written by pat on 06/01/2004
Good Points
The game is fun and challenging, you can go from somewhat understanding the show to being a master at playing the card game if you have a decently firm grasp of playing card games (such as magic the gathering, pokemon, etc.)
The game is very clear about the phases and when you should use cards, plus it gives the pictures of the monsters whenever you use them so it kinda helps you be able to find them better if an opponent uses a monster you like and you have it but you didn't think it was good until they used it.
Changing cards in your deck isn't too difficult until you get tons of cards which is why they put in the filter system which, without it the game would be completely hard to use.
Bad Points
The computer can be a little tricky sometimes, even if you have some good cards. Also sometimes the computer will make REALLY stupid mistakes such as destroying its own cards or (in the beginning) attack monsters that are in defense mod no matter how bad it will hurt them.
Another downside is the whole idea about the packs. Although it is kind of interesting how you can choose what pack you want you have no real idea what rare cards to be looking for in each of those packs, other than maybe the card on the front of the pack.
To get different packs to choose from you must defeat certain enemies a certain number of times, which can be grueling since by the 4th or 5th time you beat some of the early characters they won't stand a chance against you anymore.
Sometimes when you accidently put a monster in defense mod, use an ability at the wrong time(they ask you if you want to use abilities a lot), or declare attacking too quickly, and when this happens the game is unforgiving and you just have to live with it and make sure you don't make the mistake again.
General Comments
As you unlock more and more characters on nintendo yugioh:the eternal duelist soul, to challenge against they get harder and harder and you'll have to change your deck around to sometimes specifically target a player, or just put in the new ones that are good right away.
Deck building can be frustrating at first because you want to try and build combos or themes to your decks but it's just not possible so you mainly have to just use your strongest monsters, the difference between a few attack points can mean victory and defeat a lot of the time.
Overall although I've been pretty critical about its downsides, the game is quite fun and it helps you understand what the heck is going on in the show because sometimes you just wonder.