Only incremental changes differentiate
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 from its predecessor. The ability to play against new characters and access Tag Duels from the beginning of the game is nice. The multiplayer this time allows four players to join and play turn after turn of
Yu-Gi-Oh!. 2-on-2 or 1-on-1 action is available and if there are fewer than four players, the CPU will take up the slack. This Network Mode includes a trade feature that allows you to swap cards between systems and give up cards that your friends need to make their perfect deck. The Free Duel Mode features similar variations but without the multiplayer aspects. For a more structured experience, there is still Story Mode where you explore the campus and work your way through a long list of worthy contenders. Unless you already have a big group of friends with loose cards, Story Mode is how you'll build your decks and perfect your recipes. You can also play a series of mini-games to earn additional points, but these won't appeal much in the long run to people excited about the core, card-playing action.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 features new ways to grab cards and earn points outside of battle. The merit and award points that you'll gain in battle are valuable, but it is also possible to earn cards directly in two ways. One is to hook up Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 through a USB connection to a PS2 running a copy of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX The Beginning of Destiny when that game arrives in a month. If you're short a PS2, the other way to obtain cards in Yu-Gi-Oh GX! Tag Force 2 is to use the UMD Recognition feature. This involves inserting other PSP games that can be recognized and that generate unique cards. UMD movies won't work, and if you try to use the same game twice, you'll get an error. Good old paper cards are still lots of fun and each copy of Yu-Gi-Oh GX! Tag Force 2 comes packaged with three limited-edition cards. Obtaining cards in the game is really critical since there is no way to bring over your decks from last year's Yu-Gi-Oh GX! Tag Force. Not only does this leave us with few reasons to switch, but it forces players that have been developing their game over the past year to start from scratch with Yu-Gi-Oh GX! Tag Force 2. You get new cards, of course, but you lose a lot of the traction by having to replace decks and recipes.