I have recently become an anime/manga fiend. Surprisingly, I haven't gotten around to reading or watching a single episode of Yu Yu Hakusho, but I was intrigued when I saw a tactics game I haven't tried (or even heard of) at my local Best Buy. Luckily, Tournament Tactics contains almost no story, so I didn't have to worry about the fact that I'm not familiar with the characters in the series. YYH: Tournament Tactics is the first Tactics game I have played on GBA that didn't have a great story. Fire Emblem, FFTA, and even Tactics Ogre kept me interested in the characters. I still had a strong desire to finish this game and see what would end up happening. It's not as if story is the most important part of this genre, but I would expect a title based on an anime series to at least explain the background of the main characters for someone who hasn't watched the show such as me.

The sound and music weren't particularly bad, but really average. The music is probably re-made tunes from the show but I chose to listen to my own music rather than the game's. Once again I'll compare this to a game like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance where I would rather listen to the music from that game over most bands.

The graphics are your standard tactics game fare; cute, super-deformed versions of characters and isometric 2-D settings. They are less detailed than other games for the system, but graphics aren't overly important in a game like this. One thing that disappointed me was the lack of variety or flair in attacks and overdrives. Attack animations are plain and don't do some of the cooler attacks justice. Overdrives are just as bland. Sometimes they show a picture of the character performing the overdrive, and sometimes the attack would carry out like normal and the screen would shake. Not a big problem, but it goes to show that the game doesn't have the best production in the world.

Next is gameplay, or lack thereof. Unfortunately, this game does not make up for its flaws with its gameplay like some tactics games. Most games I have played with the word tactics in the title require at least the slightest bit of strategy to play. I played this game half asleep and my characters hardly ever even took damage, which wouldn't even be a problem due to pretty broken gameplay mechanics. All characters have the ability to heal themselves or recharge spirit energy, basically rendering items useless. Enemy AI is limited to running away and using long range attacks, or ganging up on your weakest character. Experience is given out between battles, and you assign points to characters to either raise a certain attribute or gain new skills. The length of the game isn't too bad, but it’s the lack of any real challenge that will allow most gamers to finish it in a couple days at the most.

Unless you really love Yu Yu Hakusho, there isn't really any reason to replay this game. There is some bonus material (and I believe a secret character,) but not enough to warrant a second run through the game or anything. I think that this game would be a great introduction to the Strategy genre for a little kid or just someone new to gaming, but for an SRPG vet, it's pretty boring.