Yu-Gi-Oh! The Eternal Duelist Soul

"Very Addicting!"

It's that time again, Konami has released another Yu-Gi-Oh! Game, and the burning question is: Does it live up? The answer is yes it does. Yu-Gi-Oh: Eternal Duelist Soul has made a huge improvement graphically, strategically, and game play wise, making this game a truly remarkable game.

Story N/A
What always brings the game down is the lack of story. There is never a story, you are yourself, and you battle other duelists. If they really followed the TV show, it would be very cool to go through duels like from the TV show (Starting from Kaiba, then moving across the series, and eventually maybe Pegasus), all a pipe dream though.

Graphics 10/10
The graphics are excellent in this game. The card detail has improved a lot since Dark Duel Stories, backgrounds are clearer. Text is clearer and everything is fine-tuned.

Sound 9/10
I liked the little catchy tunes in this game. Except when I am dueling in this game, sometimes I turn off the music, because I like to concentrate and the music can get frustrating to me sometimes.

Game play 10/10
If you know anything about Yu-Gi-Oh! Real Card game, or the TV Dueling, you should know how this game will play out. If you don't, here is a brief explanation. You can put down a monster card that has about five stars or less (or you must sacrifice up to 3 monsters to get a extremely powerful monster) by doing this you can attack other monsters, in which you can destroy, provided they have a weaker attack than your monster. Yet, the strategic part is learning to use Trap and Magic cards to help win the duel. Without those, you are hopeless in victory. The weakest deck with great magic and trap cards can defeat the strongest deck with no magic or trap cards unbelievably. The game over Dark Duel Stories has improved so much in every sense of game play.

Difficulty Varies
Difficulty varies in this game, the duelists are broken into levels, Level 1 being easiest, and it goes up to level five, being the hardest. On level 1, the duelists usually just put down monster cards and attack blindly. On level 2 they begin to use trap and magic cards cleverly. When we are talking level 4, it's as the duelists are all psychic, since they seemingly predict your cards. Yet, when you are a master duelist with a great deck, this game is not hard at all.

Replay ability 9/10
When you are a true Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan, you will play this game for a while to see how awesome it is. It plays nearly exactly as the real card game does, so it's a good way to brush up on your skills for real-life dueling. The times you need to beat Duelists keeps increasing so you can advance to the next skill level. Overall, the replay ability is large depending if you know how to play or not.

Rent or Buy/Final Words
Quite simply said, if you are a true Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan who loves the real card games, the TV Show, or both, definitely buy this game. If you are a rookie, it's also a good way to build up EXP if you want to learn Yu-Gi-Oh! Further. Overall, I would give this game a Buy. Konami has released a great Yu-Gi-Oh! Game for the GBA. If you want Yu-Gi-Oh! On a larger, 3D scale, and got a PS2, Keep your eyes peeled for Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist of the Roses which should be another promising and great game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/14/03, Updated 02/14/03