If you want to play Yu-Gi-Oh, you probably need a starter deck.
Written: Aug 25 '02 (Updated Aug 25 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
|
Pros: A very enjoyable card game that teaches strategy and is actually fun to play.
Cons: Rules and documentation are woefully unclear. Many may just collect cards rather than playing.
The Bottom Line: Parents should embrace their children's interest in playing Yu-Gi-Oh!, but should try to avoid lettng children focus solely on the collecting side of things.
|
|
|
| Peteer01's Full Review: Yu-Gi-Oh! Starter Deck - Yugi |
If you want a powerful deck, my suggestion is to purchase one of each starter deck (Yugi and Kaiba) and then combine the two to your tastes. For a new duelist, this is both cheaper and better balanced than obtaining cards from booster packs. The real question, however, is whether or not the game Yu-Gi-Oh! is a good game (and a good investment of time) for people to be playing. I believe that it is.
I was irritated when my younger brothers became obsessive over Pokemon cards in 1998. I had just come back form a year in Japan and thought I was finally done seeing Pokemon. However, to my dismay, not only did Pokemon take off in the US, but children over here werent playing Pokemon, they were merely collecting it. Now Pokemon is passE and Yu-Gi-Oh! has finally come stateside and can be seen on WB. While the card game resembles the TV show far more than Pokemon did, it is still not the same thing, and once again, people are clamoring to get their hands on Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
For those of you who do not want to read the entire review, the single biggest difference between Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon is that Yu-Gi-Oh! should be played. The Yu-Gi-Oh card game is very fun and easy to learn to play, although the nuances and strategy of the game are rather elusive. This game will not be entirely unfamiliar to those who have played collectable cards games before, such as Magic, Spellfire, or even videogame based card games such as SNK Vs. Capcom Card Clash. The game bears a strong similarity to all of them, while remaining unique and original.
I will take a brief moment to give you an overview of the game. There are basically two types of cards Monster (Monsters, Fusion Monsters or Effect Monsters) and Magic/Trap cards (with a few variations of each). Each player assembles a deck of at least 40 cards, with no more than 3 of any one card. The players then start with 5 cards each, taking turns drawing a card and choosing which cards to play. Under normal circumstances, only one monster can be played per person, per turn, in either offensive or defensive position. It is through the finesse of knowing how to use your Magic/Trap cards (to temporarily change the rules of the game) and which monsters to play at a given time that determines the outcome. While that is very oversimplified, I doubt I could explain the game without showing someone a deck, and many of the people reading this probably already know how to play.
Collecting Yu-Gi-Oh cards is, in my mind, as foolish as collecting Pokemon cards. However, for people who are playing (and I am not extending that statement to only minors) I applaud them. Long gone are the days when the average family or group of teenagers will play standard playing card games for entertainment, rather weve taken to single player (or online) videogames and watching TV or movies as a family. This game gives people a chance to truly interact in person while playing a fun game. Seeing friends or sibling playing (duelingE or trading strategies and/or cards is a great thing. This game definitely requires strategy, problem solving and analytical thinking, making it an enjoyable battle of wits when players have decks that are evenly matched.
Therein lies the problem though. Yu-Gi-Oh! is a worldwide 4 billion dollar license. The premise of the game is that you can add as many cards to a deck as you want, as long as you have at least 40. In order to be competitive against someone with a good deck, you must somehow to gather 40 of the most powerful cards out there, and do so in such a way that there is a common theme, so that your cards work well together. Yu-Gi-Oh! booster decks are issued in a series for several months, and then a new Yu-Gi-Oh! series begins. This insures that people who play have to keep spending money to get the new cards; otherwise their opponents will gain an advantage. Needless to say, the best cards are the hardest to find.
If you can accept the mania that goes along with trying to find the rarest and most powerful cards, this game really only has one gaping flaw: The rules. The rulebook and online rules found at www.upperdeckentertainment.com are horribly unsatisfactory. I will name only a few examples here to prevent this from running too long, but it should serve as a satisfactory sample:
New and old cards have been released with significantly different descriptions, such as Mysterious Puppeteer:
(Older card: SDK-043)
"When the monster is summoned (excluding Special Summon), the Life Points of this card's owner increase by 500 points for each monster while this card is face-up on the field."
(Newer card: SDK-043)
"As long as this card remains face-up on the field, the Life Points of this card's controller increase by 500 points for each additional monster summoned (excluding Special Summon, but including your opponent's monsters)."
Nowhere online or in the rulebook can official word be found on how the two cards are to be treated, as they clearly say different things. The rulebook has left me with so many questions that the questions listed below truly represent less than a quarter of them:
Can normal cards be set or summoned face up in defense mode? Can a face down card have an effect card, such as Sword of Deep Seated placed on it while it's face down? Can a monster card that is set (that is face down) have an effect card played face down on it? Can a card that is face up have an effect card played face down on it? Can special summoned cards be placed face down? What about in defense mode?
I have written, called, faxed and phoned Upper Deck about these discrepancies, I still have no satisfactory answers. An answer to why these problems exist can be found here: http://www.stormpages.com/edhrzic/Unoff.htm. However, that same website does a good job of answering many of the technical questions of the game here: http://www.stormpages.com/edhrzic/Yugiexp.htm.
If youre willing to take the time to learn this game, have someone else whos willing to play you, and accept the fact that there are times that the rules arent going to give you a clear answer, this game can be a lot of fun. Dont spend too much and dont obsess over the various cards out there unless youre dead-set on traveling from place to place dueling people in tournaments. The trick to enjoying the game is having a fair deck and winning or losing based on your level of skill.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 12.00
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Peteer01
|
|
Member: Eric Peterson
Location: Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 10 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.