Yu-Gi-Oh Game – Master Duel Review
There has been so many Yu-Gi-Oh games I played growing up. I can still vividly remember having Visual Boy Advance – Game Boy Advance (GBA) Emulator on my PC at the bottom left of my screen with either a Pokemon or a Yu-Gi-Oh game opened; the nostalgia is real.
Fast forward many many many years later, way too many Yu-Gi-Oh! games has now hit the store with Duel Links being just one of the few newer ones in recent times among others such as Cross Duel and soon-to-be-released one in 2024 currently titled Early Days Collection.
Although I don’t follow the series any more nowadays watching all the episodes multiple times up to Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s. Konami still made the series very relevant even in today’s digital age agaisnt other heavy hitters in the Deck Building Games, TCG Card Games and Trading Card Games industry. Competing against the likes of Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, Marvel Snap, One Piece TCG and so many more.
What I really liked about Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is that unlike it’s previous versions is that it returns to it’s roots after experimenting with all these newer game modes with a standard 5 monster lane field. Further, it goes many ways in making sure that all players are taken call of with the ability to craft the cards of your choosing using it’s crafting system making card collecting much easier than just praying to RNGesus on opening packs.
Speaking of opening packs, that is still definitely the fastest way to obtain and amass a huge collection of cards and you can believe it when I say that Master Duels allows you to purchases packs indefinitely if you so choose to do so. As the series is still never ending, the game is constantly introducing new Cards, allowing this game to constantly receive new updates. This allows players to explore new builds and mix old builds such as the Mage Deck or Blue Eyes White Dragon Deck with the newer Syncho decks, the combination is limitless.
Gameplay
★★★★☆
The game play is as you would expect from the original game and TV shows, it is the original card game after all. Although unlike Duel Links where you can have either a flat card graphics or you can have the hologram, in Master Duels you can only have the flat card graphics and no hologram. Personally, that doesn’t really bother me as much. Never-the-less, as stated it’s combat is what you would expect from watching it’s TV series where it utilise the full 5 Zone map and 5 zone magic/trap Zone along with a 1 Field zone. The downside to using the original field and rules is that unlike Duel Links, it is a much slower pace dueling experience, although there is an overall 300 second timer per duel to make each of your moves, the duel can still typically last upwards of 10 minutes and at times.
Cash Shop
★★★★★
With plenty of hours in Master Duel and played since Beta release, I personally have zero issues with it’s cash shop system. I has never felt the need to ever swipe to get any card I wanted. With just playing a few matches, the duel pass & passively playing will provide enough crafting materials to pretty much craft majority of your wanted deck. In fact, I feel at times, the crafting system is way too generous making it pretty much possible for players to get any deck and card they want after some time.
The other part of the Cash Shop is the cosmetics, such as card packs, sleeves, field backgrounds, home page wallpapers, additional deck slots and etc that doesn’t affect your game play in other way. Further, they are quite generous with the cash currency as you get some daily from just logging in and even more by just playing the game passively along with the constant floods of events.
State of Game
★★★★☆
The game runs super smooth and having Steam Charts report over 18,000+ Population base monthly, to me it’s very impressive numbers as Yu-Gi-Oh is no longer one of the most dominate card games in the world any more. Further, the game gets constantly updated, you would find match-ups within 10 seconds of queuing up and there is always events going on, even though it is more or less the same type of events, I don’t mind since that makes more premium cash currency. Despite this, Konami has been providing updates consistently with all the new Cards and Decks added over time. If you want a stable card game that is still hugely regarded as one of the best in it’s genre. Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel is for you.
Artwork
★★★★★
The artwork in this game is just like the TV Series, it does not dumb it down nor extravagant it at all. You get what exactly you were looking for.
Fun
★★★★☆
I personally find it real fun, although I have previously criticised Duel Links to be a dumbed down version of the original game (Master Duel) after throwing over 300+ hours in that game, it kind of grew on me making me feel like Master Duel is a little too slow for my taste. However, despite this, I still have a super fun time when I do jump on and play a match or two thus making Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel worth playing completely in my books. Further, there is even a solo mode with tons of puzzles and challenges to keep you engaged if you don’t feel like being pit up against players around the globe. Lastly, it is great that Master Duel does not have any play time limit or gate keeping such as energy system making it the perfect Online TCG game for anyone who loves the genre.
