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GBA Review - 'Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction'

by Nathan Mourfield on Aug. 4, 2004 @ 10:22 p.m. PDT

In your return to Battle City, the millennium items are missing and it's up to you to help find them and save the world from destruction. Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, the card-battling RPG sequel to The Sacred Cards, contains an all-new storyline with unexpected twists and turns on your quest to stop Reshef, the Dark Being from consuming the world in darkness.

Yu-Gi-Oh: Reshef of Destruction

Genre: RPG
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Release Date: June 29, 2004

Buy 'YU-GI-OH! Reshef of Destruction': GBA

Yu-Gi-Oh is one of the many collector card game franchises in the market today. It is right in line with Pokemon, Magic: the Gathering, L5R, and many others out there. Like all the more popular games, it has been mass-merchandised to death, resurrection, and ascension unto heaven. This brings me to the subject of this article, Yu-Gi-Oh: Reshef of Destruction.

Yu-Gi-Oh: Reshef of Destruction is a RPG focused around the Yu-Gi-Oh card game. Konami produced the game and it has their distinct feel to it. The player travels with the two main signature characters of the Yu-Gi-Oh Universe: Joey and Yugi. The troublesome threesome cross the globe trying to prevent Reshef, the latest in the ultimate evils, from consuming the planet in darkness. As for plots, it is not very original. What does one expect from a card game/cartoon series/game series? Fortunately, the plot is not the most import part of the game.

The most important part of the game is game play. Yu-Gi-Oh: Reshef of Destruction is can be considered a series of card matches with some stuff in between. The stuff in between is the whole RPG element, though. The focus of the RPG element is to cover some of the plot and to save the game and purchase/sell/trade cards. In addition, if the player types in a code in the game store at the cost of 1,000 per try, the store get the card available to purchase. There are 800 different card codes in the game. The game gives the player three special Yu-Gi-Oh cards that have their codes on it. The others the player must find in out their codes on their own. (Read that as look it up on the internet)

The game looks like most Konami GameBoy titles. Not too much in the flash department. The graphics are on par with the earlier Yu-Gi-Oh titles and Boktai for game play. The one part that did catch my fancy was the cut scenes. They look amazing on the GameBoy. I found them to be on part with the television show. Truly amazing stuff.

The beginning of the combat system is the choice of the ante card. The player can only select cards that they have two or more. The player does not have to choose an ante card, but if they win the match, they loose the chance to win the opponent’s ante card.

To truly understand the core part combat system in Yu-Gi-Oh: Reshef of Destruction, there is the requirement to understand the card game. When I started to play the game, I did not understand the card game. Honestly, I still do not. Yu-Gi-Oh has some of the most intricate rules in any of the card games out there. This is coming from a L5R player, which is one of the harder games out there. Each ‘monster’ card has an attack and a defense value. When attacking, the card uses its attack value. When defending in the defending position, the card uses its defense value. When defending in the attack position, the card uses its attack value. This is simple enough.

Each ‘monster’ card also has an element type. This element type can affect the attack and defense values of the ‘monsters’ depending on the element type of the field. In addition, there seems to be some relationship where some grossly underpowered monster can defeat a powerful beast. This rule was not documented in the rules. I had the impression that it is a flaw in the game.

The game has a link function that works with one other GameBoy system with another Yu-Gi-Oh: Reshef of Destruction cartridge. It has a trade mode and a battle mode. Trading is limited to cards that the players have two or more. The battle mode is just like the standard card battles.

I had my standard issue with what I consider a poor excuse of a save system. The player must be able to save at anytime with a GameBoy game. That is the whole idea about the format. Playing find the computer, or whatever the method is, is down right inconvenient. All I should have to do is open a menu and select an item. That way I could pick up the game right where I left off. I play my GameBoy in the car, waiting in line, or using the bathroom. I do not sit down and play for hours on end, which is why I purchased an Xbox. Many of the GameBoy titles out there make this mistake. I think it is because the game manufactures do not realize that their customers do not spend 10 to 20 hours straight to finish the game. I know people who do this, but I am not one of them.

I found this game to be well suited to fans of the Yu-Gi-Oh card game. If a person looking to purchase this game is not familiar with the card game, then I believe that they will not be that happy with the game. It does not make a good introduction into the Yu-Gi-Oh world. The Yu-Gi-Oh GameBoy game would be great addition to someone who loves the card game. It gives them the opportunity to play the game with a friend in the car or play a few rounds by themselves.

Yu-Gi-Oh is not the most outstanding game out there. It is focused toward all of the Yu-Gi-Oh fans out there. I met many of them hanging around card tournaments. Usually they were under 15 and completely fanatic. I recommend this game to those people. For all the Yu-Gi-Oh fans out there, it is 10 out of 10, but unfortunately, not everybody is.

Score : 6.2/10

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