Although Graphically Unimpressive, gameplay is nearly divine!
User Rating: 7.3 | Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Spirit Summoner DS
Yugioh GX Spirit Caller is simply a nice game that capitalizes on the recent introduction and success of the Yugioh GX series on TV. The game stays true to the script and nearly serves as an additional helping of the same story that everyone already knows. There are a few surprises but if one has watched the show they know what to expect. Gameplay wise, it is a nice game. The controls are identical to the same on the previous Yugioh Nightmare Troubadour. There have been minor updated nonetheless such as additional cards, characters, radar has an arrow now, the map has many more sections to it. One of the bad things about the game is that one has to go through and search on how to activate the next event. This is one aspect of the game that "drags it down into the grave". It is a "simultaneous loss" to both parties. When one plays the game they will find themselves continually being brought "back to square one". All in all, to advance to the next event, the player has to search for the right opponents, go to the dorm that the person could be at, or even have to wait until the right time of the day. I thought this was horrible because without any knowledge (sometimes the game doesnt say what to do next), you could indefinently stay at the same spot for ages [who knew to go to the Yellow Dorm to find Bastion? it took me a week in game time to figure it out] But looking beyond that the story itself and other aspects bring it back to life. I enjoyed the massive number of cards it offered, the range of difficulty and strategy of the opponents, the number of opponents, and even the addition of the duel spirits. Duel Spirit arent really that major to the story and only aid in very minor things. The game fails in the graphics department of course. I would love to sugarcoat this but I cant. It in honesty it is one of the ugliest games that I have seen on the DS. Nearly all objects in the duel are pixilated, some of the images are indescribably, and the duel models are grotesque. In a day and age in which beautiful games such as SM64DS have been released on the DS, it is a shame that Yugioh has turned out to be quite ugly. Some parts are nice, the out of battle images are bright and vivid, the character avatar moves and reacts to events within the duel, and the special summon sequences are nice no doubt.
This game has some of the best music that has been recorded in the Yugioh games. The winning music actually makes me bob my head, the losing music is quite nice too and doesnt put me to sleep anymore. There are a few annoying sounds during battle that makes me wonder why they are there (why do we need a dry sound for when we switch turns?). They have done another spectacular thing, and that is that they have inserted sounds for when the field changes. I think that this was a wonderful move as it adds another level to the game (such as with forest, the music temporarily changes to forest type sound). All in all it is a great game for Yugioh fans and non fans. If one can manage to make it through the dry times of trying to figure out what to do to advance, then they will truly enjoy the game. The massive number of cards included offer the chance for many new strategies to be tried out. And finally the prospect of being able to take your deck on the Wi-Fi and challenge others in and around the world is perhaps the selling point for why you would get this game. Enjoy. 
