Topic: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal: World Duel Carnival Review

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Yu-Gi-No!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/38654/yu-gi-oh-zexal-world-duel-carnival-review

I really like Yu-Gi-Oh! I know – even in a community filled with Pokémon and Animal Crossing fanboys alike, saying you like Yu-Gi-Oh can still summon a furrowed brow or two. “Wasn’t it just some fad? Isn’t it dead?” some would ask. Originally, I would point to the tremendous World Championship and Tag Force games as proof that the card and video game series still has something to say, but after playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal: World Duel Carnival, the first Yu-Gi-Oh game on 3DS, I just don’t know anymore.

For the uninitiated, Yu-Gi-Oh is a trading card game that used to be tremendously popular a decade or so ago, but has since faded a bit. You have probably seen this kind of game before: Monsters with number values (attack/defense) fight other monsters with number values, and the stronger one wins. There are support spells and traps, and there are effects and special card types that keep the game interesting. If you want more detail, there is a great tutorial here.

From that perspective, the card game itself is well represented. 5,500 digital cards are included, with everything from traditional monsters to the newer Xyz and Synchro sets. The game has gotten more complicated, diverse, and interesting in the years since its mainstream appeal faded, and those changes are reflected in this game (in other words, there are more numbers and more unique numbers to deal with now). The AI is fair, with dozens of characters in different styles to duke it out against as a slightly shallow avatar in Free Duel mode.

The presentation is okay. There are some 3D character portraits and easy-to-read card effects to see during battle, and the interface for dueling is acceptable but there are no card animations and the music is forgettable. It’s just raw dueling with pictures of cards. Nothing more, nothing less. You may well play the real game.

Even worse, the way content is incorporated within World Duel Carnival is pitiful. Free Duel has all the cards and cosmetic stuff unlocked for your avatar immediately. The story mode – a series of duels against different characters while a poorly told version of a Zexal tournament storyline plays in-between – is a contrast from the robust RPG-like mode in World Championship 2010 on DS, and there is no multiplayer to speak of. Did you get that? There is NO multiplayer, local or online, to play in a competitive trading card game.

And let’s not forget about the content cut from the Japanese release. While there are lots of smaller cuts, most egregious is that instead of 40 characters to play as in the story mode, there are now just 12. The localization writing is passable and it launched at a lower price in the U.S. than the original, full version did in other territories, but everything about the Western version feels anemic compared to what Japan got.

So while the basic dueling is fun, there’s little else to enjoy in this eShop title. Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal: World Duel Carnival is emaciated and borderline offensive to loyal fans who just want the full 3DS trading card experience. I wonder if Magic the Gathering is easy to get into…