One of the first Yugioh games that actually does something right. A game that is definetly worth buying.
Gameplay is always first and yugioh doesn't dissapoint. Before I get to that let me flesh out the story a little. The story takes you into the life of a transfer student who is new to duel academy. His name is of your choosing and much like the other yugioh games the character is speechless.
The story is the anime all the way but for those of you who missed out on it you will accept the story. For those of you who already know the anime story you will probably breeze through the story parts. The game does take a while to get into it but its okay. You also because your in an academy take classes.
What you would usually expect is just skipping class altogether and you actually can i'll explain that in a second. The classes are lihe ke a regular school and you learn the basics and the advanced of dueling. It feels less like a tutorial and more like a mini-game. A min-game that isn't very entertaining. By pressing start you can skip the class if you know what the professor is explaining.
People new to anime will love the effect of the classes itself. There really is only one class but it is still enough. A bonus to completing the class is you get cards to flesh out your deck this happens in he later classes though. Sometimes the cards can be helpful as well as they may not be as helpful. It all depends on the deck you are using.
Now onto the gameplay itself. Unlike the DS version the monster usually do not pop out unless it is a special monster such as Syrus' SteamGyroid or Chum-Li's Master of Oz. Not only that but they also have attack animations too. This makes it feel like the duels back in the anime and if you watch it you will know exactly what I mean.
Your monsters do not pop out it is only other characters which is still fine. I forgot to mention the true difference between this game and every other yugioh game, Tag Dueling! It is a good way to change up the usual setting of the game. Do not expect to breeze through the game either it will take you at least a week especially if you duel in between classes.
When you are not in class you are usually looking for people to duel and believe me there are plenty. Many of the regular students look different. Although the monsters dont all have movements all the characters do. Making it feel even more realistic.
Graphics wise the game is better than solid especially with the monster animations. Although it is better than average there is nothing truly engaging about them. The sound is just average as there is nothing great about it. Although you do hear when someone set a card,draws a card,etc.
For 30 dollars this game does not dissapoint and with downloadable data adding to the mix it makes it even better. Usually psp games cost more. As I said before I am a yugioh fan and so I lean towards this game.
Lastly comes the games flaws. For one the game does dissapoint because the game does not have many monsters actually "coming alive". The game also loads at almost every screen taking away from the action and many times you can hear the disc screeching as it loads. Those are really the most noticeable flaws.
This game is definetly worth the money, definetly worth the time and definetly worth telling others about. Maybe the game isn't a revolution in the genre but it stands out to be one of the best in the genre.