Campaign
While Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 4 doesn’t follow a structured, narrative-driven campaign like traditional RPGs, it offers a surprisingly extensive single-player mode centered around building friendships with characters from the anime. Players interact with familiar faces from the 5D’s series like Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas, and Akiza Izinski, though don’t expect much in terms of story development or cinematic storytelling. Unlike the anime’s Dark Signers arc or Satellite vs. Neo Domino tension, the game skips overarching plots in favor of character-specific paths and interactions.
Instead, your main goal is to increase a “friendship meter” with various duelists, eventually unlocking Tag Duels with them and progressing through their mini-campaigns. Unfortunately, there's little narrative payoff beyond short cutscenes and small dialogue segments. For fans of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, it’s fun getting closer to favorite characters, but there’s a lack of meaningful interactions that could’ve tied more into the world’s deep lore.
Still, completing each character’s arc does reward players with new cards and customization items, which makes repeated runs worthwhile. And though it lacks a cinematic, emotionally-driven plot, the campaign is extensive in its own right due to the sheer number of characters and the long grind required to max out relationships. For newcomers, it’s a bit of a slog, but fans looking to master their skills and explore character builds will find something to appreciate.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Gameplay
As with all Tag Force entries, the name of the game is dueling — and Tag Force 4 delivers. At its core, this is a faithful and detailed simulation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game, featuring over 4,000 cards including monster, spell, trap, and synchro cards. Whether you’re grinding solo or entering into tag duels, the gameplay loop is all about outsmarting your opponents, building the perfect deck, and learning every combo possible.
You start with a weak and underwhelming starter deck — and you’ll feel the pain. Losses are common early on, especially since the AI doesn’t pull punches. Opponents feel omniscient at times, chaining together combos that make your moves seem amateur. Worse still, AI teammates often make hilariously bad decisions, costing you duels and forcing retries. That said, once you gain access to stronger cards and understand the synergy between different archetypes, things improve significantly. I still fumble the synchro summons.
Points earned through victories are used to buy booster packs and expand your collection. The depth of deck building is truly impressive — you can create dozens of archetype-specific decks and experiment endlessly. Additionally, building relationships with NPCs isn’t just cosmetic; it changes your tag partners in battles and unlocks special cards and events. Time and location matter too, with different characters appearing depending on the in-game time and day.
Though the core mechanics are fun, repetition sets in. Grinding duels and managing friendship meters can feel like busywork. Still, for hardcore duelists, there’s more than enough meat on the bone — especially with the multiplayer and tag duel options offering fun co-op battles and different strategies to explore.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Production
Visually, Tag Force 4 is a solid PSP title. The 2D character models do a great job of emulating the anime’s visual style, and card illustrations are sharp, detailed, and accurate to their real-world counterparts. Monster summons trigger short animations — not flashy, but effective at bringing some flair to major plays. The environments themselves are pretty basic, but they get the job done.
Sound design is a mixed bag. There are no voice performances, which is a major missed opportunity for a franchise built on iconic character banter and catchphrases. The music is serviceable, but none of the tracks are particularly memorable, especially when compared to the more dynamic score of the anime. There’s also no usage of licensed music or themes from the show, which is disappointing for fans looking for that nostalgic punch.
However, the overall audio design — including card effect sounds and summon cues — is satisfying and clean. The menus and UI are responsive, and although the game could use better indicators or objective clarity at times, it’s easy to navigate once you learn the systems. Cinematics are limited but clean, and monster animations give just enough flair without overloading the PSP’s hardware.
There’s definitely room for polish in the audio-visual department, but Tag Force 4 does just enough to capture the aesthetic of the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, with a heavy lean toward function over flash.
Rating: 3 out of 5
The Verdict
In the end, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 4 is a solid card battler with deep deck-building, an enormous roster, and satisfying mechanics. While its campaign lacks depth and its AI can be frustrating, fans of the franchise will find hours of content to enjoy. It’s not perfect, but it’s addictive. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 4 gets 3 out of 5.
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