User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 18
  2. Negative: 2 out of 18
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  1. May 18, 2022
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I adore the Yu-Gi-Oh anime series. Its an imaginative monster-fight series with great world building and colorful characters. But I have yet to find an enjoyable Yu-Gi-Oh video game. This game has aged like toxic mold. The story mode that's required to unlock a majority of the game's content is incredibly abysmal. I had hoped that the powerful ideals of 5Ds would inspire the developers to make an incredible handheld experience. But this game is nothing but a crappy copy-and-paste job mixed in with a handful unenjoyable difficulty spikes. The card game mechanics feel sluggish this time around, with longer load times and a camera that zooms away from all the action. The previous 2 World Championship games looked and played way better than this. What's with the downgrade? There are less card packs available in the shop and less game challenges to take on. Again, most of it is locked off in the story mode like Duel Puzzles and Tag Duels. So it's like the game is forcing you to take part in the story mode. At first, things didn't look too bad while I was scanning the area. Graphically the game looked pretty good and the music fit the tone of divided future theme of 5Ds pretty well. Little did I know that this was a looks-can-be-deceiving kind of game. Like 2007, the game doesn't know the meaning of an easy mode, with almost every challenge in the game being ridiculously difficult. But unlike 2007, the difficulty is even worse here. Almost every opponent uses banned cards like Monster Reborn and Lighting Vortex. But those challenges are mixed in with racing time trials and block-moving puzzles. The variety doesn't make the game more enjoyable, it just makes more uncomfortable for players who came just to Duel. Its like if I finished a Super Mario Bros level and then an out of nowhere turret section game starts. It gets worse, every once in a while Officer Trudge will target you and a chase mini game will commence. And if passes in front of you...its an automatic game over! I really thought a Turbo Duel was going to start. But to my surprise, I had to wait till half way through the game to participate in one. Before I could even take part in the headline battle mechanic of the series, I had to complete this awful stealth mini game in order to get my cards and Duel Runner back. I know the developers were trying to recreate scenes from the anime, but good god was this level awful. The guards have terribly strong sight range and they automatically catch you if you you dash. Some guards are too far away from the camera to evade! I came here to play card games damn it, why do I have to participate in these awful mini games!? The worst part of the game is where you have to take on 4 clones of yourself in consecutive battles, without saving, or healing. It's almost impressive how unenjoyable this game is. You take a really fun card game and you build mechanics that supply instant frustration into players. I knew I was done with this game when I realized I hadn't collected any new synchro monsters. My deck from my World Tournament 2007 deck was loads more powerful than my new deck. At the end of the day, I was flabbergasted that such a great anime could tie-in with such an abysmal experience. Calling this game wasted potential would be a compliment. Expand

Awards & Rankings

45
42
#42 Most Shared DS Game of 2009
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 8
  2. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Official Nintendo Magazine UK
    68
    Yu-Gi-Oh! fans will lap this up, but it's the least beginner-friendly game we've ever played. [May 2009, p.88]
  2. Nintendo Gamer
    73
    Good stuff for the hardcore. [June 2009, p.75]
  3. Games Master UK
    69
    It's really just for the fans. [June 2009, p.81]