Game Boy Advance

Duel Masters Kaijudo Showdown

The entertainment industry is currently saturated with sequels. Everything is a continuation, a spin-off, or at worst, a rehash. Video games are no exception to this rule. Most of this year's blockbuster releases have been second or third installments to an already popular series. Of course it is easier to build off the excitement of an established product rather than risking an original idea. However, sequels should always add something new to the mix. It is in this mindset that I began playing through the most recent Duel Masters game on the GBA.

Duel Masters returns to the GBA. The whole card-battling thing seems to be “in” now as much as ever. The Pokemon card-game frequently sells well, and Yu-Gi-Oh is as popular as ever. Both of these series also have their own cartoons, handheld videogames and related merchandise, so accordingly Duel Masters followed along with Duel Masters: Sempai Legends. Atari’s second portable game, Duel Masters: Kaijudo Showdown, does a pretty good job of interactively portraying the card game, but it doesn’t do much to woo newcomers to the series.

Duel Masters: Kaijudo Showdown accomplishes being a slightly above average card battle game on the GBA. It has a nice interface, and standard graphics and sound. All in all the game play becomes repetitive and predictable after awhile, and the excitement level of the title fades. I was really looking for this title to give me a fresh look at the game, but it ended up being just a slight upgrade from the first Duel Masters title. Basically, if you are a Duel Masters fan, or a card game junkie, then this is for you. Otherwise, it is a card game on the GBA that we have seen before.

I work at a small videogame store in Iowa City, Iowa. With it being literally a few feet away from the University of Iowa, during the day we receive a lot of foot traffic from the students – usually an older, less gaming-literate crowd. But once the evening rolls around, business slows down, and our best customers, the hardcore gamers, come around. Unlike the constricting demographic that is college students, this crowd comes in all shapes and sizes. Because of this, I get exposed to very different takes on what gaming means to these people, what they know, and the types of things they notice.

Etant donné le peu de changements apportés par rapport au précédent volet de Duel Masters sur GBA, on est tenté d'attribuer à cet épisode une note tout aussi moyenne. Niveau stratégie, le soft ne tient pas la route face à Yu-Gi-Oh! et les fans préféreront se tourner vers le jeu de cartes officiel, le seul vrai plus de cet épisode étant le grand nombre de cartes proposées.

Fans of Duel Masters may get some entertainment out of Kaijudo Showdown, but for practically everyone else, Kaijudo Showdown will do little to turn you on to the Duel Masters card game.