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Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Eternal Duelist Soul (Game Boy Advance)

Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Eternal Duelist Soul review

Game: Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Eternal Duelist Soul
Platform: Game Boy Advance
Genre: Strategy
Developer: Konami
AKA: Yu-Gi-Oh! The Eternal Duelist Soul (EU), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 5 Expert 1 (JP)

Reader review by lasthero

September 22, 2005

My name is LastHero. I am a Yu-Gi-Oh fan.

You wouldn’t know it to look at me. I don’t own a single card. I’ve never been to a tourney. I’ve only seen a live game once. And while I do watch the TV show, I do so for the same reason I tap on the brakes while passing a car wreck. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know what Yu-Gi-Oh was until about three years ago. Sitting on the school bus, riding home with an afro pick in my hair and a smile on my face, I asked my friend Patrick what he was playing on his Game Boy. Seeing as Patrick’s girth occupied 4/5s of the seat, I somehow felt I had a right to know.

He said he was playing Yu-Gi-Oh: The Eternal Duelist Soul. I asked him what that was. He let me play. And I’ve been hooked ever since.

No bells, whistles, or any other stupid metaphor to describe extra things. The game starts you out with one of three decks. Nothing special, just enough to give you a solid base. You go into Campaign mode, take on a few characters from the TV show, beat them enough and you get to fight more characters from the TV show, beat them enough and…nothing happens, because you’ve just unlocked all the game has to unlock.

The fights themselves are standard fare; no attacks animations, no…anything. Just the cards. They make this funny little crash sound whenever you get a successful attack, but other than that? Nada. You get a little speech from the character you’re facing before and after every fight, but if you’ve seen the show then you know that’s better off skipped. If you haven’t seen the show (lucky you) let me give you a taste:

“Blah blah blah IT’S ALL IN THE HEART OF THE CARDS blah blah blah blah IT’S TIME TO D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DUEL!!”

The A.I.’s does its best work on defense; it won’t set up any complex strategies, but it knows how to stay protected and it’s not afraid to put its deck to full use. It’s not worth much on offense, though; it’ll attack even when you’ve got the most obvious of traps set up. Thing is, you’ll only get five new cards for every battle you win, and they’re usually crap. And since all three starting decks aren’t too hot to begin with, your opponent’s usually better stocked than you. It all equals out to a fair fight; you’ll lose often, but not too often.

And that’s…it. I wish I could be more enthusiastic and tell you what I like so much about the game, but truth is, I don’t even know. Maybe there’s a little nerd in me that enjoys the world of card games like Yu-Gi-Oh, but it’s being dulled by both the hermit in me that doesn’t want to be around any Yu-Gi-Oh fans and the lazy man in me that doesn’t want to shell out sixty bucks just to get a decent deck. In the end, I guess that’s who Yu-Gi-Oh: The Eternal Duelist Soul is made for: People who want a taste of Yu-Gi-Oh, but not the whole thing.

Rating: 5/10

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