Summon Night: Twin Age

"Unleash the Power of Your Stylus!"

Unleash the Power of Your Stylus was the tag line on the game case, and it does not disappoint! Not only is this game upbeat, and a nice change from a more "serious" lengthy RPG, the execution of the stylus controlled movements is great! Never did I once feel encumbered by the mandatory stylus usage. With the solid game play, and interesting characters, this game is hard to put down!

The plot of the story is straight forward. There are some unusual disturbances with the spirits of Clardona, and it is up to a girl named Reiha and a summon beast named Aldo to investigate. You meet some other characters and travel to different places, hitting a few plot twists here and there. The characterization is well done, and in depth enough for you to feel some fondness for them. For game play, you have the choice to play as Reiha, or Aldo. This choice will change the game play as either being a magic user, or attacking with a weapon respectively. In addition to changing attack mode, there are two different sides of the story to see, which creates a lot of replay value. Which ever character you are not controlling will attack with a third character using AI. Surprisingly the AI is very well done, and seems natural as if you have other people playing with you.

The skill development system is a great feature. You can spend skill points that you earn in battles to unlock skills to use, and also to level up existing skills. Toward the end of the game you can pretty much have all of the skills nearly maxed out, but in the early stages, picking the right elemental skills can change the difficulty of the next area. There is also quite a bit of weapon and item upgrading that makes the game more customizable. You receive items from defeating enemies and breaking boxes, pots, etc. Using these items and already procured weapons, you can upgrade weapons that would usually cost quite a bit more.

The graphics in this game are bright and cheerful. In no way do they push DS graphics to the limits, but the hand drawn anime are nicely rendered, and full of detail. There is also some voice acting briefly when a character joins the party. These vocals add a nice touch to the game. Occasionally characters will make sounds during story sequences. These outbursts are usually kind of random and distracting. The different soundtracks are upbeat, but get slightly monotonous after a while.

This game is a must buy for anyone that wants to take a break from the traditional "serious" RPG and play something that is fast paced, lighthearted, and has addictive game play. It is a little short-- I recall the game taking around 12 hours to complete, but I did not go through some of the side quests. There is additional replay value for unlocking the different endings, and play through a second time as the other character. I was not aware of this game until recently, making it a hidden gem that I am glad to have played. This game is available for around $20 since it has been out for a while now, and is well worth the purchase!

Final Score 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/07/09

Game Release: Summon Night: Twin Age (US, 06/03/08)