Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists of the Roses

Not only does the story of Duelists of the Roses stray from the Egyptian setting of the cartoon show, it strays into a fictional history of the War of the Roses, a 15th-century civil war for the English throne. In this version of events, the war was fought with cards, not swords and bows, and series-protagonist Yugi is actually Henry VII. There are lots more real and adapted history in the game, but it's really just stage dressing for a series of card battles. Players can choose to fight for the side of Yugi and the house of Lancaster or for the Rival house of York. Either choice leads to different opponents and cut-scenes along the way.

The gameplay itself falls between the simplicity of rock-paper-scissors and the complexity of chess. Players blindly deal monsters off a deck against what your opponent pulls, and the stronger monster wins the hand--and the winning opponent gets the balance of points between the winning and losing cards from the losing player. When a combatant's life points are gone, the game is over. Duelists of the Roses introduces a leader card to the game, which players use to store their life points and to earn special abilities. Also new is a terrain map that will influence the power of the cards being drawn. For example, pulling a water monster near the ocean will pack more power than a fire monster.

What makes the game so hard is that the computer opponent is an ultimate master of the game's many arcane rules and the in-game tutorial is a little rushed. The game is forgiving to losers; one needs simply to try the battle again and hope for better luck. The graphics and sound are a little disappointing, but it is the first time we've seen these card monsters in 3-D. --Porter B. Hall

Amazon.com Product Description
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists of the Roses features all of your favorite characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh! animated TV series. The new card-movement battle system encourages strategic gameplay, while 680 beautifully rendered 3-D monsters keep the onscreen action exciting and engaging. The game includes three exclusive trading cards.