Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories

"Dueling can't get any better than this..."

Yu-Gi-Oh: Shin Duel Monsters or famously called as Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories has rocked the Playstation Trading Card Game in North America. After the grand release of every new game systems like PS2, X-Box, GameCube etc... I thought that Playstation Game System would fade like Nes and/or Snes but this proves me wrong. The release of Ark the Lad Collection and this game as well proves that PSX is still in the race.

Okay, I've played almost every card game that the PSX could offer. Ranging from Pokemon TCG, Monster Rancher BC, Digimon, etc... I love those games and I thought that why not try Yu-Gi-Oh? How good this game is you ask? Why not read further to find out.

Gameplay - (9/10)

The Gameplay is just about everything. You'll be up with a lot of surprises and unprdictable move every minute. The controls is just as east as 1, 2 and 3 so nothing to worry about. No need for memorizing or proper skills with the controls all you need to have is a skillfull game tactic. The game itself is above average to very hard. Yes! You hear it. In short it is very challenging specially when you try collecting every possible cards out there. Some enemies are very hard to beat without the proper game tactic and the right cards, some enemies like Mia or Kaiba are like a pain in the neck. Very challenging indeed. Lot's of thinking are to be made after laying down cards or before laying down cards. You can battle people around you and after winning you'll be rewarded with clues on your next adventure or to finish one. The game itself never seemed to be boring because you won't know what will happen next.

Story - (7/10)

Here's a little spoiler. The Story is basically set in Ancient Egypt, where you take the role of a pharoah prince and simply try to stop evil mages from getting their hands to the seven totems to stop the world from destruction. Sound simple? Yes it sounds very simple. But as you play the game you'll forget of it's simplicity. Some dialogues are great but the overall story is a bit simple not much of a twist and a bit straight.

Graphics - (7/10)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Graphics are very familiar to what of the PSX's pass 3D game. Decent graphics being a PSX game and all. You can view the battle as either the standard card game mode or the 3D mode where you can see what does a thing do. I don't really pay any attention during the 3D game only activating it ones in a while or to view my latest card. I ussuallt uses the standard mode for faster gameplay.

Sounds - (6/10)

I don't pay much attention with the background music because am too focus during the game play. I tried listening a bit and found out that's it's pretty bad. There's this ancient egyptian music style which is quite good but during the battle I don't find it interesting and focuses on the gameplay more.

Replayability - (6/10)

The game seemed to be repetitive but not the enemeis' strategy. Every time you play you'll be up to a foe that uses fairly a different strategy. Same goes to the card they uses it sometimes change. But this doesn't make any good points to be earned by the Replayability part. After beating it for the first time I find it quite boring to beat it the second time. Not much of a game secrets at all. I prefer continuing with the game and making the best of it instead of starting over.

To buy or to rent?

I suggest you rent it our first. A 5 day rental would be enough to satisfy yourself to whether buy the game or not. After reading this review try reading other reviews that may be interesting enough to boost your interest in the game. But if you are a card game fan like me this is a must buy. I only stack it up along with my old card game CDs.

Overall: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/20/02, Updated 04/20/02