Quite Good if you can get into it

User Rating: 7.1 | Yu-Gi-Oh! Shin Duel Monsters II: Keishou Sareshi Kioku (Konami the Best) PS2
By andyt66 | Review Date:
For those of you not versed in the ways of Yu-Gi-Oh ill run trhough the basics first, It's a card game related to a real life trading card game and a tv series. You and an opponent each have a deck of cards ( your deck will contain various monsters, magic cards and traps) you pit your cards and wits against you opponent in an attempt to reduce their allotted life points to zero. For anyone still confused this of top trumps...complicate things a little with the concept of being able to stregthen and weaken cards etc...add some elements off chess slap it on a ps2 disc and you're there. If your still confused i'd probably say this isn't the title for you as things are not about to get any easier. Right for those of you familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh the rules you play by in Duelist of the roses are somewhat different from the trading card game and the more traditional Yu-Gi-Oh titles you may have seen on the GBA or PC. For Starters rather than having your own side of the field and throwing attacks to and fro Duelist of the roses features a large area (a board of sorts) you can move your cards around these large grids and this allows for more strategic movement and placements of monsters and traps etc, different fields you play on have different terrain that may help or hinder various types of monster (For example Robot monsters are stronger in wasteland terrain, but are made weaker when crossing ocean tiles) the terrain may also provide a srategic point for battle, (for example an area blocked off in all but one location by inpassible terrain may create a bottleneck defence position.) Terrain can also be influenced by magic cards meaning adventage in battle can quickly shift. Aside from this the main difference here is the concept of having a "Deck Leader" you asign the role of Deck Leader to one monster in your deck , your deck leader does not combat personally but appears on the field as a representation of you (the player) and your life points, the deck leader serves as your base, it is from here that you summon cards to the field (in spaces adjacent to your deck leader) also by attacking the deck leader you attack a player's life points directly. So some pretty striking differences here I hope I managed to explain well enough that you know what to expect. As a new comer to Yu-Gi-Oh games this really took some getting used to it's by no means an easy feat, but shoudn't be a problem for what must surely be the games target audience aka people who already have an interest in Yu-Gi-Oh. To be frankly honest after stumbling through the first few duels I did give up on the game for a time, and it was not until my girlfriend got hold of the game, got good at it, taught my sister to play and proclaimed she would forever be much better at it than me that I picked it up again and really made an effort to get into the title. Once you get a feel for the game, generate some stratergies, pick em some good cards and really get the impression you are getting to be a competant player you start to enjoy the title and begin to suffer the "just one more duel" syndrome ive been suffering from, and since the matches are rarely short it leads to cold dinners and late nights. The Graphics are ok...thats to say they are nothing special yet they aren't disgustingly terrible either...the general cards and field appearance is pretty basic stuff anyway and sometimes the battle animations can be quite amusing if not especially exciting. The sound is a mix of nice relaxing music and clunks that are less so other than that theres no reason to comment on the sound. The story revolves around English history and the war of the roses you choose at the start of the game who you wish to side with, regardless of who you choose you can play through the other side of the story as you finish the game later...once it's all over you can duel whichever of the computer characters you like as much as you like to get hold of more cards and further strenghten your deck...there are about 20 or so computer characters to duel against so there is a fair bit of mileage there. You will probably get most from the game if you have friends who also wish to play it rivalry with others who have thier own save files and unique decks give you the extra push to try and win that powerful card to give them a real suprise next time you have a match in Vs. mode. other than that I'd say the games trongest appeal is to Yu-Gi-Oh fans...fans of the Tv series will see and duel against their favourite characters and be able to see the monsters in action at their command... fans of the trading card game will have a whole collection of cards at their disposal and will be able to make great decks to duel their friends and enemies without shelling out for countless booster packs or scouring ebay for rare and powerful cards. However the Egyptian God cards and other newer generation monsters are not included in this game (you'll have to wait for the next one) you will however find thousands of others including as many dark magicians, Blue eyes white dragons and exodia's you can shake a stick at. Having not played any of the Yu-Gi-Oh games that play more like the normal card game at this point I can offer no comparisson but in conclusion ill say. Duelist of the Roses CAN be good fun for the right person if your enjoy the subject matter or have the patience so master the game and hold out until you start to get good at it then by all means go for it...if however you tend to give up if you can't do something right away...want something fast paced and to the point...or are dead set to the traditional Yu-Gi-Oh rules then you might want to give it a miss.

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