Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament

"This game could have been great...."

Ok..... let's start. This is my first review, so it will probably suck. I am a huge fan of Yu Yu Hakusho. I couldn't wait till the game came out. When it finally came out, I rushed to the nearest Hastings to rent a copy, but it had already been checked out...."Damn!" I said to myself. Later that week, I was browsing through my local used game store, and I come across a copy for 25 dollars! I the said to myself,"This is to good to pass up.... I gotta have it." So I bought it. Man, I wish i would have rented it first.

Graphics:8
This game is cel-shaded, and it has very nice graphics. All of the spirit animations are absolutely beautiful. They aren't really Budokai calibur, but they'll do just fine.

Gameplay:2
This is is where the game REALLY slips. To be honest, I still can't get past the Elder Toguro on the Dark Tournament mode. I mean, even on easy mode, the game is insanely hard! But that's not all! I know the developers must've been smoking something the day they "balanced" the character's strengths, because some of the character's are so much better than the others. For example, Kuwabara(and he's not the only one) attacks so slowly, that I can barely get a hit off before I'm clobbered. But wait, there's more! This game gives you two hundred seconds for each fight..... talk about a complete misjudgement. Most fights in this game will last twenty seconds tops, considering the health gauges are so small. Yet still, there's more. The last two things I hate about this game gameplay wise, are the fact that some characters can kill you in one combo, and the fact that while the spirit attacks are great to look at, they are useless against computer opponents; because with the simple press of the X button, the computer will block your spirit attacks almost every time.

Music(or audio):2
Music? What music?!? I don't even remember any music at all during the fights. The only music I remember slightly is the music of the main menu. I am a little disappointed though, because I was hoping they would have the TV Show theme song on the game. Next, the sound effects. The sound effects are pretty terrible. All they are are little booming sounds. I remember as soon as I started playing, I though to myself,"These sound effects are going make me deaf." Finally, the voicing in the game is ok..... but the Japanese version is a lot better.

Replay:10
This game has tons of replay value! With over 25 characters and alternate outfits to unlock, this game willkeep you playing for a long time... if you want to play, that is.

Overall:5
This game could have been great, but it was so flawed..... Nice try, but better luck next time, Atari!

Buy or Rent:
Even if you are a fan, RENT IT FIRST! I hope more people don't buy this just because it has the name"Yu Yu Hakusho" written all over it.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/14/04