave according to the way the Fate instructions dictate. In this version you also have more abilities to play with, such as Arha Sensei, an Enlightened Hero that allows you to banish starter cards for Mystics of Heavy Infantry directly into your hand.

To buy the expansion all you need to do is upgrade your version of Ascension to its latest version, which adds the in-app purchase option. Apart from the expansion, the latest version adds support for online and offline play record keeping, player profiles (previously was lacking and a definite improvement!) and the ability to play the game using any config of Ascension, as a solo set or with mixed cards.

The new expansion also adds a new soundtrack and effects (some of the Creature kill FX are disturbing!), a new gallery for the expansion set cards, and a brand new refreshing title screen. Ascension has not however, added a third level of difficulty for the AI, something that iOS players will notice as being un-checkable in the options.

Ascension won’t make it to the Top List of iOS apps in the App Store but I well assure you that this game is epic. The additional USD $2.99 you’re going to spend + the initial USD $4.99 for the core set (that’s if you haven’t bought it yet) are so worth your money!

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer is by far one of my favorite card games. It’s right up there with 7 Wonders and Bang! Board Game Geek has awarded Ascension: CotG 3.5 stars out of 5 and the good news is that they full game is now available on iOS for a mere USD $4.99. The physical game costs USD $27.99.

Ascension: CotG is a deck building game for 2-4 players. The game was designed by a handful of Magic: The Gathering Pros and they wanted to build a fast-paced card game that didn’t rely on who had the better deck beforehand. Instead, players start off in equal footing and build the deck as they play. Winning entails computing the sum of Rune points acquired from creature kills and points from the types of cards you built your deck with during the game It’s good news to those that don’t want to spend a ton of money on booster packs and special cards as the core game is pretty much a standalone set good for 2-4 players already.

On to the iOS version. I can pretty much sum up the experience of CotG as quite similar to playing the actual card game. The UI is very well thought through with each card having a zoom in function anytime during a game session is ongoing. As the screen of your iOS device is limited, the board allows you to touch areas of the screen to pull out your summoned Constructs, view the Void and discard deck (you can hold and drag to see everything scroll by!) as well as see summaries of other player decks such as the number of constructs in play, number of Runes acquired and so on.

The game features both offline and online play. You can hold several offline games simultaneously as well as queue up in gaming lobbies for multiple games to see which one you can get into first. Because CotG is fast-paced by nature, wait times are never annoying.

Bottomline
Ascension: CotG is a definite MUST HAVE for the iOS. If you’ve never heard of the game till this review, you STILL should pick it up and I guarantee you that this will be one of the most played games on your iPad or iPhone.

[Download Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer]

So much attention has been paid to the Blackest Night and it’s prequel the Sinestro Corps War, that it has been easy to forget that Marvel have also been having a big cosmic crossover. And it rocks.

I’ve been as guilty as anyone, I admit. However I started reading comics with Marvel, and I have been blown away with their recent space sagas. Both Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest, great epics on their own, have set the scene for the current War Of Kings. And let’s face it, everyone who is anyone on the cosmic scene has been in these, even the most obscure of characters, from Paibok the Power Skrull to Stellaris the Celestial Slayer.

We’ve seen the Inhumans finally grasp the destiny for which they were designed, as the Royal Family adopt the Kree Empire as their ward. The third Summers brother Vulcan launches the Shi’ar into an expansionist phase, and the new Guardians Of The Galaxy stuck in the middle.

(SPOILER ALERT – READ NO FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE SERIES BUT PLAN TO.)

Lilandra has now been assassinated. And the culprit Darkhawk.

I have always liked Lilandra, and this one will echo for years if she stays dead, there seems to be nobody to take her place. I for one will miss her.

As for Darkhawk, I always thought he was a character with a lot of potential, and in the capable hands of Dan Abnett this has been realised. This week we have seen the final issue of War Of Kings: Ascension, and Dan has managed to completely revamp the character without contradicting any of his previous history. Christopher Powell has now had the ‘Nova-treatment’ and is finally a force to be reckoned with.

Elsewhere in the MU, Doctor Doom has had a great increase of power, in a story that many may have missed, what with Dark Reign and the War Of Kings hogging the spotlight. Spiralling out of the Marvel 1985 series (and somewhat justifying it), he was apparently slain by the Marquis Of Death, a future version of Clyde Wyncham, the reality altering first mutant of an alternate earth, sent back to the time of the dinosaurs and worked his way forward again step by step. Considering the next issue of the FF continues on from their Dark Reign mini, I hope we will see more of this new uber-Doom. After all, Norman Osbourne will not know how much his ally has changed.

So there’s my recommendations for this week – War Of Kings:Ascension #4 and Fantastic Four #569.