Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel

"Stick to the show."

Wow. Just wow. This game is quickly becoming what you would expect of Megaman or Resident Evil. Cliche and boring after the second game. In a nutshell, it involves you controlling an unknown character and challenging them to duels where you can win ''boosters'' to improve your deck.

Graphics - 7/10

Average for the Game Boy Advance, nothing special. Basic 2D sprites mixed with some sounds here and there. They look pretty much the same as Eternal Duelist Soul. During the duel, resolution is dropped and represented with colors/little pictures of the card type. You can, of course, choose to zoom in on a particular card to read the wording/look at the picture/etc.

Sound - 1/10

I can't iterate how horrible the music is. I have to turn the music ALL THE WAY DOWN when I play this game/duel. It's horrible containing repetitive beeps and chirps to form digital music. I think they took EDS and tossed in a few new songs to make it seem new. Other than that, it seems the same to me. It doesn't necessarily detract from the gaming experience, but it doesn't help it either. It didn't impress me very much, and I doubt it will to you.

Storyline - 6/10

You're a duelist. In Battle City. Do I really need to explain it more? You have no real goal, just go around dueling people. Collect boosters, compete in tournaments. Rinse, repeat. Occasionally, they'll be an announcement to watch out for a ''Ghoul'' and then you'll probably be challenged by one two duels later. It's pretty predictable. Other than just dueling to get more cards/fame/etc. the story line is moot and non-existent.

Controls - 6/10

There's some type of lag between when you set a card and when the popup asks you if you want to BLAH BLAH BLAH. Usually I'm just mashing the button trying to get it to go faster (and it goes sllllloooooowww) and accidentally press 'A' to do something I probably don't want to do. Not only is this extremely frustrating, it ruins the experience.

Game Play - 8/10

Let me tell you something beforehand. This game is hard. Hard as nails it is. This game will make you cry in pain. You start out with MOOT cards, poorly crafted and what not, and you have to challenge opponents who will nit-pick and mercilessly punish your every mistakes. Once you get past the phase where every opponent creams you, it can be enjoyable. But until then, keep trying. Added to the fact that there is no help system whatsoever, adds to the challenge. Let's hope you have prior experience to the game and you read the instruction manual closely. The learning curve is steep.

Replay - 7/10

You can uncover new opponents to challenge and fight, but there's no point as it won't lead to an ending, or anything else new. You uncover new opponents and that's that. They become just like any other duelist, boring and repetitive. There IS some redemption in the point that you can challenge your friends to a duel, but that's basically it.

Overall - 5/10

RENT or BUY?

If you have EDS, you don't need to get this game, they only add new cards for the nostalgia. If you don't have a Yu-Gi-Oh game for the Game Boy Advance, you're better off with this game, as it is very much similar to Eternal Duelist Soul except more interactive (you can choose where to go.) Renting it would be pointless as you couldn't gather all the good cards/uncover all the stuff/etc.

Essentially, it's somewhat like interacting with the show. You probably could get more kick from playing the real game, although it would cost more to buy cards. There's a password feature to access misc. cards at your choosing, so don't fret too much about not being able to play well.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/03, Updated 06/02/03