Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters

"The heart of the cards like you've never seen before..."

Boy... it sure has been a while since I've written a review, huh? Well, as far as this game goes, I've noticed lots of ''fanboy'' reviews, so I decided to take my mature side for a ride. Although this game did slightly surprise me, it is one that can be enjoyed countless times over.

Now, I can't lie: there are two things wrong with this game that would make me drop a point. But let's start with the upsides, huh? The graphics certainly surpass those of EDS, with much more power involved in dimensioning the dice and attacking your opponents. The battle animations move with crisp, clear motion; no stick-in-the-mud stuff like Forbidden Memories. Even the characters are very well detailed, with a few exceptions. Overall, a very good technique.

Sounds and music, however, fall off the cliff just slightly. At least there are different battle background music tracks... but they get so repitive so quickly. At least it's catchy duel music, and that's cool. The sounds, though, are just as bad. There's very much detail in them, though; for instance, when rolling the dice, they actually make a sound when you drop them on the wooden roll thingy.
The monsters give battle cries when they hit the field and when they die, but they sound so helpless... and they probably were, too. Overall, mildly disappointing.

The gameplay is where the game hits home plate... and keeps on swinging. The basic concept is this: you choose a pool of 15 different dice, each one containing a monster or item. Each die has 6 different crests on them. When the game starts, each player has a Die Master containing three heart points a piece. They are placed opposite each other on a 16x13 grid (the dungeon). Each turn, you roll 3 dice in attempts to get 2 or more summon crests so that you may summon a monster onto the field. Each die has a certain level; the higher the level, the harder the monster is to summon, but the more powerful it may be. When your dice are dimensioned on the field in one of 10 different Tetris-like shapes, your monster/item is on the field. Some of them have certain effects that you can activate. There are 4 other types of crests: Attack Crests (allow you to attack with your monsters), Guard Crests (allow you to defend your monsters, deducing DEF from ATK to get a grand total of HP damage), Movement Crests (allow your monsters to move across the dungeon path), Magic Crests and Trap Crests (activate special effects your monsters may have). When your monsters make it all the way to your opponent's Die Master, they must attack it three times to win the game. The trouble is, they must travel on the dungeon path created when the die are dimensioned. It's a tricky concept to get ahold of, but once you've got it, you'll be ''rolling'' with the rest of them. It's an overall wonderful gameplay.

However, I can't lie to you: this game has flaws. Other than sound and music, the weakness of the game lies in the computer AI. How do I put this quaintly... hmm... ok. It SUCKS! The computers are the biggest bunch of mindless zombies I have ever seen. They could be in the lead and not do a freakin' thing just because you hit their Die Master once! It gets so irritating winning all the time, but at least you have Link Play. The other thing is, unless your store has a special request thing, you won't get the promotional dice that was rumored to come out with it. That's only minor, but that's also a good reason why people buy YGO games: for the promos.

So overall, this game could have room for improvement, but only in the AI. The biggest flaw also leads to the fact that you could get your friends involved and play in Link Play. Trust me, they'll give you a better challenge then Yugi Muto would. So, if an interesting twist to the Duel Monsters game appeals to you, take this baby for a ''roll.'' (Are my 'roll' jokes getting too corny yet?)

Final Rating: 8.9 rounded to 9.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/21/03, Updated 03/21/03