Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction

"Balance. Nowhere to be found..."

I've got a soft spot for Trading card games. I played Magic The Gathering for 2 years, but gave up when I realized it was just to expensive. I had come to the conclusion that I'd rather play a computerized version of the Genre. I went nuts over the Pokemon Trading Card game for Gameboy Color, and thought I might like this...

As the title says, the game lacks balance.

My biggest beef is this: Not being allowed to use cards because my 'Duelist Level' is not high enough. See, everytime you win a battle, you gain 'Deck Capacity'. It's kind of like experience points. Each card has a 'cost'. The total cost of all 40 cards in the deck cannot be more then your capacity. Also, you cannot use ANY card that has a cost higher then your duelist level. The Duelist Level is raised as you gain Deck Capacity.

The problem. DC is built up VERY SLOWLY, and hardly in proportion to your defeated opponent's Duelist Level.

For example, lets say I decide to play Yugi (BTW, you play some kid who you get to name yourself, who does all the work while Yugi fallows you around gets his own TV show). The most costly card I've seen him use is Spellbinding Circle, with a cost of 180. So I assume he has a Deulist Level of 180, or higher. I'm a 127. That's a large gap. Let's say I defeat him. I am rewarded a grand total of... 1 deck capacity. Lets say I beat him 10 more times, proving that I am a better duelist then him, hands down... 10 deck capacity points, still nowhere near his duelist level, and still unable to use any of the three Spellbinding Circles I won from him.

Maybe there's someone else I can face for more DC? Yes, but they're just folks who I'm only able to face once before saying they don't want to duel me, and they give out 3DC. There's also my next opponent in the storyline, who has an evn higher Duelist Level, and is more willing to use it. This means he can pull out more powerful monsters on his first turn then I can. We're hardly playing on the same level field. If I do beat him, I can hop to get 3 deck capacity. Or I can play some characters weaker then Yugi, who give out 1DC and even less money. I wonder how much time I've blown trying to build up mu Duelist Level so far? Maybe that's why the game doesn't keep track of how long you've been playing it...

Graphics are nothing to whine about. The environments are detailed enough for a GBA game. The sprites resemble the TV characters, and they do have facial expressions (or at least the important characters do). Sound wise... I just found myself turning the volume down and listening to Rammstein on my MP3 player (I listen to Rammstein while playing Yu-Gi-Oh... what is wrong with me?). When playing against some opponents, they shout out small one liners when it's their turn (annoying), and other then that, it's nothing but crappy GBA music and Beeps for selecting things.

The controls are something that really get me. Why am I not allowed to walk in a diagonal line? Ok, so thats just a little thing to get worried about. But what really gets me is why I have to use two buttons to look at a card on the field. Whatever happened to using the select button. And why is there only one place in the game I'm allowed to save, that being my room. I thought it was law that all GBA RPGs must have the ability to save at anytime, whether it be a quick save (like Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories) or just a flat anywhere save. I can't even save in the middle of battle, something the Pokemon TGC for GB would do (which was also the source of several exploits).

I think I've been bashing the game quite a bit here. So why does the game get a five? Maybe it's because it fills that hole in my hard for a TCG genre title. Maybe it's that at this point, I'd like to believe that after 1000's of battles for 1 DC a pop, I can make a good deck with the cards I already have. Labor of love is an understatement here. But who am I kidding. Maybe if I looked a little harder I could have found an MTG game for my computer...

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/10/05