Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards

"RPG fans will enjoy this, although everyone will think it's way, WAY too short..."

I personally enjoyed The Sacred Cards, mostly because it was real RPG. The game basically follows the Battle City episodes from the TV show. I liked being able to ''be part of the show'', although nothing could prepare me for beating it in under 6 hours, training included.

GAMEPLAY---8

This game was fun. I'll put it at that. The game was easy to learn, but your playing style would have to evolve throughout the game to defeat certain enemies. You may have to train a little to gain deck capacity (which is meant to make sure that you can't put all of your good cards into your deck right away), although I wouldn't count on it if you just want to go through and beat the game. This game is almost like an advanced version of Dark Duel Stories, plus some RPG elements.

STORY---8

This game follows Battle City from the TV show. You are one of Yugi's friends who decides to compete in a dueling competition held near your home. You advance through getting locator cards from TV show characters that you defeat. You must collect the god cards to clean up the evil that the Ghouls (a gang of duelists that has taken over the area). You make it into the finals to meet with Marik Ishtar, your ultimate enemy (who is relatively hard after minor training). Unfortunatly, after you win you must give the cards back to Marik's sister, Ishizu. You can not continue the game after you beat Marik, so you have to go back to your most recent save. Entertaining, however the ending was very disappointing.

GRAPHICS/SOUND---6

What can I say, it's a gameboy game. Don't expect too much in the way of sound, as it isn't anything out of the ordinary. The graphics were relatively impressive, as there was detail in the cards, and you could make out (vaguely) what it was from far away. The characters looked good when you saw them walking around, and you could tell who was who. The portraits of characters that you saw when you talked to them were great. There lips moved when they talked, and they looked like they were straight from the anime. Overall, the sound was fitting for the game, and not too bad. The graphics helped this game shine past other hardships, and beat other GBA games pretty easily.

PLAY TIME/REPLAYABILITY---2

This is where the game really falls. I played through on my first time, by myself, without any help, with the training that it took to be able to beat Marik easily, and I still beat the game in almost 6 hours flat. I played through a second time, knowing exactly where to go, with no unrequired training, and I beat it in just over 3 hours. After you beat the game there are no ''hidden quests'', or ''secret places'' to go to. You beat the game, and that's it. You could keep training to make a really strong deck. However that gets old very quick, as does trying to get all of the cards. If possible, rent the game, or borrow it from a friend. If you buy it, make sure you have a buyer ready, as the game will just sit on a shelf, gathering dust if you don't sell it.

OVER-ALL---6

You'll play it once, and be charmed. You'll play it a second time and try to beat your first time. You'll play it a third time and- aw, who am I kidding. You probably won't even play it twice. It was a great game for those first 6 hours, but after that it was nothing new. The good graphics, story, and gameplay couldn't save the horrible play-time of this game. Hopefully the next YGO game released is also an RPG, but much, much longer.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/04