Yu-Gi-Oh! The Eternal Duelist Soul

"Truely a game worthy of the namesake Yu-Gi-Oh"

Wait Wait before you say about the ratings just let me tell you that 7 in terms of my grading is a great game worthy of money. Fans of the Yu-Gi-Oh series would be extremely pleased with this game and if you are a fan of this game ignore the 7 rating it would be a 10 rating. But if you are a not a fan of the series , this game would serve as a good portable game which you can play during trips so therefore the rating 7. This is truly the Yu-Gi-Oh game that you would want to play if you like the show but be forewarned that some things that it shown on the show cannot be done in this game

About the game,

There are many options once you start a new game. Campaign is what you would most likely to be playing. There are a variety of opponents each with their own style of playing and specialty cards. Link battle is another cool feature which you can use to link up with friends and battle against them. Deck edit is an important feature of this game and you will be constantly using it to improve your deck or just reduce or increase the number of cards in your deck to make your cards work better. Record shows the wins,losses or draws that you have with each opponent. Calendar is a special feature you can get dates as to when you will get a bonus or tournaments. Card Trading is a option to trade cards with your friends. Finally we have the password session which if you buy the cards they would have numbers in them which you can input in this game and you will get it once. That's all for the options in the game.

Gameplay:
Gameplay is hard to understand at first but it grows on you if you know about the series and the instruction manual helps a lot in understanding the game but I suggest you have a run with it first then you will notice how it is played. Linking and Chains are being introduced here. It's quite simple after a while. But most of the time it relies on the type of deck you have and a bit of luck. Gameplay would be fun if you know what you want in the long run and aim for it and it will serve as a motivation as well enable you to truly enjoy the game. However the card game tend to be slow that's the only fault I have with this game

Music:
Music is good. Different opponents have their own music but
the music tend to get repetitive and eventually irritating but it really is good and sometimes soothing to the ears. But there's always an option to lower the volume therefore it isn't really a problem.

Graphics:
Graphics wise it is average. Partly due to this game being the first game to be released for the Gameboy Advance and so this game does not really fully use the Gameboy Advance's capabilities. But for a game that is released this early the graphics should be considered crisp and good. Most of the cards are clearly defined and the graphics help make this game more enjoyable and soft on the eyes of the player.

Controls:
Controls wise it is good. There are many options that help make this game run smooth. I never have any complains with the four buttons that the Gameboy Advance have. With this game it has fully and effectively used all the buttons with minimum effect on the gameplay. And there isn't a lot of menus which might irritate gamers. Controls are easy to pick up and use. So this games scores on controls highly. You will not be irritated at the controls that is for sure.

Story:
There is no story in this game. You are just a person in the world with a pack of cards and you have to battle with Yugi and his friends and opponents in a battle of cards.

Replay value:
There really isn't any replay value as this game is just a long journey that you can play anytime and it is never-ending therefore it has a lot of playability and zero replay value. A lot of time would be spent on getting a powerful deck in which suits you best as there are many combinations of decks that you can manually edit therefore it will take some time before you realize what suits your style of playing most.

To Rent or Buy?:
Buy it as this is a game that renting it will not serve much purpose.It is a long term investment which every now or then you can play it when you are outside whether on the bus or train or any form of transport it will keep you entertained till you reached your destination.

Overall:
You will really enjoy this game if you buy it. For Yu-Gi-Oh fans , this is a MUST-HAVE for show lovers or the card collectors.

Ratings:
7 for non-fans of Yu-Gi-OH (10 for fans of Yu-Gi-Oh)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/02, Updated 12/07/02