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»Yu-Gi-Oh! Ultimate Masters: World Championship Tournament 2006
"Almost unnecessary."
Hey look, another Yugioh game, and just 2 months after the last one was
released. What the heck is Konami thinking? I'm not against Yugioh or
anything, but Duel Academy was a great game. It had pretty up-to-date
card lists, played by advanced rules (not Sacred Cards or Reshef of
Destruction rules), had nice puzzle modes and a ranking system, not to
mention it was fun working your way up from drop-out to King of
Games...So why did Konami release yet another expert rules game so soon
after the last one? My only guess would be they couldn't use Duel
Academy for their lame virtual card game tournament they hold every
year, so they came out with Yugioh Ultimate Masters 2006. Don't get me
wrong, this game is nothing to sneeze at either, it just feels very
unnecessary being released so soon after Duel Academy.
Even though they both play by expert rules and were released virtually
the same time, this game has a slightly better card list offering than
Duel Academy did (for example, fiend deck staple Hades is finally in
this game), so that's a plus. Another thing I noticed is that the
computer opponents actually offer a challenge in this game...Something
that has been void in most Yugioh games since Reshef (and even then it
was just because the computer cheats). The decks your opponents have,
even the first level ones, are pretty well-rounded and will most
definitely give you a run for your money should you get a bad draw or
make a mistake. I had a pretty hard time beating the Goblin King's
"Dark Feast" deck when I first got to him. I was amazed at the shear
power of his deck compared to most other expert Yugioh outings. The AI
will make far less stupid plays (I haven't really noticed any so far),
such as Magic Jammering your Giant Trunade when all the computer had to
lose was his Magic Jammer. Also, the computer opponents seem to be
packing tons of magic/trap removal as well, which will wreck havoc upon
your early decks. This increased challenge level is one way this game
stands out over Duel Academy. Also this game has alternate deck
building modes, where you can try to play with a deck that contains
more cards than the standard Yugioh video game limit (which has usually
been 60 cards).
So difficulty is steady, that’s good. How else is the game? What deck
do you start with, and how do you obtain cards? It is pretty much the
same as every other expert game that has been released, save for the
fact that the structure decks you can start with are the actual real
life theme decks starting with Zombie Madness and ending with
Spellcaster Judgment (if I were you I’d select Spellcaster Judgment
just for the Breaker). Nifty! Once you start dueling and winning you'll
start piling on "DP" which you can use to purchase booster packs to
earn more cards or enter a password into the password machine to obtain
a single card, but BEWARE! Some cards are VERY expensive, for example
if you want to get 1 spirit reaper via the password method it'll run
you somewhere around 5000 DP! Another thing you'll notice is that
instead of random compilation packs of crap cards nobody would ever
use, the first packs you can start out buying are the sets of booster
packs as they were released in english, the only difference is you only
get 5 cards out of them (like a real life Japanese booster). You can
start off with packs from Legend of Blue Eyes all the way to Ancient
Sanctuary, with more opening up as you duel. Once you start unlocking
packs, the random compilation packs full of garbage start showing up. I
hate these packs. They cost so many duel points, and yield so few cards
you'd actually want to use...Just stick with the official packs.
Another interesting thing to note in this game is you don't actually
fight characters from the shows (even though Jaden is pictured on the
box and game cart) you fight monsters like Kuriboh or Batteryman and
their appropriately themed decks. For instance, Kuriboh's deck is
entitled "Kuriboh and Friends" but don't let that fool you, these
aren't total BS decks made up for beginners, they can and will defeat
you if you aren't ready. The gameplay is fast paced and right to the
point, there is no storyline to speak of, like that in Duel Academy. No
fighting rivals, no making friends, just due, duel, duel! This can get
a tad boring if you aren't into CCG's, but I’d imagine any Yugioh game
would grate on your nerves then. Story just helps numb the fact that
you're playing a card game. There is no tutorial mode like in Duel
Academy either. This makes me think that perhaps Duel Academy was meant
as a beginner's guide to Yugioh, while this is for hardcore players.
Either way I think both are good games. Even if you're a beginner and
you're playing this game, you'll soon learn by trial and error what
cards are worth playing. Here's a tip, if all the AI controlled decks
seem to be using a card, chances are you should use it too *wink, wink*.
The graphics are ok, I don't like the duel area set up in this game, I
think they should have recycled it from Duel Academy. That one seemed
much more pleasing to the eye. Other than that, the cards are the usual
scans of real life cards as they always are. Not much you can do to
improve on them. The monsters you fight are represented by a bigger
scan of their card artwork, which is pretty good quality.
When you start off the game you get to choose a face for yourself to
serve as your Yugioh world avatar, but this isn't as thrilling as it
sounds. If in fact it even sounded thrilling. I can't really go on
about graphics too much, this is a bare bones card battling engine
where all you do is duel. The music is alright too, rather unobtrusive,
but that’s ok. This is, after all, a card game. You wouldn't want heavy
metal music blasting while you are trying to assess a strategic
situation and make the proper move. Don't go into this game looking for
an awesome graphical presentation and impressive musical score - you
won't get it. What you will get is a really dead-on accurate recreation
of this dying card game.
As always these games have immense replay value if you enjoy card
games. Collecting all the cards, building various decks to try out, and
battling friends will keep you coming back for more. These games are
all what you make of them as they are usually open-ended and rely a lot
on the creativity of the individual. If you bought Duel Academy and are
completely satisfied with it, then you might not have to purchase this
game. However if you find the challenge level of past games low and are
fed up with light-hearted storylines based on card games, then this is
the game for you. I doubt you will be disappointed with the difficulty;
this is by far the most challenging, non-cheating expert rules game
I’ve played. Aside from the sub-par promo cards that come with the game
I think it is a worthwhile purchase for the hardcore Yugioh fan out
there.
Oh, and by the way, I really hope I’m wrong about that "Yugioh dying"
comment. Yugioh gets a lot of bad press as being a child's game, when
it really isn't. Yugioh isn't "Go Fish" people. It requires more than a
pulse to play, Stop judging things by what your nephew makes you watch
on Saturday mornings. Have you ever tried watching your average kid
play this game? They have no clue what the hell they are doing and are
then crushed by somebody older who fully understands the depth and
strategy of the game. I know the game is overshadowed by Magic: The
Gathering, and it probably should be, I’m just saying its a shame if
Yugioh dies. It really is/was a worthwhile card game. Prejudice can
kill just about anything I suppose.
Article by: mrtama
Posted on: Aug. 6th, 2006 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| Captures the card game rather well, fast paced and with top-notch AI! Only hurt by absence of a tutorial mode. Extra game play modes make up for the missing tutorial, a good game for the expert player. |
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Graphics |
| Good card scans and enemy portraits, not much else to complain about, this is a "to the point" card simulator. Perhaps a better looking play field would have been nice. |
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Sound |
| Meh, average. I won't fault it because during a card game you really don't need distracting music or sounds. What is has does what it should do nicely. |
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Replay Value |
| Provided you enjoy CCG's there is tons of depth to be had here. Yugioh is a very deep card game filled with various strategies. Collecting all the cards and experimenting with different decks will keep you coming back for more! |
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Comments |
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September 15, 2006 |
willey |
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yugioh games should be released every four months
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June 9, 2007 |
UMUT |
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September 23, 2007 |
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February 14, 2008 |
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May 30, 2008 |
Hunor |
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