Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters

"Intrestingly strategic game"

This title is Konami's 2nd Yu Gi Oh to hit the GBA. It is also the 4th Yu Gi Oh title for all video games following Forbidden Memories (PSX) Dark Duel Stories (GBC) and the other GBA title, Eternal Duelist Soul. This title is unique, though. Instead of using cards to duel, as all other Yu Gi Oh games have, this uses dice. You use the dice to summon monsters and build a path to your opponent's Die Master.

GRAPHICS 9/10
Well done. The battle animations are the only weak point here (but you can just turn them off). The boards are nicely detailed.

SOUND FX 8/10
There are not many in this game, but what there is is good.

MUSIC 10/10
This is where DDM shines. There are several different tunes for each duelist or each tournament. Each tune is lively.

GAMEPLAY 10/10
As mentioned in the opening, there is very unique and good gameplay. There is a nice change from the usual card dueling. You instead construct your dueling unit from 15 dice, much like your card deck in other games. Each dice, of course, has 6 different sides. Some of these sides are called summon crests. Before every turn you take, you pick 3 dice to roll. Each dice's summon crest is a number 1-4. If 2 dice you roll have a matching summon number on their summon crest, you can summon a monster. When you summon a monster you pick where you want it on the 19x13 field and it appears, it being on 1 of 6 spaces that appear with it. These monsters can move and attack. How do they attack, you ask? Well, the sides of the dice that are not summon crests are another type of crest. The most common others are Movement crests. For every movement crest you assemble, you can spend it to allow your monsters to move 1 square across the field. There are also attack crests. You may spend 1 attack crest to attack an enemy monster or the opposing monsters. Other types of crests have different functions.

In the game, there are several different duelists (over 30). The AI is disappointingly easy, though. Still the game is long with several tournaments and should keep you going for a while.

RENT OR BUY
Fans of the original Yu Gi Oh may be disappointed by this new style. Still, as an opinion, I think that it requires more strategy and is just as, if not more, fun. A definite rent, if not a buy.

OVERALL-9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/15/03, Updated 02/15/03