Summoner
Developed by: Volition
Inc.
Published by: THQ
Reviewed By: Carla
Harker
Game Was: Supplied
05/03/01
He Is The One
In fantasy role playing
games, most stories involve a young man, usually a farm boy or other such
commoner, who needs to save the world from some evil. He gains companions
along the way: mages, clerics and thieves who assist him in his quest. So
why, when all role playing games have such a similar theme, would people
continue to play them and developers continue to produce them? Because a
well-crafted story doesn't have to be original. Summoner is such a
story. The plot could have been lifted from any of a dozen role playing
games, but let's face it, who cares? The game is addictive and fun, and any
attempt to make the plot more complex would only get in the way of what's
really important: raising levels and gaining treasure.
Encyclopedia of
Heresy
The manual covers the
basics with a few pages devoted to back story, and gets the player up and
moving pretty quickly. A tutorial at the beginning of the game explains how
to play for those who just wish to jump into the action. In addition to the
main character, Joseph, compatriots join up during the quest. The player can
control any of these characters at any time, and even send them off alone to
complete a quest. The characters not controlled do a good job in combat, and
their scripts can be changed at any time. The default selections are usually
sufficient however. Clicking in the game world moves the characters, and
it's possible to click and hold the mouse button down to get them to follow.
This is great for long distance treks.
Moving the mouse to either
side of the screen swings the camera around. The player can also change the
depth to an above-the-characters isometric view, behind them or Auto, which
changes based on the situation, i.e. in combat the camera moves above the
characters, and while traveling it follows behind. It works pretty well, but
in some areas the camera locks into a certain depth that can be difficult to
deal with.
Shards of the Ghimaadi
The 3D graphics are smooth
and beautifully rendered. The game has dozens of NPC's and monsters that all
look different and move smoothly. Spell effects are gorgeous, from fireballs
to the swirling lights around a character as she's being healed to Joseph
summoning a monster to aid in battle. The terrain graphics also look good,
but many areas have a sameness about them that makes it easy to get lost
when wandering around.
The Salamanka's Tongue
The voice acting is well
done, though limited to the cut scenes and a few characters. It's far better
to have a few good actors than many bad ones. The ambient sounds are also
nice. As the characters move, the terrain crunches appropriately beneath
their feet, whether stone, grass or wood. Only the music was a little
annoying; it wasn't bad, just repetitive.
Rings of Light, Dark,
Stone, Fire
Summoner is packed
with dozens of quests to complete, most of them optional side quests that
the characters use to gain experience and treasure. Practically every time
Joseph sees someone to talk to he ends up with a quest. Almost all of them
are errand boy jaunts, and a surprising number of them are violence free.
It's not always necessary to kill someone to take a prize back to its owner.
It's always nice when our hero doesn't have to run through every single
person he talks to who has something he wants.
Characters with important information have two exclamation marks over their
heads in a thought bubble. These characters might have quests to offer, or
they might be the person with the quest item, or they could be a merchant
trying to sell potions or weapons or armor. Other characters will often be
overheard speaking to each other as the party closes. Most of this
information is for atmosphere only, but some of it provides clues as to
what's going on regarding the emperor that is after Joseph.
The characters raise levels initially very quickly. In only a few hours of
play, Joseph raised seven levels, but after that, the level raising slows
down. When the characters raise a level, the only option the player has is
to assign a few skill points to any of a number of skills, which are
specific to that character. It's rather simplistic, and a few more choices
would have been nice, but all in all, it works well.
The inventory system is also nice. Instead of individual inventories, one
party inventory provides immediate access to anything a character can use.
Anything he can't use is red. In the middle of combat, it's nice not to have
to go through everyone's inventories looking for the healing potions before
the party's healer-and resident resurrection expert--dies. And as a nice
bonus, anyone can use spell scrolls, including those necessary to raise
someone from death.
One complaint I have with the game involves the map. When the party finds
someone to talk to, it's not possible to note this on the map, nor does the
map include any notations. Finding someone again once you have his quest
object is very frustrating because of this. The map is almost useless in
some of the larger dungeons due to the sameness of the levels.
The game ships with multiplayer support, but it's not a cooperative version
of the single player game. Setting up for a multiplayer game isn't too easy,
as the game doesn't have an easy way to create an account in the menus.
Players must go to the Summoner website and set up the account from there.
Death To The Emperor
Summoner
grows on you. At first, it may seem rather like a simple Diablo knockoff,
and in a way it is. After playing for a while, however, it's hard not to
want to continue through to the end to see Joseph defeat the evil emperor.
The game is pure addictive fun, and anyone who likes action games with a bit
of roleplaying thrown in will get a lot of enjoyment out of it.
You can purchase Summoner
at
Compuexpert
for $37.90.
