Best Yu-Gi-Oh Game to date
Gameplay is what it should be; you are playing the actual game with TCG rules and regulations. The DS touch screen better immerses the player in the experience and it's completely optional. The game can be played without the use of the stylus, but navigating certain screen options becomes tricky without. It helps when navigating the in-duel options and certainly helps when moving cards between decks and trunk (storage unit name). You have a lot of space to create decks and save their recipes. You'll even be able to earn certain Ai character recipes. The sorting ability is much more vast and specific than earlier games, but still defaults to normal alphabetical sort when you leave. Ai characters are straight from the show and have decks very similar to the shows theme. As you progress through the "story" and level up (yes, you level up...again), tougher opponents appear and previous foes amp up their decks. This is very nice, since it can get stale dueling the tremendously weak decks of early foes. You'll eventually see the strategy to decks and learn how to counter them. You will encounter opponents that truly challenge your skill level. There is no interactive tutorial, but a constant ruling list in the single card shop is available and updates itself as you acquire new cards.
You navigate a giant city map (you get to name the City...wow). There are two main locals at first(store and home) and a train station to another map becomes available later. A few temporary hotspots appear simply to serve the story events. You scan the city map using a hot-or-cold system to discover duelists or pedestrians. At first, you be able to tell which is which. Later, features are added to let you know the difference. Dueling people builds a relationship that serves to eventually allow to you play them anytime, trade cards, and receive deck recipes. They'll even email you in the game once they like you enough. You only get to explore the city for a specific amount of time (morning to evening). Different duelists come out at different points of the day. Time passes by dueling and moving from place to place. Once it's late enough, you have to return home. In your room (the only place you can see in your house), there is a treasure box for saving the game, bed to sleep in to move to the next day, your computer to access email (story related events mainly) and multiplayer functions, deck construction item, and the exit.
After each duel you win, you receive points for experience and for credit to buy cards from the store. There are multiple bonuses that add extra credit for specific actions during the duel ranging from what you have in your deck to the type of duel you're in (duel, match, shadow game). If you lose a duel, you only gain credits equal to the number of turns you survived. Most times, losing won't end the game. Shadow games, occuring when a special random duelist ambushes you at night or for "boss" duels, are a matter that can end your game. Luckily, you can save so you'll just have to start back from where you saved last. Save often, since you'll need the valuable points for the expensive (in quantity) card packs and luck being a big factor in duels. The computer shuffles decks rather fairly, although there are clear instances where you get a better or horrible shuffle. As for levels, gaining levels serves to unlock extra packs in the store and puzzle games that you can play for credit points. Also, you get a huge sum of credit when you level up, so there is a continuous reason to level up even after you unlock all the packs and puzzles.
In side the store, there is the practice table, register counter, and password machine. The password machine isn't unlocked until very late in the game, and never really serves much purpose unless you're having trouble getting a specific card. The practice table has the tutorial ruling list and puzzle list. Each puzzle can be played multiple times, but the rewards for correctly completely the puzzle can only be collected once. Each puzzle is a one-turn-win situation, and the difficulty ranges from obvious to frustratingly precise. You'll enjoy (or hate) this little feature. The Register counter allows you to browse the pack sets you've unlocked and buy packs. Once again, you can't buy singles. There is a nifty feature that records how many of the games total library of cards and lists for individual sets when you collect 80% of the set.
As for the game's card library, its very up-to-date. Featuring cards from TV exclusives to rare promos and the Flaming Eternity set. A lot of the usless common filler cards from previous games have been removed for the more interesting (and playable) cards. Mainly real game strategies can be translated to the game with minor tweaks. Some special monster types feature only select monsters to fit TV deck themes (A little disappointing). While new cards are featured, opponents' decks will all possess a few staple cards, no matter who you duel. God cards are playable for once.
Graphics are amazing. The cards are perfectly scanned, characters have good art, and the inclusion of a 3D duel field and 3D monster sprites all add a nice flare to the rather flat gaming experience. Sound is also nice. While the music is appropriate, the sound effects are too repetitive and cannot be turned off. You're probably going to shut off the sound.
Multiplayer functions are Yu-Gi-Oh standard: trade cards and duel fellow human players. No download play or online functionality, unfortunately. This could have been remedied by assigning a randomly selected pre-loaded deck to each player for download-play ability. The Wi-Fi makes it easier for dueling, but the next iteration with online functionality will truly mark yu-gi-oh gaming evolution.
The DS is the hand-held YGO games have been waiting for. The large memory, touch screen, wireless play all help bring more to YGO games. This game is the latest and the best. You won't find another game that replicates the real game experience better than this one...for now.