is a story-driven, Flash-based

online collectible card game A digital collectible card game (DCCG) or online collectible card game (OCCG) is a computer game, computer or video game that emulates collectible card games (CCG) and is typically played online or occasionally as a standalone video game. Many DCC ...

produced by Japanese studio Dex Entertainment and published by Media Blasters. It was released in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 2004, and released in English in 2008. Alteil claims to be the most popular online card game in its home country). The images on the online cards were designed by a team of Japanese fantasy artists, and the playing style is different from many other traditional card games. The game is no longer managed by Dex Entertainment, but is currently managed by

GP Core Edge Gp or GP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * Gameplanet (New Zealand), a New Zealand video game community * GamePolitics.com, a blog about the politics of computer and video games * '' GamePro'', a monthly video game magazine * ...

(a subsidiary of

Gamepot was one of Japan's leading game publishers of massively multiplayer online games and mobile games. History GMO Gamepot was founded in 2001 as . It was acquired by Aeria in March 2003 and had its first success with an online golf game called P ...

). Recently, this game has been re-released to North America by the company Apocoplay as of October 6, 2012. Besides the main game, ''Alteil'' also contains three minigames: , , and . Only ''Mirage Master'' is currently available in the English version.

Gameplay

A game of ''Alteil'' usually lasts between fifteen and twenty minutes. Since the internet allows players to use virtual gameplay techniques, players are able to do things which they couldn't do using physical cards. For instance, players can have the same card from their deck in multiple files (files are groupings of cards that are used in a match), choose cards to use from the entire deck rather than drawing cards from the deck and using them a hand, and complex mathematics can be implemented without disrupting the pace of the game. Players in the game are referred to as .

Cards

The cards are separated into four element like groups called Spheres of Influence. These spheres are individually called: , , , and . Cards of a sphere typically have similar strengths and weaknesses.

Reception

Inventor Spot states: "Alteil takes up where these games leave off, adding exquisite anime style artwork and an online dimension few RPGs can match!" Nate Ming at

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

praised the "smartly-designed system and beautiful card art."

References

External links

English version on Steam as Alteil: Horizons

Japanese version's official sitePlayer Ratings of Alteil on TCGPlayer.comReview of Alteil on TCGPlayer.com

Anime News Network Article
* {{cite web, url=http://animediet.net/video-games/alteil, title=Review: Alteil , publisher=Anime Diet 2004 video games Card games introduced in 2004 Flash games Multiplayer online games Digital collectible card games Media Blasters Video games developed in Japan Gamepot games