"A step up from Eternal Duelist's Soul, but not by much."

Once again, this is a card game and if you are not into card games this game is not for you; very simple. This game is just a digital version of the yugioh trading card game with a twist. The major plus to digital trading card games is that you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars to have good or rare cards or be competative. It's all about fun and spending two-hundred dollars on one card in the real world does not sound like fun to me. Also this is the western version of yugioh so a warning to all of the diehard fans of the original: this game has many censorships, edits and name changes.

Anyways, WWE(Worldwide Edition), is a step up from the previous release of the yugioh card game. It has more cards to collect, and collecting them is more challenging. There are more tournament events and small surprises here and there. However, it also has a few setbacks and that is why it is not that big of a step above the previous game.

GAMEPLAY:
It has the same gameplay style as Eternal Duelist's Soul(EDS), but the speed has been much improved on. In fact I would dare to say that it is too fast in some areas. Sometimes it plays so fast that you will miss a card effect or move made by the opponent. A keen eye is needed to keep up with the very fast pace of the duels. I feel that Konomi, instead of taking the time to really adjust the game threw it together as quickly as possible. Of course making games this way is not new, and it is no secret that when games are pumped out quickly for a profit the game tends to suffer. Regardless, it is nice to be able to get through duels now in considerably less time than before.

With the speed up of the gameplay comes the slowdown of the rest of the game. Before in EDS you could skip the short and very redundant statements the opponents made in order to get to the duel, but now you have to sit and watch every slow word that comes out of their mouth. Pressing the A button speeds it up slightly, but not always. You will find yourself sitting through text box after text box of slow lumbering text which gets annoying very quickly.

New features include the ability to travel around a city where you have to seek out those you wish to duel against. This is a nice feature that also incorporates time and place events where you have to be in a certain part of the city on a certain day in order to participate in a special tournament. The only problem is finding it and since there are no clues, finding these events without cheating can be a difficult task. In fact all of the events that I have found have all been by luck. This balances out the easy gameplay, I believe, because otherwise it would be too easy to obtain booster pack and better cards. Yes, I believe that the duelists you face in WWE are a whole lot easier than before. It may be largely in part to a better starting deck, but the AI although has been improved in certain areas also lacks in others. The most challenge you will get out of a duel is when your opponent decides to pull one of it's special card combos. It doesn't happen all the time, but frequently enough to get you scrambling for a way to defeat their cards.

It also seems that this game has a few glitches where cards disappear or rules are not obeyed. I have seen one of these errors first hand, and I am told there are many more. Although some card effects may not work properly either, it also has to do with the poor effect interpretation on each card. Fore example I have a card that says that it will not receive damage from another card when attacking, but what it means to say is that you won't receive any damage from a card in defense mode with a defense higher than your attack. Figuring out card effects are completly the burden of the player because of the very bad effect definitions given on each card.

GRAPHICS/PRESENTATION:
The layout of the playing cards has changed a bit, but other than that the graphics are the same as EDS. The words are easy to read and the menu's are pretty friendly. Another new feature is the ability to play the game in a few different languages and even play against someone who plays in a different language. I won't be using it much, but its there.

MUSIC/SOUND:
All of the same music and sounds from EDS are here as well with the exception of a few new ones.

SUMMARY:
I feel that Konomi threw this game together from its japanese counterpart Duel Monsters 6, added a few western features and the new language system then through it out there for profit. Although this game is fairly solid I believe that with the proper attention and care this game could have been a lot better than EDS. Instead it is only a few short steps ahead of it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/20/03, Updated 04/20/03