GENRE
	Collectable Card Combat
	DEVELOPER
	Mistic
	PUBLISHER
	Atari
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-2
	CONNECTIVITY
	No
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For me, Duel Masters seemed to come out of nowhere. I was watching TV one day and came across the show, watched it for a bit, and turned it off. It didn’t appeal to me at all, but the cards did grab my attention. I picked up Kaijudo Showdown to get myself a little more aquatinted with the new card fad, but it didn’t drag me into a whole new world like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh! had. Instead it seemed to mesh some new monsters with an old game, something I wasn’t too fond of. Read on if you’d like to know more.

visuals

Let’s take a stab at the bad news first. The effects and the monsters aren’t as brilliant as I had expected to see coming from a game with so many different possibilities of each. When a monster attacks another, their movements are quick and pretty stiff so there isn’t much to see. The effects are also pretty quick and are there and gone to fast to enjoy. Both are pretty boring and made up of just a few simple sprites.

The environments are fairly large and colorful, but lack any motion at all. The absence of any bit of movement takes away from the liveliness of your surroundings and leaves them dismal and unappealing. On a good note, it is nice to see some battlefields rather than the traditional lay out of cards you see in most GBA card games, but it’s not too impressive and again, leaves much to be desired.

Alas, there is some good news. Though a few things were lacking and desired, there were some perks I did enjoy. The details on many of the three hundred cards are crafted nicely and it’s fun to go through your deck and check out the monsters you have at your disposal. Some aren’t to great, but for the most part they’re pretty enjoyable to cycle through.

audio

There isn’t much to brag about in the audio department either. The sound effects are few and far in between, not to mention pretty dull. But they go along with the visuals nicely. When a character attacks with its quick, stiff sweep of an arm, you hear a quick ping or the sound of glass breaking, among a few other bland sound effects.

The music on the other hand is pretty good. As you walk around you’re treated to some nice friendly beats that make you feel as if you’re in a friendly environment. The battle music is a little slow, but so is the action so it all works out. Other than that there isn’t too much to hear, but what’s there is nice.

gameplay

If you’ve played Magic the Gathering for just about any length of time you’ll have this game down. It seems as though Duel Masters is just more low key and a bit easier to pick up. But for those of you who haven’t played Magic, I’ll explain in short, stripped down detail how the game works.

In the beginning of the duel you are required to place a card from your hand into your Mana Pool. After you do so you are given the option of summoning a monster or using a spell. Each monster or spell requires you to Tap a certain amount of cards from your Mana Pool in order to activate. Once activated the spell effect goes into effect or your creature appears on the battlefield. Unfortunately you will have to wait until your next turn in order to attack with a creature because they will suffer from something called “Summoning Sickness”. This condition makes it so the monsters cannot attack during the first turn they are put into play, but they cannot be destroyed either. Spells on the other hand are activated right away and their effect occurs right after activation. At the beginning of your next turn you draw a card and repeat all the above steps until you destroy all of your opponent’s shields and attack the character directly, the duel then comes to a close. The game sounds simple enough but if you want to win you’ll need to strategize quite a bit, it’s not all cards and commanding, planning plays a big role. But you’ll be happy to know there is a quick, very clear tutorial in the beginning of the game so you’ll be well on your way from the get-go.

multiplayer

There is a multiplayer option for those of you who have some Duel Master buddies to battle with. If you’ve got two cartridges and a link cable, you and one of your friends can battle it out using your best decks to find out who the better duel master is. It would be quite fun to test out your most powerful cards and honed dueling skills against a friend.

overall

Overall, Duel Masters: Kaijudo Showdown doesn’t improve much on its predecessor but it’s still a solid fanboy title. If you’d like to learn more about the game (and Duel Masters in general) before making a thirty buck purchase, I’d go out and pick up a twelve dollar deck just to make sure you’re really interested. Other than that, the graphics aren’t the best and the audio does leave a lot to be desired. For the Duel Master fans, I’d say it’s a well done game, they’d find the most joy out of it. If you’re just getting into Duel Masters and remain undecided, or you’ve never played any of the games before, I wouldn’t recommend it, do a bit more research first.

7.2/10