YuGi 5Ds World Championship Battle

You start in a mid-western region and then go to Neo Domino city..

This year's edition, the crazily titled YuGi 5Ds World Championship Battle,

offers enough new content for established fans to enjoy themselves one last time.

But I think it's too late in the game now for newcomers to try jumping on board in this generation,

as after eight attempts at catching an audience on this portable it's got to be time to move on to the next –

and some new problems are starting to appear.

As with the 2009 and 2010 World Championship YuGi! games,

this title adapts the characters and setting of the 5D's anime series to serve as a backdrop for its constant card battling –

including the signature, wacky fusion of the card game with the high-speed futuristic motorcycle racing we first got to play two years ago.

And, once again, your customizable playable character in the game's story mode is a fresh-faced nobody who seeks to rise out of obscurity and become the world's most popular Turbo Duelist.

The environments have at least gotten a bit of new life breathed into them, though,

as instead of starting out in the slums of the big city you instead kick off your quest in a Wild West-inspired town out in the desert.

Fans of the anime will recognize Crash Town and its characters, and the clash that its Old West flavor offers is refreshing –

it even influences gameplay a bit, as duels that take place there each start off with a new gun-slinging,

button-pressing mini-game where you have to shoot through playing cards for the right to make the first move.

Once the card duel has begun, though, it's YuGi 5Ds World Championship Battle! as usual. If you're not already familiar with the game,

it'd be impossible to explain it all – it's an oftentimes ridiculously complex trading card design with now over 4000 different cards to build decks from.

There's just so much going on at one time in these duels that it's maddening to keep up with,

as monsters are summoned, spells are cast and traps are set – then fusion monsters show up,

but are countered by synchro monsters (which are different than fusions, of course)

and so on and so forth until you're just left with a headache.