Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses

"Went from Crap..to Addicting very quickly"

When I bought this game I expected a normal Yu-Gi-Oh! game (like Eternal Duelist Soul) where you play by the real card game rules. That is Not what I got, I got a game much like Chess as some say, and like Dynasty Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics.

I found the cover art of this game very appealing, great art, better than you see in the T.V. show, and the back is ever better. (Dark Magician Girl :)

I was extremely annoyed by the 30 Min- 1 Hour long tutorial at the beginning of the game. I sat through it and noted some different things, like you can move a monster in Attack position while it is face-down, and your set magic and traps can be attacked, also a ''No More than 5 cards in your hand'' rule. Also the deck leader concpt seemed to be a waste. I chose my side (Red-Rose) and picked my deck. I went and dueled Weevil and lost, then Rex and I got VERY frustrated. I was also very diasappointed by the 3 ''Free'' cards I got with it, those cards a practically useless until their ''Better Form'' (Valkyrion) comes out in the U.S. Here I would have give this game about a 2.

Then I went to the ''Custom Duel'' option and had a GREAT time whooping that Exodia Guy and getting new cards to strengthen my deck. I was eventually able to beat Weevil and move on to other challengers. Once I got to this point I was VERY HAPPY with this game. If you think about it, tis does make a very good, alternate rule, Yu-Gi-Oh! game, and after thinking about it, the ''Deck Leader'' concept is not a bad ideaat all. If I could I would probably play by these rules, as somewhat of a board game.

It says 2-Players and I still dont know how that works, but I would like to find out.

All the extra things I discovered along the way only made it better, the Passwords help A LOT, as does Reincarnation. But also the ''Hidden'' starting decks are quite useful. And some of the battle animations are great like Giltias (love that one), then there are some of the ants that weevil uses (they shoot yellow poo from their rears) are just wrong.

So this is a great game and now One of my Favorite Games
It is extremely fun, and addicting. All who got a bad first impression like I did, give it another try and you might be happy with it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/24/03, Updated 02/24/03