Summon Night: Swordcraft Story

"A great find for the GBA"

I found out about Summon Night: Swordcraft Story about a day before it came out. I like to follow gaming news and this game slipped past my radar. For no reason other then a bunch of positive post on the Gamefaqs boards I decided to head out and pick up SN:SS. Well, I must say I was very impressed with what I got, but enough talk, down to the review.

Graphics 9/10
The graphics at first did not blow me away, they were your typical sprite based RPG graphics that a lot of games had, not bad but nothing special. The in battle graphics however just caused me to jump back for a second, the 3-D cell shaded in battle graphics are the best I have ever seen on the GBA ever! While they do not match Kingdom Hearts Chain Of Memories cut scene graphics there was only about 1:30 of those great graphics in that whole game, the majority of SN:SS is the battles, and they do look beautiful. The character portraits are very detailed and have many different expressions for each character.

9/10-Amazing in battle graphics but only average over world graphics.

Music/Audio 7/10
Audio is often hard to review for me on hand held because I often keep the volume off not to disturb others while I play (plus I always loose my headphones). I did however get the chance to play this game a lot on the Game Boy Player and found the audio to be very diverse. The music fit the scene, the battle sounds fit the action, and overall I was impressed. While it does tend to recycle some music over and over again it was still good.

7/10-Not bad but not amazing, the music/audio is above average.

Gameplay 9/10
Gameplay is the most important part of any game, and SN:SS does not disappoint. Combat in the game takes place on a 2-D plane and allows you to battle up to 4 foes at the same time. The common enemies in this game are varied and have their own methods of getting around your defenses to hurt you. An interesting plot twist is that your weapons along with boss weapons can be destroyed which is an alternative way to win battles and rewards you with the bosses weapon if you win by breaking. In random battles the game allows you to carry 3 weapons to switch between in case your weapon gets close to breaking. In tournament battles you are only allowed access to one weapon however so you need to be careful.

You are allowed access to 5 different weapons in the game. The all round sword, the powerful but slow Axe, the multi target hitting but slow lance, the fast but weak knuckles, and the drill combines the lances multi hit with the knuckles short range. You also have access to a hammer if all else fails and all your weapons break. One irritating thing is that the game shoves the sword down your throat and unless you know how to get the other weapons, you will only receive two extra weapons of another class as part of the story. Very irritating because even if you don't want to use the sword you often have to make it for the sake of the plot.

The game does not have any real puzzles, it does have 1-2 stealth areas and a few pick the options in the right order sequences but they are not hard to get by and even if you mess up the game lets you continue. Another big feature of the gameplay is character interactions, but I'll cover that in the story section of the review. The game does however follow a bit of a pattern (Story, Dungeon, Story, Boss, Repeat) but this formula does not get boring but it is worth noting the game does not throw you many curve balls.

The item creation feature of the game is almost too simple, you get random items in the dungeons, you melt them down to base materials, and you then pick your weapon craft sheet and boom, you have a weapon. The sad thing is the crafting section is even easier then I describe it with the only extra thing you can add to your weapons is elements which require collecting a rare ore but is still easy and simple to do. Despite these flaws however the game still maintains it charm and will keep you playing it, sometimes simple is better.

9/10 Amazing gameplay, but lack of difficulty and simple crafting keeps it from a perfect.

Story 8/10

The game is only 10 hours long, as such, the plot is over before you know it and it very predictable and typical RPG stuff. Evil Army, Check. Good guys who are working for the villains which is obvious to the player but no one in the game, Check. Thick hero who never gets anything, Check. Mystical items the bad guys and good guys want, Check. Evil Demon who wants to destroy the world, Check. Typical yet still entertaining.

The most impressive thing the game gives you is character interaction options. At the start of the game you pick to be a male or female then answer questions to get one of 4 different guardian spirits. The interactions between master and guardian add up to 8 different character interaction plots though the game. The one annoying thing is sometimes the game makes remarks that make you think the designers did not realize that the character was male/female. In the both stories you can answer some sexist questions about Girls are better True or False to a female swordsmen. As the male you obvious are putting yourself down but as the female even if you agree because you are a girl your spirit still states how the girl dissed you badly.

Also. at many points in the game you are allowed to choose options that affect the way characters look at you. You can influence which characters like your characters and who hate you with a passion. The game does have a set formula and the plot stays overall the same but there are a few points where the game does give you some options of what you want to do. The many characters in the game are like able and you will become attached to them in the end.

8/10-Basic plot but tons of character interactions make up for it.

Replay 10/10
The game is only 10 hours long, and the extra end of game stuff should only take you about 5 more hours to complete everything 100%. However, the game was meant to be short so you could replay it and try to see new character interactions. Because of the games unique night system where you talk to one of the main characters at night can influence the characters in interesting ways. It is also a game that is fun to go back and play over and over again.

Replay 10/10- This game will make you want to replay it many times to see everything that the characters can say.

Final Score
Graphics-9
Music/Audio-7
Gameplay-9
Story-8
Replay-10
Average and Final Score= 8.6 rounds up to 9
9/10

Positives
+Amazing battle graphics
+Very fun and entertaining combat
+Great character development
+Lots of replay value
+Many weapons styles
+Multiplayer Versus mode (that I have not got the chance to play yet)

Negatives
-Not very hard to beat
-Short and simple plot
-Reused battle sprites and music
-The sword shoved down your throat all the time

A great find, I can't wait for the sequel coming out later this year!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/18/06