Yu-Gi-OH! 5D’s Tag Force 5 is the latest entry of the famous card placing, hair gel applying, fast talking videogame series, which of course stems from the popular anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! There comes a time when a reviewer has to hold his or her hands up and come clean and here at TheSixthAxis we applaud honesty so here goes. I hadn’t the faintest clue what Yu-Gi-Oh! was about nor did I understand what the objective of any game in the series was. The extent of my knowledge did not go beyond my reliable recollection that it was something to do with cards.

For those in a similar situation to myself Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 5 is very much a card game in essence, one that relies heavily on the placement of various cards on a board. Each of these cards represents a specific move: there are spell, attack, block, summon, chain, and healing cards, all of which must be properly utilisied for maximum effectiveness against opponents. As you progress and win matches you can collect cards thus expanding your deck and arsenal of weaponry on the board.

The unfortunate downside to the game is that a great deal of it is based on luck, even who goes first comes down to a minigame of rock/paper/scissors. Players have no control over which card they choose whilst in battle and this can be mighty frustrating when in the midst of a heated card battle. It’s a game that requires an inordinate amount of patience and persistence if you’re to be the best.

It must be said that my initial lack of knowledge of the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! proved to be a something of a stumbling block when approaching the game. Newcomers will find little in the way of coherent or understandable tutorials/guides. The game assumes rightly or wrongly that you’ll understand the ins and outs of the game from the off so why bother wasting time explaining things. Excluding some inane and frankly bafflingly confusing dialogue at the start players are basically launched straight into the matches.

The story is long, convoluted and makes little sense to newcomers. This is pretty unsurprising when you consider the sheer amount of games in the back catalogue but no less perplexing or frustrating. To put it as simply as possible, Tag Force 5 takes place six months after the events of the previous game when the arrival of three mysterious characters stirs up commotion at the latest tag tournament. Enter you, a plucky young hero looking for the fight of his life.

The cynics among us may see something familiar in the main character such as his red cap, inability to speak and destiny to ‘collect ‘em all’ (cards that is). But I digress, the story is rich complex and as far as I’m aware sticks rigidly to the established canon of the anime series, which is bound to please, die hard fans but may prove above others’ heads.

One thing the game has to be given credit for is the amount of detail it has gone into when creating the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! Throughout the game players can interact with more than 100 NPC characters and take part in variety of different battle modes, including free duel, 2 on 2 and ad-hoc multiplayer matches. A great deal of work has clearly gone into surpassing the previous games content in both single player and multiplayer modes.

The game can be played with both the analogue stick and the D-pad; either is more than capable of making the difficult card dealing decisions in combat and also exploring the towns and cities of the game. It’s refreshing to play a game that hits the nail so accurately on the head in this department. It seems that the PSP Yu-Gi-Oh! games have found a winning combination in employing simplistic controls so why change what’s not broken.

The game is out now for the Sony PSP system so we can all assume it’ll be darn pretty to look at right? Well yes but not as much as some would have liked, as there’s little in the way of graphical enhancements or upgrades from the previous Tag Force game. The cut scenes have been lifted straight from the anime series and look exceptional which will please fans. The game resembles what Pokémon could have looked like if it had’ve been on the PSP. The top down view of the world followed by the eerily familiar main character all point to the developers aiming for the same worldwide hysteria that Pokemon started. This is unlikely.

Apart from the usual story mode, players can jump straight into battles and test out their current decks. One nice touch is that players can transfer their current deck from the previous game over to this one so there’s a real sense of loyalty and persistence paying off for the gamer. Also available are four players duels and the promise of Ad-Hoc online gameplay, the only problem with this is finding others in your vicinity who share your love of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Pros:

• Lots to do for both fans of the series and newcomers
• Controls are perfectly suited
• Online is vastly improved from previous iterations but finding others to play may prove to be a stumbling block.

Cons:

• Incredibly complex and baffling for beginners/newcomers
• Looks pretty but not much of a graphical upgrade from its predecessor
• Luck plays a massive part in battles

It’s interesting to find a game in this market that doesn’t actively invite new players to enjoy the experience. Yu-Gi-Oh! sets out it’s store as ‘take me or leave me’ and it certainly has to be commended for sticking by the fan-base that has gotten it to where it is now. It’s crystal clear that they will love it but beginners will likely struggle to simply pick up and play.

Score: 5/10