For the past
few years, the popularity of anime has grown in the United States, thanks to the
help of the Cartoon Network. They have shown the American audiences such
programs as Dragon Ball Z, Tenchi Muyo, various Gundam series, and even Yu Yu
Hakusho. Since the TV shows have proven to be extremely popular, various
developers have decided to make games based off them. Atari has created another
game in the Yu Yu Hakusho series entitled Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics.
Read on to find out more!
This game takes place during the Dark Tournament saga of the TV series. Here is
some background information for the game. Yusuke is a teenage boy who has the
reputation of being the toughest kid in town. One day, as he is skipping school,
he sees a young boy trying to get his ball out of the middle of a street and
there is a car speeding towards him. Yusuke rushes out to save the boy but is
killed in the process. Yusuke finds himself in the realm of Spirit World with
Botan, a grim reaper, and Koenma, the ruler. Koenma gives Yusuke a series of
tasks to complete, and if he is successful then Koenma will give Yusuke back his
life. Once Yusuke completes all of these tasks and is back to life, he finds out
that he is now a Spirit detective, entrusted with making sure that nothing bad
happens to the people of Earth.
A nice kick to the
shin will work!
One of
biggest problems with the story is that it assumes that players know what is
going on. Unless you have been keeping up with the cartoon series, many players
might not know what is going on and why there is so much attention given to
certain characters. The cutscenes provide some information but it really doesn’t
help much. This is sad because if you haven’t seen anything in the anime you
will be lost, which will make you lose any interest you might have had in this
game.
Before you can get into any fights, players will move around the map on
predefined “rail.” Once they get to a spot they hit the button to start the
fight. All combat in the game is done by turn-based strategy. All of the battles
are done on a stage/grid similar to other strategy games. Players will move to a
spot where they can attack, and then do so and try to take out all of the
enemies before they attack the player-controlled characters. Once that is done,
and the characters level up they will get to distribute the experience points
into different skills, such as offense, spirit energy, movement, and power.
The Rose Whip in
action
One of the
worst things is that in the beginning of the game you have a very small movement
radius, so it takes ages to get to your enemies to defeat them. Later on, after
you give more points to the movement, it gets better, but still in the early
stages when you want to increase other more-important things, such as spirit
energy and power, it is annoying to spend points on that. Also the enemy AI is
not the sharpest tool in the shed; the enemies will run away from you or just do
really stupid things with their turns.
While playing through the game, players will have access to 10 different
characters to play as, but they can only use five at any given time. The roster
is: Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, Hiei, Masked Fighter, Rinku, Chu, Yukina, Touya,
and Jin. Each character has a different set of skills that can be purchased
after they acquire enough points. With Yusuke you can unlock his famous Spirit
Gun, Shotgun, and the Mega Gun. Kurama has the Death Seed, Whip Slash, and Yoko
Death Plant. Kuwabara has the Super Sword, Double Sword, and the Long Sword
Strike. Hiei has the Darkness Sword, Darkness Flam, and Dragon Summon. Masked
Fighter has Air Shotgun, Blast Gun, and Rapid Punch. Rinku has the Yo Yo Shot,
Serpent Calling, and Poison Strike. Chu has Power Shot, Spirit Ball, and Crusher
Kick. Yukina has the Frozen Tears, Hero Healing, and Frozen Wind. Touya has Ice
Sword, Ice Drive, and Shards of Ice Blast. Jin has Wicked Tornado, Tornado Fist,
and Fly by Kick.
A nice Spirit Gun
shot!
All of those
powers will become very useful in the battles that the team will face later on.
Players will have to use them strategically as some will be better suited for
different situations. For instance, some characters are better suited at close
combat while others excel at ranged. Players will have to realize this before
the start of every battle so that they can choose the best set of fighters in
the situation.
The graphics for the game are plausible, but there have been better-looking
tactics games released on this platform. Everything here is not very detailed in
the environments or characters. One of the better things is the few animations
the characters do possess, but after you have seen the same thing over and over
again for several hours it will get old quick.
The sound for the game is mediocre at best. The sound effects are nicely done
but it is nothing special. The musical score for this game gets repetitive
really quickly. Pretty soon players will find themselves muting the game.
Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics is rated E for Everyone!
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Gameplay: 4.5
Very basic and simple.
Graphics: 5.5
The game is very simplistic looking and is not very detailed.
Sound: 4.0
Pretty dull and mundane.
Difficulty: Easy
This game is on the easy side; if you have ever played any other
tactics game in the past, it should be a breeze for you.
Concept: 4.5
This game does not add anything new to the Tactics genre.
Overall: 4.6
Unless you are a huge Yu Yu Hakusho fan, I would avoid this game.
