Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Expert 3

"Seriously, this can't be the final product, is it?"

Pros:
- same addicting Expert Rules gameplay is back
- you can now create up to 3 decks!
- over 1,000 cards and tons of duelists and boosters to unlock
- sorting through cards has never been easier
- you can customize the restriction list

Cons:
- AI is still horrendous
- GLITCHES, GLITCHES, GLITCHES!
- not much variety in the enemy's theme decks
- too much monotony. No tournaments or weekly/monthly events to be found.
- only about 100 new cards
- some of the old cards have been removed

Ouch. Diehard Yu-Gi-Oh! fans are in for an unpleasant surprise. Before I begin, let me say that this game is the same as Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship Tournament 2004. There is practically no difference other than the language factor. If you're new to YGO, then this game would be as any a great place to start. Although there is no tutorial in the game, it's simple enough and user-friendly to follow and get into. Now for the YGO vets who had such high hopes and expectations for this one, I'm sorry to say that those will feel nothing short of disappointment.

The game setup is pretty much like EDS (Eternal Duelist Soul, another GBA YGO game). You just select people to duel and when you win, you get to select a booster pack and obtain more cards to improve your deck. It doesn't get any simpler than that. This time, creating a deck has never been easier and more fun. Instead of having 1 deck to create like in the previous YGO games, you can now create up to 3 decks so that you no longer need to break up your current deck to make a new one. This is a fantastic welcome addition that was long overdue. The password system is no longer here, but many people welcome that change, as it makes you earn the cards now. Sorting through cards is much easier now. For instance, you can sort them by levels which makes finding what card you want a lot easier. Additionally, Konami has implemented a neat feature where you can customize the restriction list any way you want. Obviously, you won't be able to from the get-go, so you'll have to find out how on your own. Do you want 3 Raigeki's or 3 Pot of Greeds in your deck? Sure, go right ahead. This is a great way to keep up with the latest update on the new restriction list that may have been released recently. The only thing I wish they had was an option to unrestrict or restrict all cards at once without having to go through them individually. Oh well, maybe next time.

To many people the major disappointment in this game is the fact that this game only contains about 100 new cards. Now I don't know how the whole booster thing works since I don't collect the cards (I just watch the show and play the videogames) but as I hear it, this game only has cards halfway up to PGD, whatever that means. One other thing I have to point out since it is a frequently asked question, THERE ARE NO GOD CARDS IN THIS GAME! Okay.

A lot of YGO vets will be sour to hear that, AGAIN, some of the old cards from the previous games are no longer here, like Metalmorph, Crush Card, Dark Magic Curtain, Ultimate Offering, among others. For whatever reason why Konami has a constant habit of leaving out cards in every Expert sequel they make, memory restrictions, game balance, or what not, nevertheless it is still disheartening since this time many of them were actually key crucial ingredients to some deck themes.

Gameplay - 5
Basically, you summon monsters and utilize them along with magic and trap cards to lower your opponent's Life Points (LP) to 0. Like EDS and WWE (World Wide Edition, another YGO GBA game), you'll play by the real TCG or so-called Expert rules. So no need to worry if your Blue-Eyes White Dragon will be defeated by a Kuriboh.

Gah, but what the heck happened here?! How in the world did this game ever get past the testing department? I noticed that there are spelling errors on some of the cards' effects (Dark Spellian?!) but okay, I can live with that. When Konami claimed that their latest edition has improved advanced AI, I was excited because that was what was certainly lacking in the previous YGO games. However, the only sign of intelligence the AI has improved upon is that it seems to be more defensive. But this can backfire at times because in fact, it's a little TOO defensive, which I will explain further soon enough. The good news is it no longer has the diarrhea urge to flip-summon all its monsters, especially its weak ones, (Mystical Elf, anyone?) just to attack your single monster on the field. But this just presents another problem. For instance, let's say you have only 100 LP left and one monster on your field, and the opponent has 2 monsters on the field, which one of them can destroy your monster. The logical thing for the AI to do would be to finish you off with his 2nd monster, right? Nope. Not according to the so-called improved advanced AI by Konami, because it just happens to be too scared to attack just because your monster is stronger than it, even though their other monster can clearly defeat it. No guts, no glory.

