Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Spirit Caller

"It's about time, Konami."

For about 5 years now, Konami has been pushing their Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game to us in digital form. The first few times were cute. (See Dark Duel Stories and Forbidden Memories) But we could only take Sacred Cards and Reshef of Destruction so many times. So they tried to make the REAL game available in digital form. So we had Eternal Duelist Soul and Stairway to a Destined Duel. Again, the games were so behind the real game (even though they played like the real game), it was disappointing. They gave us an XBox game that had near the card collection Eternal Duelist Soul had. Not a good move... They continued their World Championship Tournament series on the GBA for 2004, 2005, and 2006, and things were starting to look up. We got our first taste of Yu-Gi-Oh! on the DS with Nightmare Troubadour, and to be honest, it was a little underwhelming considering how powerful the DS is compared to the GBA. Finally, we arrive at this. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Spirit Caller. Love or hate the show, Konami got near perfection this time around.

Story:
The story is nearly nonexistent. You trigger a few cutscenes here and there to advance in the game. Thankfully, most of your time will still be spent dueling.

Gameplay:
This game is supposedly up to date with the current Card Game. Which is great because that allows for the build of some awesome new decks that even World Championship Tournament 2006 couldn't provide us. With its 1400+ card base and the famed Deck Recipe system, the game gives us all sorts of reasons to hang out in the Deck Construction menu a little longer.

A.I. in this game is far superior to any A.I. I've seen in a Yu-Gi-Oh! game thus far. People actually make a good number of realistic moves, although it's still not human perfect. (Which proves why robots will never take over the world.)

The game handles, from what I've seen, the real game's rulings extremely well. I've yet to see a major rules discrepancy, although Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster requires some reading to understand.

The touch screen really helps the connection of this game to the real game. Something about physically touching the cards just feels right.

The puzzles are great. They really did a good job at separating them into 3 skill levels. They are very challenging, and there are a lot of them. You'll spend a good bit of play time finishing all of these.

If that's not enough, the game has terrific tutorials to help guide beginners through how to play the game. They are very helpful to new players. I've played through them once or twice just for the heck of it.

And the Forbidden List is another huge plus. Also, this game doesn't allow opponents to run forbidden cards either when you can't. We've seen a few examples of this cheating in earlier games.

All in all, gameplay isn't revolutionary, but WiFi makes it so.

Graphics:
The graphics are very clear. It looks like actual card scans were used to make the in-game cards. Very impressive. The duel fields look great and the art out of duel is nice. The monsters that pop up aren't the prettiest things in the world, but it is nice to have a little avatar represent your cards. The duelists stay true to their anime counterparts and have dynamic expressions for the most part. Definitely a strong point in this game.

Sound:
Phenomenal. Not a one annoying sound so far. They didn't port everything from the other games. They actually went out a made some clearer and all around better sounds. The title screen theme is truly astounding. Who knew a Yu-Gi-Oh! game could rock that hard?

Online:
WiFi is possibly this game's greatest feature. Instead of showing the world your W/L record (the game doesn't even keep track of one), you are given a Wi-Fi level. You start at Lv. 1 and work your way up by gaining experience from winning duels. The game gives you the option of searching for people who are near the same level as you so you can have more balanced and fair duels. There is a good point to have friends on here. You feel like you've got your own little play clique. Some people prefer to ONLY duel friends. It feels more natural to have friends on this game than any other Wi-Fi game so far other than Animal Crossing. Basically, I can sum up this entire paragraph with just 10 words: "You can duel people over 100 ft. away from you."

Replay Value:
With 1400+ cards, an up-to-date card and ban list, CPU deck changing, and online... The replay value of this game is near infinite. Not only that, it's addictive. This is truly Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh! masterpiece.

Buy or Borrow?
Buy. It's worth the $30 for WiFi alone. Also, World Championship Tournament 2007 is coming out soon, so you've got this to tide you over until then. Believe me, it does its job.

All I can say is, "It's about time, Konami." Thank you.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/10/07