Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship Tournament 2004 from Konami is the latest, in what has become a yearly update, of the popular trading card game.  This latest game is not a whole lot different from past iterations, but the old axiom of, “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” is pretty fitting here.  In the game you start out with three sets of cards, from which you build your actual “duel” deck(s) of forty to sixty cards, with which to duel the many duelists from the television series.  You begin by dueling the lower tiered characters, but as you defeat them and earn more cards, new, more powerful characters begin to open up for you to test your skills against.

Whereas last years game plopped you down in the middle of map where you could venture around the map dueling various characters as you work your way up the ladder, this year’s game presents the gamer with a static list of opponents in which to choose from.  Each character is broken down showing you their various stats and more importantly, their dominant strategies.  The game handles the computer controlled characters in impressive fashion by mimicking their television counterparts quite accurately by using the same decks and strategies they might use on the show.  This creates a nice immersion factor because gamers really get the sense that they are dueling the “real” characters.

There’s really not a whole lot to be said about the graphics, because let’s face it, it’s not a very graphic intensive game, nor was it meant to be.  It is a card game, so therefore what you will be looking at the vast majority of the time is the playing surface.  However, the game does a very admirable job of recreating each and every card when you choose to actually view the card.  Virtually every single card in the Yu-Gi-Oh universe features some sort of fantastic creature or setting and the game shows each card in painstaking detail, looking for all intents and purposes exactly like the real world card.  For seasoned players they’ll instantly recognize their beloved cards and newbies will have no trouble differentiating one card from the next.  In all honesty, this is quite a feat when one considers the sheer number of cards and the amount of detail poured into each one, all being viewed on a screen smaller than the cards themselves.

Where this game, and the GBA Yu-Gi-Oh games before it, really shines is in teaching one how to play the game and how to effectively execute the many different strategies involved.  The game forces you to play strictly by the rules, preparing gamers for real world duels.  It is also a great teaching tool for anyone who might have an interest in learning the game, because as stated before, the game will not let you play the wrong way.  That’s not to say it won’t let you play stupid, as is my problem, but you will learn to play it correctly.  The Mini-Bearer is a certified Yu-Gi-Oh nut and being the good, involved parent that I am, I tried to take an interest in his hobby.  Well, as anyone can tell you, if you’re new to the game or an adult, you’d probably have an easier time learning some version of galactic Chinese.  But, once he got the game on the GBA, then I could begin to understand the game to the point where I can actually duel with him, albeit to not that great of results.  This probably has more to do with him using a stacked deck than the games teaching skills (damn you Jinzo!!!).

Really, the only place this game falters is in the surprising and disappointing exclusion of the ability to input your own cards/decks into the game.  In games past you could put your entire card collection into the game, while very tedious and time consuming, it was a handy way of perfecting strategies and decks for the real world tournaments that are popular with Yu-Gi-Oh players.  Beyond that change though, the few changes, namely the renewed focus on strategy, make for a better game than those previous and that’s the most any of us can ask of games this serial in nature.

In closing, if you’re in the same boat as the Mini-Bearer, by all means purchase this game.  It’s challenging, fun, and it’ll make you a better player.  If on the other hand, you’re in the same boat as I was and want to learn the game for whatever reason, there is no better and easier way of learning all about the game’s rules and intricacies.  But if you’re in the third and final boat of the Yu-Gi-Oh armada, those who could care less and just wish it would go away; this game probably won’t change your mind.  It is one of those games where a vested interest is an absolute must.

Gameplay: 9
It perfectly captures the way the game is played and the easy to navigate menus and options for each “play” are well orchestrated.  The next best thing to actually playing the game.

Graphics: 7 
Admittedly most screens are “blah”, but this is a card game.  The cards themselves, on the other hand, are very, very well done.

Sound: 6
Nothing too spectacular here.  It’s neither memorable, nor grating, just the usual background type music most GBA games feature.

Difficulty: Medium
The game starts out with pretty easy to dominate opponents, but steadily ramps up to opponents that will test your skills and strategies.  Some of the characters may at first seem unbeatable, but a shift in strategy or creative thinking will see you through.

Concept: 5 
The game does not reinvent the wheel, nor has much changed from the previous games in the series, outside of the increased roster of cards and opponents.

Multiplayer: 7
The game supports GBA link play allowing you to duel a friend without having to navigate the clutter of a real world game.

Overall: 8.5
The game executes exactly what it sets out to do, recreating the card game in a digital format.  Where it separates itself from the real game is that it allows you to duel the characters from the show with surprising accuracy, you don’t have the problems of picking up or keeping track of your cards and it allows players to play with cards they either can’t afford or haven’t come across yet.  A huge bonus for just about every Yu-Gi-Oh card player because there’s always some other card out there that they want to play with.