Well there goes the advanced AI down the drain. Another serious problem that the previous YGO games had which Konami still did not fix is that the AI is way too wasteful of its cards. Most of the time, it will activate a magic or trap card almost immediately after setting or obtaining them. It's so shockingly bitter to see the so-called advanced AI use Ring of Destruction on my Magician of Faith. They also tend to waste their Monster Reborns and Premature Burials on worthless monsters. Yes that's right, I said Monster Reborns because clearly the opponent feels it has no need to follow the restriction list. Because of their wasteful nature, it's no surprise to see half-way into the duel that the opponent is already 'gassed' out of cards and basically tries to survive with the sole card they draw each turn.

These aren't the only AI discrepancies. Oh yeah, there's more. Other fishy logic I've witnessed include wasting away magic cards even though there's an Imperial Order on the field, sacrificing a monster for a weaker one, using Sangan's or Witch of the Black Forest's effect to bring out the most stupidest monster one can fathom (why would Rare Hunter bring out another Sangan?), strange bizarre out-of-this-world occurrences they do at Main Phase 2 when you scratch your head and wonder why they couldn't do it in Main Phase 1, etc. In fact, there are tons which you will undoubtedly notice. But I won't list them all since after all, we only have 75 years to live. The question is how many can YOU find?

Not only is this game filled with abysmal AI, but it is certainly plagued with glitches as well. In fact, some of the same glitches from previous YGO games are still present, like Legendary Fisherman's effect is still not working correctly, toon monsters attacking other toons crash the game, among others. Of course, bringing in new cards also mean... bringing in new glitches, as it appears some of them are glitched too. But don't worry, as much a fuss I make it sound, the game is not glitch-filled to a point where you can't play the game, but nevertheless it's still something that you'll definitely notice and raise an eyebrow every now and then.

Another important aspect of the game that ticks me off is that a lot of the duelists in the game basically run the same theme. Their decks are so similar and run the same purpose. More than half of them use those common beatdowns with Summoned Skulls, Vorse Raiders, etc. Yawn, yawn, yawn. After all, YGO has been out for several years now and there are a lot of new ways to defeat your opponents besides using beatdowns. More variety here would have been nice.

Graphics - 8
The game looks nice and crisp but it's nothing special if you've already played EDS or WWE. The dueling arena is practically set up the same way. The cards' images look like their real-life counterparts and the characters look just like in the anime. The only thing that bothered me though was that whenever you play field magic cards, the arena doesn't swap colors anymore.

Sound - 8
Not too bad or annoying but nothing special either, although this time it has more of a soothing melodic tone, similar to PS2's Duelists of the Roses. But it would've been nice if some characters had their own music to go by, like in Gameboy's Dark Duel Stories.

Replay Value - 3
Unlocking dozens of duelists and boosters and obtaining every card will certainly take a while. But what does this game lack that the previous Expert games had? This time there are no tournaments (so obviously no side decks will be needed), no calendar schedules, no weekly or monthly events, no surprise ambushes, heck, not even a line of dialogue by any of the characters. That's right, not even a ''Prepare to feel the wrath of my Blue-Eyes!'' by Kaiba or whatever. After unlocking every duelist and collecting every card, you won't find anything else to do but duel with the same shoddy AI just to increase your Wins column. If the AI had been more smarter, the replay value would've been much, much higher. Also, the fact that many opponents run the same type of deck drags the replay value down even further.

Final Score - 7
Even with all the problems in the game, I would still recommend it for purchase since it is the best current updated YGO game out now. (Interestingly enough, I heard this game will be officially used for the world tournament held this summer, but don't take my word for it.) Newcomers will surely appreciate it but everyone else who had anticipated for the perfect Yu-Gi-Oh! game will feel nothing but bitter disappointment. Despite its shoddy AI and monotonous gameplay, it'll suffice enough to keep you busy until the next YGO game arrives. On a high note, it's always a blast to pair up with a buddy and duel it out, since after all, that's where the main appeal of the game lies.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/04