Trading Card games, a sort-of evolution from those memorable days of Top-Trumps, when the rules were simple and there were pretty photos of sports cars and fighter jets to look at.
Duel Masters is one such game, the latest phenomenon from the Wizards of the Coast, and it is lined up to become a huge hit in the UK, provided it can topple Yu-Gi-Oh’s almost singular domination of the market.
Sempai Legends, the Gameboy Advance incarnation of Duel Masters is set to arrive on UK shores in October 2004, and offers the chance for beginners and Duel Masters pros alike to play with a stunning 180 unique cards, battling in an RPG-like setting anywhere and any time.
Gaming Headlines got their paws on a US copy of the game, and here’s the lowdown.
Duel Masters: Sempai Legends is an interesting game, to say the least. It offers a simple RPG setting where you travel between villages and cities challenging other Duel Masters players to Duels. Whilst the RPG elements and story of Duel Masters: Sempai Legends are weak, the duels themselves are the games main focus and easily make up for this.
Based upon the rules and cards from the trading card game the battle system in Duel Masters: Sempai Legends offers a level of complexity and strategy you will not normally find in any RPG. It strips away all the frustrations and complexities of having to remember the rules, and furthermore strips away any arguments that may arise over the rules.
Battles are played in 6 steps, first you draw a card from your deck (unless you take first turn), next you have the option to place a card in your ‘mana zone’, and each card in this zone represents one mana point. If you have enough mana the next step is to summon creatures into the battle zone, or cast spells. Each of these has a mana cost so you need enough cards in your mana zone to be able to play them. Finally you attack with your creatures; the goal being to take out the enemies shield cards and ultimately the enemy himself. The duels are won with a combination of strategy and luck, obviously you need to know what cards to sacrifice to your mana zone, and then what to spend your mana on each turn in order to set up a formidable defence and attack force to confront your opponent. However, if you are lucky enough to draw a powerful card at random from your deck you will gain a significant advantage. This luck/skill based battle system means no battle is the same, and if you lose a second try could get you through.
The cards in the game are divided into 5 types; you pick one of these when you start a new game. Each of them suits a different play style so there are plenty of ways to win, or lose in Duel Masters. You get to pick from Fire, Darkness, Light, Nature and Water cards each with their own strengths and weaknesses, you can then combine different types of cards to form a deck with the strengths of both giving you a better chance of winning. The management of your cards and deck makes up a big part of the game, and the cards you play with can have a huge effect on your efficiency in battle.
Once you have collected a formidable set of cards in the single player game and assembled a deck, you can connect with a second player and battle or trade cards.
You are driven through the game with a vague set of objectives, which will see you travelling from place to place and meeting more duellists to battle.
Overall the gameplay is pretty sound, with the ability to win new cards and boosters, manage your cards to produce the best deck and even trade cards in both single and multiplayer; you are offered the entire trading card hobby in one neat little package and at a good price. 10 trading cards can cost anything between £2.50 and £3.99! So playing virtually with 180 different cards saves you at least £10 if you have just one of each card.
Winning battles also gives you experience so you will gradually level up, this increases your popularity in towns and lets you get access to more powerful cards in the trading centre. This means the game will pack surprises for a long time until you finally collect at least one of each card, something you may have to trade with friends via a link cable to achieve.
Duel Masters has a lot going for it in the gameplay department, at least for fans of anything turn based or strategy related. It is fair to say that for a game developed for such a limited system as the Gameboy Advance it also has petty good graphics and sound to back it up.
A very RPG-styled and horribly miss-proportioned map links the different areas of the world together, think Golden Sun without the Pseudo 3d and you are right on the mark. If this isn’t RPG enough for you there are random battle encounters, when these occur the symbol corresponding to the type of cards your opponent will play with flashes up and you enter a side-on view offering you the chance to duel or run. If you choose to duel a soul-calibur-esque battle intro appears showing you and your opponent, you flip a coin to decide who starts first and enter the arena.
Here is where the game gets a little confusing. The battle arena screen shows the number of cards in your deck, hand and mana zone, as well as the shields you have remaining. The interface is styled after the type of cards you play with, and during your opponents plays the style switches to suit them. This is vaguely reminiscent of the styled interfaces for different races in StarCraft and offers a little variety to the graphics. When you summon a creature an animation is played in the battle zone screen, showing your creature appearing. Spells are similarly animated and when you battle you are taken to this screen to select the cards you wish to play and which to attack. The graphics are not groundbreaking and are fairly grainy but in a game where gameplay truly is key this can be forgiven. Battles between creatures appear as a cross between Advance Wars and typical anime battle scenes with a fast moving backdrop, suffice to say they are not graphically impressive either and I would have liked to see the fantastic artwork featured on Duel Masters cards realised in the game with a better graphical style, perhaps up to par with Golden Sun.
The music is mostly quiet and unobtrusive; it could be referred to as ‘ambient’ but also tends to get irritating if you spend a long time sifting through your cards whilst managing your deck. The volume control on your GBA is easily accessible so if you start to hate the sound you can switch it off so it will never be a problem.
Overall Duel Masters: Sempai Legends is an excellent way of combining the Duel Masters trading cards into one simple, portable game and it means you can play alone if you do not have any friends who are into the hobby. If you own a GBA buying the game is a good start to becoming a Duel Masters collector as it will familiarise you with the cards and give you a good working knowledge of the rules, so when you battle other established players you will have a fighting chance. For those of you not interested in playing the actual trading card game Duel Masters: Sempai Legends provides a wholesome gaming experience in itself and should keep any RPG or strategy gaming occupied for hours; with the option to battle multiplayer and even trade cards from GBA to GBA it extends the game into a trading card experience in itself, saving you what would otherwise be a fortune spent on cards, card protectors and those little plastic boxes you will inevitably have to keep your decks in.
If you are a fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh series try Duel Masters: Sempai Legends for a refreshing change, if you despise anime and trading cards then steer clear at all costs. That said the game has me hooked on the real deal, even though I am 20 and only really like Cowboy Bebop, so anything can happen. PH
