Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom

"A Much needed relief from card-based Yu-Gi-Oh games"

I'm not really a big Yugioh fan. I enjoy the show and I buy some of the gameboy advance games, but if your like me those games became boring rather quickly. False bound kingdom brings a much needed change from the conventional Yugioh game.

Graphics-8
At first glance the graphics may seem somewhat dull, with the bland landscapes on the map and the use of text in the telling of the story. The graphics really shine in the battle scenes. The backgrounds in battles are clear and fresh and really give you a sense that you are fighting in different areas. The character models are well done and you'll rarely (or never) find yourself pondering over the identity of a monster. The battle animations, for the most part, are vivid and beautiful. My only problem is the use of one animation continuously. Not a big problem though.

Sound-7
Not exactly a strong point of this game. You hear the slashes of swords, growl of monsters,etc. but the reason I take 3 points away is because of the music. On most occasions it gets repetitive and boring, especially in menu screens. It doesn't affect the game to much though, as you rarely notice it.

Gameplay-9
Before the days of ogre battle I used to hate all RPG's and strategy-based games. It quickly changed my mind about these two genres. When playing Falsebound kingdom any RPG/Strategy hater has a few second thoughts. The game is simple enough to play. Standard RPG concepts apply, as you raise the levels of monsters, Equip items, etc. You can attack, defend, use items, run away, check status of monsters, etc. Sounds pretty boring doesn't it? Well it would be if it wasn't for the fact that it mixes in elements of strategy based games, giving certain ,monsters certain abilities in different types of environments. It reminds you so much of Ogre battle and I found it to be very fun and entertaining.

Replay-9
With many monsters and items to collect (Yugioh fans know just how many that is) and faced with the task of raising them all, this game will keep you busy for a long time.

Rent or Buy
If your skeptic about Strategy and RPG games you may want to avoid it. Yugioh fans and casual RPG gamers should at least give it a rent or possibly a buy because you have to spend time on it before you reap the extraordinary rewards.

This game takes time, typical of RPG games and strategy games. Don't believe reviews from popular web sites and magazines. Those reviewers only play the game for a short period of time and write it off as garbage because they don't take the time to seriously play the game. If they had, you would see alot more 8/10's instead of 2/5's.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/22/03