Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories

"Gameplay pays."

Story
The story is terribly cliche and very unrelated to the cards itself. In the beginning, you are a prince who is addicted to a card game. Everything goes well until Heishin tries to take over the world by collecting the six millennium items. To make sure he doesn't get them, you must duel other people to get the millennium items so he can't. What's weird about this is that you run up to people, who say, ''Yo kid, I'm gonna take that millennium item from you and rule the world!'' The next thing you know, you're sitting down and playing a nice game of cards with him. When you defeat him, he reacts like you shot him with a gun or something, and you say ''Yes! I have saved the world!'' People who take cards that seriously really need some help.

Gameplay
Wow... this is what this games are all about. Each player begins with 8000 LP (life-points). The point is to get the other player to lose all his LP. Sound simple? Not really. Apart from just monster cards (they're usually the ones that do the damage), there are also magic cards, trap cards, and ritual cards. Each card has its own ability, and can be used in dozens of ways. The cards can be used and combined in different ways which makes this game so strategic. A new attribute that old YuGiOh fans might find is a Guardian Star. It acts like a rock paper scissors kind of game, and raises attack and damage by 500 if one monster's guardian star is strong against the other monster's.

There are many people you can duel on the game who have different strategies and themes that you can go up against. You can even play against your own deck against Duel Master. This allows you to continuously improve and is a great way to find out other uses and combo's for your cards.

The controls in this game are something to be noted too. After understanding the rules for the game, it is very easy to manipulate the cards the way you want to.

Music
In contrast to other reviews, the music was quite interesting. Actually, all of them except for the trumpet one that you hear sometimes while dueling. Most of the music fit in the game well, and provided some new and interesting sounds. I'd say the best would be the shopkeeper music during the tournament. The percussion in it sounds... funny.

Graphics
It is shocking to see how sharp the 2D sprites were. Konami must have noted PSX's processing power and discovered about quality 2D objects compared to its quality with 3D. Good for them. They look great. Apart from the sprites, they also have a 3D form of a monster. I am VERY glad that they made this optional in duels because the quality of these monsters are not too good.

Replay
With 722 cards to collect, it definitely can be replayed, but after doing so, theres not much to do except to show it off to your friends.

Notes
YuGiOh! Forbidden Memories is, overall, a wonderful game. Even though it's old, doesn't have high end graphics, and uses 2d sprites, its the gameplay that matters. Go watch a movie or something if you want graphics, sound, and music. A person plays games for a game, not pretty flashing ''oooh-ahhhh'' lights. YuGiOh is a good game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/25/02, Updated 08/25/02