Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards

"A slap in the face to YGO fans"

I'm a fan and player of Yu-gi-oh, and I was the type that got Eternal Duelist Soul and Worldwide Edition just because it had the YGO name on it (though they were both good games). The Sacred Cards is a different type of Yu-gi-oh game, but different, in this case, does not equal good.

Graphics

Plain and simple sprites and environments. About the most impressive effect in the game is when a defeated monster bursts into flames. The dueling arenas are less than impressive, and even WWE's moving backgrounds would be welcome here. The only impressive feat is the fact that they managed to get detailed (and in some cases, uncensored) pictures for all of the cards.

Sound

The music is barely passable on the overworld, but the music while dueling will drive you insane. The sound effects are cookie-cutter variety, and are reminiscent of the old GBC tinny sounds. My recommendation? Turn the volume down and listen to your favorite CD instead.

Gameplay

This game has two inherent problems, one of which being that it's a complicated game that no one but previous players will understand first coming in. There's no tutorial, which is its second problem, so anyone who doesn't know how to play will have to fumble along till they get it, or read a FAQ.

For those of you who don't know the basics of Yu-gi-oh, here's a quick lesson (skip this paragraph if you know how to play). You start with 8000 life points. When your life points hit 0, you lose (obviously). You use monsters to attack your opponent's life points (and vice-versa). You can summon one monster per turn, and the same goes for your opponent. Each monster has two stats: ATK and DEF points. If you attack your opponent's monster with your own beast of 1000ATK points and the opposing monster only has 500ATK points, that monster is destroyed and your opponent takes 500 damage to his/her life points. If you attack a monster in defense position with lower DEF points than your monster's ATK, the defending monster is destroyed, but your opponent doesn't take damage. If the opposing monster's DEF is higher than your ATK, you take damage, and the defending monster survives. There's a little more to it than that, but that's probably all you'll need to know for the beginning of the game.

So how does it play? Well, the game takes place during the Battle City arc of the anime. You get to wander around Domino City ala an RPG and talk to people, as well as duel them. There are certain people you have to duel and people you must speak with before the game can proceed, but all in all it's not hard to figure out. Simply talking/dueling with everyone you see will get you through the game.

In addition to the whole mess of basics above, this game introduces the elemental system. If you attack a monster that's of an elemental type that's weak against your monster's elemental type, the opposing monster is destroyed automatically, and the ATK/DEF points don't even factor into it. That means a lowly Kuriboh (300ATK) could destroy the mighty Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000ATK) with no effort at all, simply because of their elemental differences. It's fine if you happen to be fighting an opponent who has lots of monsters that are weak to yours, but it's still a crappy feeling to lose a high ATK monster to something with zero ATK points (it's possible) due to the elemental weakness system. Knowing which elements are weak against which can help with this, but it's still something that should've had a little more thought put into it.

One other thing that bugs me is the deck system. In the real game, you have to have a minimum of 40 cards in your deck (though the recommended size is 40-45 for most decks). In this game, you have to have 40 cards, no more, no less. In addition, you start with a certain amount of deck points, and each card in your deck has a cost that counts toward your maximum amount of deck points. What this means is, even if you get a really great card, you won't be able to use it till much later in the game because you won't be able to afford the cost. Dueling increases your maximum deck points, but it takes a while before you'll be able to use more powerful monsters and magic/traps.

Finally, this game is easy. Even if you don't know what you're doing, as long as you fill your deck with strong monsters, you'll have a hard time losing. Hell, for the first part of the game, as long as you have a monster with 800-900 ATK points on the field, you're almost guarenteed a win. Most of the strategy in this game goes toward the elemental system rather than the many effect monsters from EDS and WWE that have been unfortunately neutered. Most effect monsters, like Man-eater Bug, Cyber Jar, Magician of Faith, etc. are all non-effect monsters now, and rendered quite useless.

Replay Value

The game is both easy and short, and the elemental system replaces one of the better CCG rulesets I've come across. There's no 2-player VS. mode either, so if you're thinking of dueling a friend with the all-powerful deck you've built, use Worldwide Edition. The nearly-1000 cards will take quite a while to collect, but only hardcore YGO fans or completionists will care enough to stick around after you've beaten the game for that.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/08/03