Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2007

"A worthy entry to the game library of any Yu-Gi-Oh! fan"

This is another entry into the expert series of Yu-Gi-Oh. That means that the game will follow the official rules of the world championship tournament. For people that are new to Yu-Gi-Oh, there is no better place to start. For people who are already a fan to the series, WCT07 is a game that you probably want to check out.

Graphics
If you have played Nightmare Troubadour or Spirit Caller, the graphics will be nothing new to you.

The bottom screen displays the entire playing field from a bird's eye view. This screen is where the core gameplay happens. The bottom screen is also the 2D plane.

The top screen displays each individual action. The top screen is also the 3D plane. When a monster is summoned it will go onto the field in 3D.

Not much else can be said about the graphics. You will neither find the graphics amazing or dull. The graphics are as good as a card game needs to be.

Controls
Whether you want to use touch control or manual control is completely up to you. I have found that manual control is more precise than touch control.

Each individual action that goes on the bottom screen is so small, that it can sometimes be easy to accidentally touch something that you did not mean to touch.

Touch control can not be used for everything. If you need to read a card effect, you have to hold down the R button. If you need to chain certain cards, you have to hold down the A button. Instead of using manual control for some things and touch control for others, it is probably easier to stick with manual.

When you look past the gripes that I have about the touch control, the controls are easy, accessible, and not a hindrance to the game.

Gameplay
If you are new to Yu-Gi-Oh, you will have access to a lengthy tutorial that will walk you through every basic rule there is in the game. There are quizzes that follow every instruction to help you along. The rulings of certain cards can be confusing to even Yu-Gi-Oh veterans. To help you out, there is a glossary of all the cards that will explain in detail how each card works in certain situations.

One of the most puzzling things about the game is that Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster, a card that is included in the game's starter deck, does not work properly. It is beyond me how Konami messed up on a card that they expected us to use in the beginning. Fortunately, almost every other card that I have seen used in this game works the way it should.

Progressing through the offline portion of WCT07 will be made easy if you are able to trade with someone who has Nightmare Troubadour, Spirit Caller, or another copy of the game. Your deck can instantly be filled with any card that you want. Most people who play this game however, will not have that option.

One of the biggest gripes that most people have with this game is that it takes far too long to progress. I would have to disagree. I started this game with no extra cards besides the ones you get from the starter deck. I now have access to every card the game has to offer. You are still looking at a solid 50-60 game hours to reach that point. A game as long as this one should be considered a good thing and not a bad thing.

Admittedly, the game will start out extremely tough at the beginning. You start out with only 1500 duel points at the start. That is good enough to buy 10 booster packs with. Each level 1 duelist will earn you enough duel points to buy only one booster at most. You also can not use card passwords to unlock new cards until you get at least 80% of the total cards in one booster pack. But, by the time you unlock level 5 and 6 duelists, you will be earning enough duel points to earn four packs every duel. Duel points can also be easily made by downloading and defeating ghosts from wi-fi onto offline mode.

This game is also the most challenging Yu-Gi-Oh game to date. The computers will use some of the most popular tournament winning deck themes. That means you will be able to test the limits of a deck without ever bringing the game online.

A new feature in this game is to select phrases from a list that your character will say when you perform an action or take damage. This is a great idea on paper, but unfortunately this idea is not well done. Somewhere in localization, konami badly messed up. Most of the phrases are horrible, if not grammatically incorrect. There are thankfully some good phrases amidst the bad ones.

If you did not play World Championship 2006, then theme/limited duels are a new feature that many people will enjoy. Theme duels challenge the player to perform a certain action in a duel. You will be graded C-S depending on how well you do. Limited duels ask you to add certain monster cards to your deck. Since there is only limit to what monster cards you add, you can add as many spell/trap cards as you wish. These two new modes are fun, but not for everyone. Some people will not want to go through the effort of changing a deck for every new challenge. Playing these modes are necessary to unlock level 5 and level 6 duelists.

I was disappointed to find out that I was unable to make my deck in this game because Konami did not add in certain cards that I needed. Konami has developed a habit of including some cards in some games and not including them in others. I am guessing that it is a method of getting fans to buy the next game.

The one feature will convince most fans to buy this game is the Wi-Fi mode. The people you face online are incredibly challenging and are fun to face every time. Unfortunately, the mode is not without a major flaw. Konami failed to deliver a good disconnecting penalty that has been in other wi-fi games recently. The system is the worst that I have ever seen in any online game. In a lot of cases you lose less ranking points for disconnecting than you do from taking for a loss.

If you look past that major flaw, wi-fi dueling is worth your time.
I tend to meet more people who do not disconnect than people who do. Friend matches are also great for people who want to enjoy a duel without having to worry about ranking.

If are unable to go online, I would consider buying world championship 2006 instead. The only two advantages this game has over WCT06 besides online is extra cards and touch control. If you have have access to wi-fi and are able to duel people online, I would suggest getting this game without second thought. Overall, I would say that this game is a worthy entry to the game library of any Yu-Gi-Oh! fan.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/23/07