" Assuming you're all right with your Jyhad playing friends calling you a wuss, this games not bad. "

      Title: Card Captor Sakura CCG by Upper Deck

      Format: Collectible Card Game

      Reviewing Monkey: Chimpan-A

      The Hype: The Pink Skirt wearin', magic wand wieldin', magical girl, card capturing kid has her own card game. Play around with your favorite Sakura characters.

      What This Monkey Thought...

      Playability: The rules for this game can be kind of confusing. You may think you understand them, then you try explaining them to somebody who has never played and suddenly you can't remember which cards you play when. Once you actually nail the rules (I recommend that both players sit down and read through the rulebook thoroughly), the game is still kind of complicated. Essentially gameplay goes as follows, a card to be captured is laid out. The first player tries to capture it, and the second player tries to stop him. They do this in an odd bidding system, where each player tries to improve their capturing card to the point where it is better than the other players is. Add in to this an odd system of elemental matching (The card is a fire card, you have to match with a fire card), and things get even more complicated. It's a little odd to explain, which doesn't do well for a review. Basically if you're playing this, expect to be confused for a while. 2.5 out of 5

      Aesthetics: The cards feature stills from the show and the animation is fairly good. The card layout works well, even the rarity symbol seems appropriate and in place. The capture cards try to approximate the Clow cards (which are 'card' part of "Card Captor Sakura"), but end up just looking under developed. I can see what they were going for; it just didn't come off well. 4 out of 5

      Balance: The game seems fairly balanced. The starter deck is standard in that it contains a bunch of cards that do the same thing. There don't seem to be any cards that unbalance things. Of course, this all assumes you can figure out what you're doing in the first place. 4 out of 5

      Value vs. Cost: You get everything you need for two people to start playing in the starter pack. Assuming you can find someone to play with you… 3.5 out of 5

      The Verdict:

Once you and your opponent figure out what the hell your doing, the game can entertain for a little bit. The cards look pretty good, and it's got a decent amount of back and forth. Of course, the real trick is getting your friend to play a card game where the point is to be a cute little girl…

      The Good: Decent artwork from the show

      The Bad: Complicated rule structure

      The Overall Ugly: Assuming you're all right with your Jyhad playing friends calling you a wuss, this games not bad.

      What it's Worth: 10 bucks for the starter.