"Yu-Gi-Oh! without cards? Don't overlook this game"

At first, the only reason why I picked this game up was for the promo cards (Zoa, Metalzoa, and Goblin Fan.) But when I played this game, it took me completely by surprise. I thought this would be a GameCube rehash of the PlayStation games, Forbidden Memories and Duelists of the Roses. But no. It's completely different. Basically this game is a simpler Ogre Battle 64, but you use monsters from the trading card game instead of RPG-like character classes.

Graphics: 8.5/10
If you've seen even one episode of the anime, you know what many of the attacks and monsters look like. The consistencies are startling, but the monsters look almost real. Blasting your opponent's monster to the other end of the world with a "Burst Stream of Destruction" from a Blue-Eyes White Dragon just gives you a great sense of power, even if you've never played the card game or own the card. Unlike in the 3D Pokemon games, Konami has allowed for fairly realistic monster contact, which was one of Pokemon Colosseum's fallacies. The only reason why this does not receive a 10 is because Konami rehashed most of the animations in the game. Sure, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's attack animation is pretty unique, but the effects of many energy attacks, such as the Dark Magician's, are mostly rehashes of the same animation, except the color has merely been changed. Some of the monsters' attacks even have the exact same animation. Other than that, I have nothing to rant about.

Story: 7.5/10
The story isn't something to go head over heels over, especially if you haven't watch much of the anime. It's kind of a rehash of the first few episodes after Yugi took the Duelist Kingdom crown. Yugi, Kaiba, and all the other main characters from the show are trapped in a virtual reality game simulator and need to escape before something goes horribly wrong. You can play the story from Yugi's, Kaiba's, or later on, even Joey's perspective. Each storyline will cross paths with the other two at least once throughout the course of the game, and in each one, many new characters are introduced, especially about halfway through the game. The only way you'll understand this story is if you are at least somewhat familiar with the anime.

Gameplay: 9.25/10
This uses a 3D remake of the Ogre Battle engine, so naturally, the gameplay is very good. I wouldn't call it stellar, but if you saw your friend playing Ogre Battle (64), and you were interested in it, but when you played it, you found it too complicated, then this is the game for you. For a military strategy RPG, this game is very simple. The battle controls are extremely simple, and rarely require you to press more than two buttons for your monster to attack. The battle engine is much like that of Legend of Dragoon for PlayStation. Instead of inputting your monsters' commands all at once, when it's a monster's turn to act, that's when you input its command, and that's when it acts. There aren't too many fallacies to this game, but one major one is searching the maps for wild monsters to join your army is very, very tedious since the game gives you no clue whatsoever as to where they are, even which mission. But that's only a minor flaw. One of the big things fans will like: You can use the Egyptian god monsters in this game!

Sound: 8/10
Unlike many games of this type, the music does not get old. Each map has a particular song, and none of them are monotonous. The battle and boss themes use different instruments. The boss battle theme is completely different for each. The major boss theme and god battle themes are some of the better boss battle themes I've heard. However, the sound effects are where I have problems. As with the animations, many of the sound effects were reused for dozens of animations. But the sound recycling is even worse. Even the god monsters' attacks share sound effects with other attacks. It gets old fast.

Replay: 8.5/10
RPG fans rejoice! The only things you can't replay are battles against wild monsters. Once you complete the game, you can pick a different character to follow, and keep your monsters, items, gold, everything. You can replay any storyline without having to get rid of your monsters, items, or anything. So go out and play through the story again with your favorite monsters!

Overall: 8.2/10
Not a very challenging game overall, but it's an excellent choice for introducing yourself, or a friend, to the strategy RPG sub-genre of games. A two-player battle mode would have been nice.

Rent or Buy?
If you are a moderate to big fan of Yu-Gi-Oh! anime or strongly like strategy RPGs or RPGs in general, buy it.

If you are looking for an introduction to the strategy RPG genre, rent it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/10/04