Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction E3 2004 Hands-On Impressions

The GBA has been good to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, which has seen several new games appear every year for a while now. Most of these have been straight interpretations of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, with one of the key exceptions being last year's Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards, which introduced an overlying RPG element to the standard card battling action. We got to check out the upcoming sequel to The Sacred Cards, Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, and it looks to be following closely in its predecessor's footsteps.

The demo we played put us in the role of an unnamed duelist who joins up with Yugi and his best friend Joey to recover various millennium artifacts that have been scattered across the globe in order to defeat an evil entity known as Reshef the Dark Being. As we ran around the game, with chubby little versions of Yugi and Joey following dutifully behind us, we noticed that the game's visual feel was similar to many 2D Japanese RPGs we've played before, including the brightly colored environments and superdeformed character sprites.

Wandering around town, we talked with various NPCs, and found a budding young duelist who was itching for a match. This introduced us to what appeared to be the game's main battling mechanic, which essentially emulates a standard Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. As we dueled, we noticed that the presentation seemed a little more simplified than what has been seen in dedicated Yu-Gi-Oh! card games for the GBA, though the mechanics still worked fine.

It looks like those who have already had their way with Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards should know what to expect from Reshef of Destruction, and with the game's June 29th release date, they won't have to wait long to see it for themselves. Stay tuned to GameSpot for further coverage of this GBA RPG.