Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers is already broken.

User Rating: 5 | Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers WII
"Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers" is most likely the very first Yu-Gi-Oh!-themed video game ever made for the Nintendo Wii. In that case, its features--more specifically the physics of the Duel Runner's handling, along with the monster appearances and attacks--are to a point where they're almost realistic. Furthermore, the music is realistic and fitting when comparing this to the series itself. Unfortunately, even they cannot save this mess of a game. Even true Yu-Gi-Oh! fans will find "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers" to already be broken.

Like most 5D's video games, the main plot element of "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers" is the feature of Turbo Duels, a.k.a. duels performed on motorcycles called Duel Runners. ...Actually, this game features a somewhat similar, but entirely different, sport known as "Wheelie Breakers". In "Wheelie Breakers", you can only control one monster, and if you try to summon another monster, the monster you currently control has no choice but to go to the Graveyard. Monsters require a certain amount of "Duel Counters" (similar to Speed Counters) to be summoned, and another certain amount of Duel Counters for them to perform attacks. You can also set only three Trap Cards at a time. All cards have entirely different effects (and yes, I really do mean all cards) that almost relate to Turbo Duels in general. The key of Wheelie Breakers is to race against your opponent(s) for a certain number of laps, right to the finish line. While you're racing, you'll come across icons that either give you additional cards or fill up your Duel Counters (both of which are useful). Unless it's a Survival Match, when a player's Life Points become zero, they don't "lose" the duel, but rather spin out of control and stop momentarily, then get right back to racing. Whether or not these are good things is entirely up to the player.

The main plot is this: Rex Goodwin, [former] head of New Domino City's Sector Security, decides to hold a tournament known as the Wheelie Breakers Tournament (or whatever it is). Along the way, you'll be dueling charcters from the 5D's canon, including Office Testu Trudge and Bolt Tanner. Some canon characters who (at the time) don't own Duel Runners, including Akiza Izinski, Leo, and Luna, will be given Duel Runners. Make no mistake--the Duel Runners they have will be ones they would really have. Actually, it's not the plot that's bad in the game. It's how it's played.

Most of the racing done in this game can be very, very frustrating. For instance, there are times where you think you can be in the lead for the remainder of the race, until your opponent just zips by you. This is frustrating to a point where you'll have to retry the level multiple times until you either succeed or give up. This is especially frustrating in the final level of Story Mode, or Grand Prix mode, both of which seem impossible to accomplish. Unless you're the incredibly patient type, it's almost impossible to be frustrated to a point where you'd want to throw your Wii remote or Wii game system out the window. There are also some mildly distracting visual glitches, but that's completely different.

Overall, unless you can easily get past the game's flaws, "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers" serves no real purpose whatsoever, other than to get the trading cards included in it, or to get the feature when you connect it to "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World Championship 2009: Stardust Accelerator" on your Nintendo DS. The gameplay is absolutely frustrating to a point where you'd want to do something really bad to the game or the Wii itself.