Yu-Gi-Oh The Falsebound Kingdom
- December 03, 2003 00:00 AM PST
What do you get when you cross a shallow RTS with a shallow monster card game?
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom presents players with a departure from the card-based battles that popularized the franchise. While there are still plenty of monsters to collect, a real-time strategy game has been grafted onto a shaky combat system in this experiment gone awry.The story pits Yugi against Kaiba in an epic struggle to control a tumultuous U.K.-shaped empire. Each stage of the game represents a battle for control over a region of the map. Within each region, real-time strategy unfolds on a local map. When rival units clash, the game shifts into Monster Battle mode. Monster battles are turn-based three-on-three encounters that feel like a dumbed-down version of Final Fantasy X. When you capture the enemy�s main stronghold, the region is yours! Now repeat ad nauseam.
Yu-Gi-Doh! While it shows some potential, the game�s design leaves much to be desired. Stages are much too long and have no save points within them. Too much time is spent on slow-paced walking around or watching paint dry while your monsters gradually heal. You can purchase items in cities that contain a Trader, but for some reason, you�re not allowed to equip your newly purchased items until the next stage. Instead, there�s a convoluted Replenish Items option that can be used only in a city that has a Supply Unit to replenish items a monster was carrying at the beginning of a stage. You can build upgrades in cities you control, but don�t expect instructions on how to actually utilize the upgrades you�ve purchased.
For example, you can build two types of cannons to defend your cities. Good idea, but you�re never told how to fire the darn things. After wasting lots of time and money, it turns out that the cannons fire on their own if an attacker is in range and some other undefined condition is met.
Combat seems to have no logic behind it, requiring trial and error until you can memorize which monsters are good for attacking which monsters. Monsters� turn sequencing isn�t explained either, so you don�t always know who will act next. This adds even more guesswork to an already unclear system. FFX�s simple yet elegant solution to turn sequencing, in the form of a list in the corner of the screen, is infinitely better than Falsebound Kingdom�s inexplicably random AP stars. For a rule-based strategy game, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom does a terrible job of telling you exactly what the rules are, leading to massive portions of frustration and confusion.
No Bed of Roses The graphics are subpar, even by yesterday�s standards. The flat, uninspired environments often look like the crust of week-old oatmeal. Some of the monsters look good in close-ups, but the special effects during battles are cheesy and detract from character art. The music and sound effects are surprisingly decent considering the second-rate graphics. In the final tally, though, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom doesn�t even begin to scratch the surface of the GameCube�s capabilities.
