"It's time to D-d-d-duel!"

It's time to D-d-d-duel!

Hello! This game is Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2008, released 12/04/07. I was always a fan of the series, and when I saw this game at Best Buy, I just had to get it. Here is all you will need to know if you are considering buying this game. I myself was not to sur about if I would get the game or not, but Yu-Gi-Oh is such a great series I decided to get the game. It is really worth it!Take note that this review contains a few minor spoilers for the story, although nothing to major.

Story: 6/10
The game has a slightly different story then some of the other Yu-Gi-Oh! Games out there. The game features you as a duelist, who is currently in Duel world. When you arrive there, you will be in one of several worlds, this one called Grace. You go through these worlds dueling monsters from the card game. You go along in the game, dueling monsters and clearing special challenges and side quests, and unlocking new duelists while progressing to new worlds in the game. You have your own deck of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, which will be used for all of your duels. You can change the cards in your deck at any time in the game, can have multiple decks, and get new cards from Story Mode, The shop, or trading with your friends. This game has many cards, traditionally it covers almost all cards in the real life game, and every card that will be released up until the end of 2008. It covers most of the cards that the company who makes the games has been making the past couple years, and you can get more by playing through the games story mode which helps you fin new ways to unlock new packs and special cards. As you progress through the story, new monsters arrive to duel you, and new worlds open up for you to explore and challenge. The story may take a while for you to complete, as there are many side quests in it that can be time consuming, but very fun to play through.

Graphics: 8/10
The graphics in the game are really cool and fun to look at. Each card has its own animation, so that when you use it you can see what that specific card looks like in a 3-D model. Each character sprite for cards is a moving picture, which is usually performing some sort of action, like floating or swinging a sword. One of the best features of the games graphics is that you can customize what your own character in the game looks like. Lets discuss some more on that. Well, when you first start up the game you get to choose what your own character looks like in the game. You can customize them by using different hair styles, hair colors, different duel disks, and different outfits for your character. Most of those have to unlocked, however. And besides your own character, you can see the graphics of cards that you use out side of duels, and view the enemy duelists that you have to duel against. That is just about all you need to know to get a grasp on what kind of graphics are in the game, and so you can rate some of them yourself.

Sounds: 6/10
Well, not much to offer here. Different worlds in the game feature different sound tracks, hitting an opponents monster card, or better yet them directly, has sound effects depending on the card that you used to do so. And when you are winning or losing the duel you are in music can change depending on how well you are doing. Other than that, there aren't many different sound effects that happen in the game.

Gameplay: 9/10
The over all gameplay is really good. In fact, I was hooked on it ( and still am) immediately, it is fun always playing through it, dueling enemy monsters to see what happens next in this exciting game. It has many different features to enhance your gameplay, from Story and CPU duel modes that you can use on your own, wireless gameplay modes, so that if you have friends or rivals who own the game, you can duel with them, and trade cards with each other. And best of all, the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection that you can use to duel other gamers over the internet, using a Wireless Network or Wi-Fi connector. This mode has a leader board, so that you can find out how you rank against other gamers across the world, and find out who the best are. You can also download cards and duelists into your game, so you always have something new to look forward to.The game play may be very long for some people to clear it, I for one have one hundred hours of game play and I am still at the end of the game. The average person who has decent experience can beat it within the week they purchase it, say 30 to 50 hours of gameplay. That covers most of the game play, there are a few unlockable secrets I didn't mention, you'll have to find out about them when you get the game yourself.

Multiplayer: 10/10
The game offers two different, but yet large, multiplayer modes. The first of them: DS wireless play. This mode allows you to play Yu-Gi-Oh! with your friends who also have a copy of the game. You can duel with your friends, using your ingame deck for the duel. You can have duels for two, out Tag Duels for four friends to play. You and a friend can also trade cards with each other, so that it makes it easier for you and your friend to get all of the cards in the game, as a sort of way to help each other out in the game. The second multiplayer mode is Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, where you duel other duelists online. Again, you can duel with two or four of your friends. But you cannot trade online, unfortunately. Hopefully that will be improved in 2009. You can download cards, duelists, ban lists, and duel puzzles online. Thats all it has right now, but things are added to it over time.

Buy or Rent: Buy
Definitetly buy the game. There is no way you will be able to enjoy the game, and all it has to offer, by renting it once. With all of its features and game play modes, you will want to have a lot of time to play the game. And considering how it is a game that uses WiFi connection, you will want to still be able to play online with this great game. Not to mention, it is a big game, you wouldn't get much done buy renting it anyways.

Overall Rating: 8/10
Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2008 is a great, almost flawless game. It has great other features, like its WiFi and multiplayer modes. You and your friends will really like this game, but you should try to have friends in the first place to play this game with, otherwise there is only so much you can do playing by yourself.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/08, Updated 03/26/08

Game Release: Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2008 (US, 12/04/07)