I believe in the heart of the dice! ...Ok, not as good as cards. (Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters (GBA))

Member Name: BTlover

Product:	Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters (GBA)
Date:	19/12/07 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting gameplay style, addictive for a while

Disadvantages: not much replay value at all, no plot.

Yu-Gi-Oh has always been about card games and dueling your way to the top. This idea eventually becomes so old, it isn't even fun to play around with Yu-Gi-Oh games because it becomes the same old collecting cards and dueling. But luckily, there is a spin-off now entitled Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters. Basing it off of the anime special, rather duel with cards, you will duel with dice instead.

No story other than duel your way to the top. You think by now they could have created a game with a decent amount of story in it. But, oh well, let's get to to the game already.

As mentioned already, rather than duel with cards like in other Yu-Gi-Oh games, you duel with dice. Some elements from the card game are still intact but for the most part, Dungeon Dice dueling is much different from dueling from cards.

To start out, you will need a dice pool. Dice pool is basically your "deck", only with a few amounts in it. You are given one at the beginning. A dice pool consists of 15 dice, no more and no less. In order to duel, you must have exactly 15. You can earn more dice by dueling other people and winning or buying them from Grandpa's shop (which isn't worth it unless you have a lot of money).

Like in the card game, you should have a variety of dice in order to play well. What this means is that you shouldn't have entirely high level dice or entirely low level dice. To start out with this, each dice has 6 sides. Each 6 sides have a distinct symbol on it, marked on the lower hand of your screen. The main focus is to be able to "dimension" monsters and summon them to the field. A lower level dice will have more sides of the level number than higher level dice so it is to your advantage to have more low level ones to help dimension monsters. However, in order to dimension monsters, you need to have TWO of the same levels show up at the same time it is rolled (more of this will be discussed later). So for example, you will need at least two dice of level 1 in order to have a chance at summoning a level 1 monster. The more dice of the same number level, the better the chance you can have at summoning.

In Dungeon Dice Monsters, your main goal is to eliminate all of your opponents heart points (or life points from the card game) before they eliminate yours. To do that, you need to "dimension" monsters and summon them to the field. To start out with this, you need to choose 3 dice from your dice pool. Then you will need to roll them. If TWO of the same numbers appear out of the 3 dice rolled, you can dimension something to the field. If only one number shows up, then you can't dimension anything during that turn. So you need to end and your opponent moves. The duel will continue on like so in the same format through each turns.

As you duel, you may have notice there are certain symbols on each dice. These are known as crests and are the second most important feature in Dungeon Dice. There are 5 types of crest: Attack, Move, Guard, Magic, and Trap. You need attack crests to attack, move crests to move, guard crests to block attacks, Magic to perform special skills for the monster, and Trap to counter an opponent's move. Without these crests, there is no way you can win because you won't be able to attack other monsters, you won't be able to move, you won't be able to defend yourself from monster attacks, and such. Crests are essential to victory and you should grab dice with a lot of those crest symbols to help.

On the field, when you are allowed to dimension something, you need to make a path towards your opponent "die master" (the object that holds your opponent's heart points). Your opponent will do the same as well and paths can connect between yours and your opponent. Paths cannot be intersected in the middle nor stack up so if a block is taken, then you will need to find another way to dimension. At higher difficulties, there will be something called an obstacle. As their name implies, they block you and your opponent from doing some dimensioning. Obstacles cannot be connected either way so you can't connect near it if you are going to dimension.

When in battle with another monster, there are factors you need to make sure of. First would be comparison between attack power and opposing defense power. If you attack someone with a higher defense than your monster's attack, then your monster will take the damage and not the opponent. Likewise, if your opponent attacks you, you will need to guard by using a guard crest. Otherwise, you will take more damage if opponent's attack is higher than your defense. The other factor would be attributes, creating advantages and disadvantages to you. All monsters have a different attribute, with each one being able to have an advantage over but a weakness to another. When an attribute is in favor over another, additional damage will be taken/caused. When an attribute is resilient over another, less damage will be taken/caused. So you must focus on all of these factors to make sure you don't recklessly destroy all of your monsters.

When you win, you earn money and a free dice. That is basically it, nothing more than dueling. There are only two modes: Tournament and Free. Tournament is basically dueling in a tournament and winning each one until you win. Free is basically dueling against a specific person. None of these modes are really suffice enough to play around in except for tournament which actually has a slight challenge to it. Even then, the tournaments are short and it wouldn't necessary take long to win. And buying the dice in Grandpa's shop, not worth it. The prices are overwhelming! Compare to how much you get per round of winning and how much the good dice actually cost. There is a HUGE difference there which totally makes Grandpa's shop not even a place to buy.

The graphics are bland and not innovative. Although when dimensioning each monster look different, they simply don't show enough and are just like figures on a board. Not to mention the fact that it is actionless, meaning they don't show any action except if you have the option of battles on where you can see the actual battle. Even that, the graphics look dumb and are not impressive. The faces of the people are not what I expect either, aside from the "major" characters (like Yugi and Marik), the other faces are just terribly ugly drawn. The actual battlefields, on the other hand, are a slight more impressive, as it fits out into the design. So for a "water" field, blue background suffices.

Music is general, a slightly good rhythm to it but has no mood feeling to it. The music doesn't have fit the theme either as much, so for a sand field, don't expect for an Egyptian style or something. On the other hand, the rhythm is music is a slight good and doesn't wreck your ears from it. Sound, luckily, is limited and isn't often used.

Unless you are a fan of playing it, you could try collecting all the dice and then reorganizing your dice pool into the strongest one possible. Aside from that, there is few to no replay value. Tournament is short, and despite many of them, it doesn't take long to complete each of them if you have skills. If you can't beat each of them upon the third try, then I'm sorry to say but you suck terribly. Honestly, they are really easy and short.

Not a bad game in general, especially for a spin-off out of regular dueling. Downside to it is the replay value, but what makes up for it is the impressive style of gameplay. Overall, Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters is a fun game and worth playing.

Summary: Dice seems to get even better than cards, but not until you realize you've gone through all 6 sides.