While Yu-Gi-Oh has been around a long time, I have to confess that my experience with the world of Yu-Gi-Oh has up until now only been watching my nephew play the card game with relatives and friends. Therefore, I am reviewing Yu-Gi-Oh as a novice to the intricacies of dueling strategy.

Although the game is based on the cartoon, the main character is new. You awaken with no memory of who you are or how you arrived at your current location in Satellite City. As you attempt to find your way back to your past, you will interact with familiar locations and characters from the show.

Of course, the main aspect of the game is dueling. There are two modes of gameplay, Story mode and World Championship mode. Story mode is the campaign mode, where players will take their customized character through alternating duels and racing. Dueling takes up the larger part of the game, with the racing really existing for a change in pace. This is not to say that the racing isn’t fun, it is; however, it’s not a compelling part of the game.

Right off the bat, it’s instant dueling when in Story mode. I expected some type of description of the rules, or a tutorial of sorts disguised as an easy first level. Unh uh. What I got was a duel where I had no idea of what to do. But this was my own fault, because the manual clearly states that there is a tutorial in the Championship mode. Yep, that’s what happens the one time I don’t look at the manual first.

Anyway, after playing through the basic levels of the tutorials a few times, I felt confident enough to hit the trail again in Story mode. This time, I won the first duel and continued on my merry way. The tutorials are designed very well, and explain the rules of the game in easily digestible sections. The tutorial mode begins with an overview of the game, and then breaks the game down into the different phases of the turns, and the basic features of the card types. Subsequent chapters discuss more advanced topics. There is a test at the end of each tutorial, and some of the tutorials lead the player through the actions of the game being discussed.

The first few duels aren’t too difficult, but all subsequent duels can be very difficult. The difficulty level seems random, and doesn’t appear to ratchet up sequentially. Also, for novice players, simply going through the tutorials is not going to be sufficient enough to get a good feel for which cards to choose when building a deck, and to understand the nuances of the advanced decks. Much of the strategy involved here requires a complex meld of adding special effect cards to the basic monster cards, which changes the dynamics of the play. But for those who persevere, returning and fighting the lost duels over again will eventually garner success.

To help increase the chances of winning in these later battles, players will be able to spend cash earned in dueling at the store to purchase improved cards for more powerful decks. This aspect is fun, as the types of constructed decks are almost infinite with so many cards to choose. There are new types of Monster Cards available, Synchro and Tuner Monsters.

The story line is a new addition to the World Championship series of games, and it’s well-integrated with the dueling. While not the most deep RPG ever, it is quite good and offers lots of interaction with characters and even some puzzle solving. The racing also adds variety to the gameplay with motorcycle races. These races are interspersed throughout the story mode, and present a typical race with track hazards and basic control pad steering. The controls work fairly well and as expected. These races are co-joined with the new Speed World cards featured in the new Turbo Duels introduced in this game.

The game looks good, and the cards are displayed fully on the top screen. All the card information is easily viewable, and more information can be scrolled with the “Y” button. However, the menu on the bottom screen is crowded, as it tries to fit a lot of command icons around the card playing field. The phases are displayed at the top, and there really is no point to that, as they can be chosen by cycling through a pop-up menu with the “B” button. It’s also hard to see if the cards in play are set or attack. The animation of the cards during duels is fun and adds to the visual enjoyment.

I have been enjoying playing Yu-Gi-Oh, even though I am unfamiliar with much of the Yu-Gi-Oh universe. I do enjoy playing Pokemon, though, which has similar strategies when it comes to matching monsters by attack and defense strengths and trying to build and retain a set configuration of monsters, which is like building a deck in Yu-Gi-Oh. I also enjoy playing Settlers of Cataan, which can be quite complicated when playing all of the game’s expansions at the same time.

I guess my point is that while the game can be a bit overwhelming for novices due to the complexities added by all the new duels, decks and types of monsters and spells accumulated during the years of the game’s existence, it can also be a rewarding, albeit challenging, gaming experience. And the Yu-Gi-Oh expert will most definitely enjoy this game. While I personally haven’t played the 2007 or 2008 versions of the World Championship, this game appears to be a totally different game, with the addition of the Story mode and the racing.

A good DS game when considered singly, and also a good rendition of the famous dueling card game.

Gameplay: 7.0
The meat of the game is dueling, of course. Here the dueling is quite deep and satisfying, with all sorts of possible decks that can be built with the new Synchro and Tuner monster cards. With so many strategic nuances added by the spell and trap cards, the gameplay can be challenging. However, the duels can be replayed from a stronger position with the tweaking of the deck’s composition. The interface is easy to use, although a bit crowded.

Graphics: 8.0
The cards are pretty, and the environments are detailed and crisp. The characters are drawn well.

Sound: 8.0
Nice music themes and sound effects.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
This game can be a bit difficult, but not because it is hard to learn or understand. It can be difficult because of all the different strategies required, the knowledge of which can only come from lots of time spent with dueling. However, the examples of “recipes” can be useful when trying to build more advanced decks than the starter deck.

Concept: 7.0
The story mode and racing is a new addition for the World Championship series.

Multiplayer: 8.0
Players can play over the Wifi connection on the DS with other players. This is the same as playing the duels as solo against a computer opponent, except it is with real people.

Overall: 8.0
Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s Stardust Accelerator World Championship 2009 is an excellent port of the card game to electronic form. Previous versions have been successful, but the story line and the racing added to this latest edition, plus the inclusion of new virtual cards, plus the limited edition physical cards included in the case, makes this a must-have for any Yu-Gi-Oh fan. It is also a good game for people unfamiliar with the Yu-Gi-Oh world, as my example proves. I recommend this game for anyone who enjoys turn-based strategy games, whether they are Yu-Gi-Oh fans or not.