Game Review: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force (PSP)

[Shadowblind]

Fun...fun...erm, yeah.

I'll just start off out here telling that I'm sadly not the greatest of Yu-Gi-Oh fans when i got this game. So I guess to say I can only speak for the casual card gamer, even though its been about 2 years since I last laid eyes on a Yu-gi-oh card.

Now I had very very little expectations for this game when I got it. I have been surprised and must say that I initially underestimated this game. To the review, shall we?

You start out as a newcomer to the dual academy, an isle dedicated to teaching the arts of Dual Monsters (Pft, its Yu-Gi-Oh. Theres no difference, just name.) When you first arrive, its a pretty fun game. Exploring, meeting the characters of the hit show, yadda yadda. Now the highest point of the game (and I'm extremely confident about this) is the actually card battles. This is as close as your gonna get a to a real card battle in a game system. Everything looks as it should, and all the cards are easily read and seen. the AI isn't stupid when it comes to these battles. Which makes it challenging, but not annoyingly hard. Don't forget, this aspect of the game literally governs it, so I think its fair to say this is a fun, fun aspect.

And who wants to battle if you don't get a little something for your trouble? Depending on how you play, once you win, you'll be rewarded with a good number of DP (dual points, I guess) which you can spend buying booster packs. Yes, booster packs. There is a bit of fun here, but very, very much frustation too. Its about as easy to find super rare cards in the game as it is in real life, if memory serves. But fear not! There are still 3 good aspects to this:
1) Save whenever you want, so if you don't find the card your looking for, turn off the game, and go back and rebuy that same booster pack.
2) They cost very little DP. Very, very little. With one dual you can get up to 7 packs!
3)Its hard to get ultra rare cards, but its not like that till after you buy around 12 of that booster pack. Besides, theres an obscene amount of great cards that aren't even rare, so your cards won't lack any heat needed to take down the other guy.
Also, after you beat certain people, such as the main characters (I'm 4 hours in, I've beaten all the shows main characters with ease. Real ease.not that the games short [I'll get on that soon], but that you can challenge these guys anytime you want. You got to school with 'em after all.) you will be able to buy new types of booster packs. There 48 unlockable booster packs in all. I'm gonna say there is upwards 3000 different cards in the game, so don't worry about never finding something new.

Graphics. Which shall I do first, in battle or out? Mind as well out. They SUCK. There are no better words then that. Outside battle, everything is drag, plain, and boring. Some buildings don't even have textures, so they cover that up with a single bland color. Oh look at that purple building! Which purple building? Theres like 7! Oh well. They do what they are supposed to. Now, as for in CARD battles, they can't get better. This is mostly due to most of the pictures being sprites. However, they sometimes look like 3D models. They look exactly as they should, except they aren't jumping off the screen like in the show. They are simply cards, as they were meant to be. All the menus are easy to navigate, and it gives you the ability to use any card at the time it would be necessary. This doesn't sound like much, but given the scenerios, its helpful.

Im about 5 hours in, and only on the 4 out of 87 "virtual" days in the game till the Tag Force Tournament. I know there is a plot in the game that goes almost hand in hand with the show, but I'm still on the part about the teacher blabbing about dual monsters. Now if I wanted to, I could fly right through those days with a hit of the X button, so if you want to get right into the nitty, gritty, stuff, you can. I've so far fought about 32 duals for the DP and I've pretty much just been updating my deck, turning it into a beats before the game really even starts. Its safe to say that when it comes to replay value, theres little better. However, everything you do outside the duals is usually just flat out boring. If I've heard right, you need to find partners for the Tag Force, and they can be real pains in the a**es. I haven't got there yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to put it in this post.

Conclusion: Fun game. NOT a fun game if the only game you like is God of War, which is insanely awesome, but practically the opposite of this kinda of strategy tactics game. If you are a fan, this is an absolute must. If your a *meh* fan, still oughta check this out. I'd say...

3/5

I took a full point off for what I hear will be a pint, the Tag force dualing. If I were to determine it off what I've seen....

3/5, for its great replay value and card battles. Wh00t! EDIT: Repetitive to as bad as it gets.

EDIT: Revision, as I'm playing my first Tag Dual. I have no idea why on earth IGN said its like taking care of a drama queen. All you have to do is talk to your would be Tag Dualer once in a while. Now Tag Dualing itself...boy, your friend really knows how to waste your life points. Still, revising the score to



THIRD REVISION: This game can seriously get on my nerves. I never knew how freakin repetitive it really is. I'd say get Ta force 2, much better game. Score revision to