Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dawn of Destiny

"I am madly in love with Ryou Bakura"

What is it I like about this game? Is it just because I'm a long-time fan of the show, despite having little interesting in the card game itself? Or maybe it's the fact that you don't have to spend real money buying all those trading cards. At any rate, it sure is a hit with me.

Plot: n/a

What plot? Why would you need a plot? This is a game where you duel with other characters. What plot is there in that? It would be nice if this game had a plot, but it isn't the Falsebound Kingdom. This is just a game for dueling, nothing else, and I like it fine that way, and if you like dueling, you might, too.

Game play: 9

Never has dueling been so easy to figure out! You start off with a deck, and duel against other duelists 1-on-1. You can either duel singularly, or duel against three duelists back to back, in which case you can get more cards if you defeat all three of your opponents than if you'd just defeated one. It's insanely simplistic game play. You duel to gain cards, and use those cards to ameliorate your deck. The dueling itself is pretty easy. The ‘point' of the game, so to say, would be either to collect all the different cards, or to defeat all of the triple duels.

Replay: 9

Depending on who you duel, you'll receive different cards after defeating them. Not only that, but after you defeat an opponent, you choose from one of the three Egyptian Gods (Obelisk, Slifer, or Ra) and whichever one you choose will yield different cards for you. So you will have to defeat a single opponent multiple times to yield the maximum variety of cards available from them. Some cards can only be gotten by defeating specific duelists. For example, by battling Yami Bakura you can collect the different cards you need for the Destiny Board trap card. Also, when doing single duels, it will show you how many times you have won vs. lost to a certain opponent. So, you can see how many times you can defeat Seto Kaiba, for example.

Sound: 7

The music is the dramatic music Yu-Gi-Oh likes; it's nothing to jam to, but it's decent for dueling. The music changes depending on who you're dueling, which is nice. Then again, if you don't like it, just mute it and play something else.

Graphics: 6-7

There are 3D models of the monsters, which can be entertaining. Some of the field spells look beautiful, and some of the card animations are in interesting.

Buy or Rent:

It depends on how much you enjoy dueling. For me, this game is very addicting.

Overall: 9

So, despite this game having no plot, it is easy to play. No two duels are exactly alike, and what's more, you can stare at Ryou Bakura all you want. And you can put Tea Gardner in her place. And that's always fun. =)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/06