Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists of the Roses (Sony PlayStation 2, 2003)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists of the Roses is yet another game in the video game console version of the popular trading card game. This one features an historical twist, with the player acting as a "chosen duelist" sent back in time during England's Wars of the Roses, during approximately 1485. But no historical know-how is necessary to play-- there are excellent tutorials, challenging opponents, and a wide variety of cards.

Like its predecessor, Forbidden Memories, Duelists of the Roses features some quirky video-game-only rules when it comes to Fusion (combine any two cards and take a chance that they will combine; there is no Polymerization card in-game), field magic (the fields are often pre-set when it comes to the field type, but you can change them with Magic cards), and traps (they must be positioned at a certain point in order to have an effect).

The game is similar to chess in that you control your Monster Cards as pieces that move across the board; you control a Deck Master that holds a rank and can level up to gain more abilities that will support your other monsters. Your Life Points and Deck Master are tied together; your goal is to defeat your opponent by lowering their Life Points and attacking their Deck Master directly.

You must side either with the Tudors (Red Rose), or the Lancasters (White Rose); however, the side you choose will not affect the cards available to you. Deck selection happens during the tutorial, and is usually random, only affected by particular name entries (try KONAMI as your name).

Once you beat the game on both sides, you will have the ability to construct your own playing fields using every field type available; this can give you an Instant-Win in order to level up any Deck Master or monster, or to even win more cards! Make sure to save both of your wins in separate spots on your memory card, or have 2 memory cards available for each save. If you overwrite your win, you won't have your old deck accessible!

Monster Reincarnation is a fun feature of this game; you can enter codes to get cards (not the codes on the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG cards), or you can take cards you have won in duels to "reincarnate" them as other, perhaps even better cards. Sometimes this is the only way to get super rare cards!

All in all, this game is challenging, but fun, with beautiful music and graphics. It can appeal to Yu-Gi-Oh fans of all ages, but also anyone who likes a challenging strategy game. All of the Yu-Gi-Oh characters make an appearance at least once in this game, and there's a bit of history thrown in for good measure, too. A good game to play!

Retelling the infamous War of the Roses conflict of 1485 between the English houses of Lancaster and York, Duelist of the Roses is admirably based in factual history. Instead of the guns and bayonets used in the Battle of Bosworth Hill, however, this narration is played out with mystical card battles and gigantic summoned monsters. In the most basic of terms, its structure is a modified "Rock, Paper, Scissors". Combat is entirely turn-based with a consistent 7x7 grid map serving as the battleground. Each player can summon up to five monsters simultaneously, with powers and abilities determined by card type, location, posturing, offensive and defensive point values, square terrain, and an experience-based rank system that determines its power.

If you enjoy a good strategy game this is fun. Unlike the real life Yu-Gi-Oh game you don't have to spend a lot of money to get into it. The plot of the game is kind of lame, but the gameplay itself makes up for it because the plot is barely present and all dialogue is easily skipable.
The game is a bit different from the real life card game because the battle field includes rules for movement and you are represented as a monster from your deck (which gives you and your monsters special abilities). The strategy is fairly open ended so you don't have to follow a script.
Just like the card game there is plenty of clever strategies for winning, and depending on which path you choose you can play off of one of your enemies' exploits.
Again, this game doesn't get it's high rating from the plot, which is horrible, but instead for it's overall playability.

Forget what you think you know about Duel Monsters games. 'Duelists of the Roses' takes you in a whole different direction. It still is based using your monster cards to attack your opponent's monster cards. But rather than selectively going after an opponent, your attacks are based on placement and movement of the cards on a playing field. This adds a dimension of strategy to the gameplay.(reminds me of the 'Stratego' games I played as a child) I also enjoy the Fusion system that this game employs. While original Duel monsters requires a special card to induce fusion, in this game you merely need to bring two monster cards together. This way you can quickly gain new monsters to your deck. But be warned. It doesn't always work. So it's not as reliable a system as the original. And if a particular card isn't working for you, you can 'sacrifice' it for some new cards. In effect, 'trade it in',
The battles are done with impressive 3D graphics. Although the rest of the graphics are rather stilted. Still, if you are a fan of strategy games like chess and 'Stratego', I would definitely recommend this game.

The game itself I've loved since it first came out. It went back to the days when the actual rules of Yugioh were ignored. The game is very original, as it is more like chess than a card game. The graphics are pretty standard, and the system of dueling is more original than "play a card, hope it's strong" and so on. The terrain helps change the focus from strong monsters to using weaker cards that can get strong. The fusion system is fun, as many people who have played the game know how you randomly fuse two cards together in hopes of getting something. While the story is kinda weak, the twists in either side's story keeps you playing, and while the game is short, you'll keep coming back to it over and over. All in all, the game is great for anyone who enjoyed the yugioh series and its real life counterpart, but didn't like spending money for real cards.