When you get started, you'll run across Princess Leia, who will quickly teach you the basics while getting your card deck in order. It's a matter of building a group of allies and enemies while adding to the deck with Stack Cards, which feature secondary characters and Vehicle Cards that you'll need to manage.
In addition, you'll enhance your deck a number of ways, boosting cards with more energy and building new vehicles with the help of blueprints, which you'll find over the course of random battles or challenging friends. You'll also need to manage your party, especially when it comes to a full-on grid battle against a rival, and a boss battle with someone like Boba Fett or Darth Vader.
There's an obvious lack of storytelling, but Star Wars fans will eat up Force Collection. The gameplay is simple yet entertaining, especially as you rack up experience and make a strong deck through collected cards or purchased booster packs. You can also take on friends in random battles, pitting your party against theirs in the hopes of earning additional currency and blueprints. You can skip them if you choose, but it's actually sort of fun watching lightsabers and laser blasts get interchanged between cards.
On top of that, Force battles let you side with the good characters or the Dark Side, and you don't necessarily have to change your deck, which is a nice touch. The interface is also incredibly easy to use, with options at your fingertips and the ability to earn extra cards and XP through random battles, though there are some events you'll need to pay for if you don't feel like waiting things out.
Konami did a stellar job with the game's presentation. Hundreds of Star Wars characters and sequences are available, along with small clips from the movie that actually look good on a tablet, even if they are a bit scrunched. The music is equally great, a scattering of John Williams' best stuff and sound effects, from the buzzing lightsabers to the laser blasts. This will make Star Wars fans feel right at home.
In fact, excessive loading is the only negative with Star Wars Force Collection. That aside, it's a must for both fans of the series and card-collecting enthusiasts.
