Magic the Gathering meets Monopoly
I'd describe this game as Magic the Gathering meets Monopoly. You play on a game board with each square representing a territory and element. You roll the dice to determine how many moves you go and when you land on a territory you can chose to place one of your monsters there or if your opponent already has one there you can send one of your monsters to attack it and try to take the territory by force. Once you own a territory you can level it up to increase its value so when your opponent lands on it he has to pay a toll or defeat you. That's the game play simplified, there are many more nuances to it, but that's the idea.

It's very slow paced, an average match will easily take over an hour to complete. It's not so slow that it ever bothered me while I was playing, but you'll look up at the clock halfway through a match and realize 40 minutes has passed by already. So if that bothers you, now you have been warned.

The story is just there as an excuse to have matches, it's not very good, the voice acting is terrible so basically just try to ignore it. The matches are where the fun is at.

What I didn't like about this game, and what I don't like about most board games is that in the end a great strategy can be defeated just by dumb luck or being unlucky. I have had matches where an opponent literally would roll 7's and 8's every turn and I would constantly end up with 1-3. I have had matches where I could have chains of 4 territories and no one would land on any of my territories. Losing is not a big deal but when these matches take well over an hour to complete and you just lost due to nothing you did wrong, just dumb luck, it gets old pretty fast.

It's still a very fun game and I would definitely recommend it if this amount of chance determining the outcome of a match doesn't bother you. Definitely worth renting if nothing else.

For those who like cards or strategy
I found this game fairly easy to master. Once you have a core deck it was easy to change a few cards (if you want) to dominate this game. I didn't collect all the cards and didn't feel like I needed to. Some of the battles take hours, which could be a problem.

Needs a lot of patience and time
I admit I only played a few hours .. less than 10. Here is what I have.

Pro:
1. Some obvious improvement in some aspects over previous installment - more cards, better graphics, etc.
2. Easy to pick up and can be addictive, if you are the right type of person.
3. Can be paused in a game and leave it for later play
4. Good time-killer.
5. Allow multi-players network play.

Con:
1. It relies too heavily on luck, like many other board games. I don't see any improvement on gameplay compared to previous installment.
2. It requires a LOT of patience and time. Each game lasts at least an hour.
3. Graphics is simplistic and boring. Story is totally boring.
4. I got bored after less than 10 hours of play, and returned it before rental period expired.
5. I heard network play can last as long as 4 hours!!!

1337 d00dz Need Not Apply
Please, please, please... take this game at face value.

It's a board game with a collectible card/deck building element. It does both well, and is fundamentally balanced (see AI gripe below). From this perspective, the game is very good.

Boards and matches are rarely the same. Once out of story mode, pick up matches, both real locally and via XBL and AI based via the versus mode are available.

The combinations of cards and deck strategies are nigh limitless, while the addition of XBL online play and the struggle to collect all the cards adds replay value for a sub $50 game.

The caveats to the game are few. It is a board/card game and looks like a board/card game. No real win or loss here, if you come into the battle with reasonable expectations. Could it have looked better? Of course. Is it necessary to add the time (AND COST)? No. There is the presence of a slight rubber-band AI that is a little irritating. Also slightly irritating are the voice actors playing it out in full-blown cheap anime dub splendor. I ended up skipping cut scenes and cursing some opponents that I should have defeated.

If you are looking for bleeding edge graphics and blistering gameplay, this is not for you.

"Gamers" will love this. G4m3rz will hate this.

CCG fans will love it.
This is a great game for lovers of CCGs and board games. The so many different strategies are possible that the game has nearly limitless replay possibilities.
The graphics, while nice, do not really come close to using the XBOX360's full graphic potential.