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RPG Sorcery PDA Reviewed
5. Awesome. Very few flaws. Very appealing. (Overall: Must have.)
4. Strong effort. Pleasing. (Overall: Good purchase.)
3. Good. Flaws and good qualities cancel each other. (Overall: If this is your genre, buy it, otherwise get it as a gift.)
2. Mediocre, or worse. Too many flaws. (Overall: Risky buy.)
1. Awful. (Overall: Don't bother.)
General/Story - 5 The game seemed slow at first running from my storage card but I had six other apps running, and when I closed them the game ran smoothly so no points off there. The game starts out with a unique and detailed storyline (if you bother to go through it and worth it for genre fans. Also, I recommend downloading the player's guide from the website for quick review before playing). Anyway, you're basically following in the footsteps of an adventurer named Falcon--yep, that's right, you're not Falcon (as the game title would have you believe). After setting up your ability scores, the first character you play in Sorcery is a Warrior-young and eager for adventure-willing to follow a caravan into the desert in search of the Orb of Power from a castle in the long-forgotten city.
As chance would have it you end up alone outside of the dark castle you revived from a statue of the dark lord's avatar, with a spell from a wizard named Firlor. The first element of the game acts as a trainer so there's little mystery there after you get through the castle (thanks to Lynn from Sorcery staff for hints), but it gets better then nonetheless. As far as tracking and saving, the game does that automatically for you-you can quit at any time and continue where you left off. You can also restore a game if things gets hairy and there's a nice automatic journal to keep track of important events and completed quests. I love the fertile storyline and it's not overwhelming as taken in bits and pieces (I'm still trying to help Guntok from the Cliffs Town Inn to get his father's axe back from Goblins). I'm still playing the Warrior character so I can't comment specifically on the Dwarf (male), Elf (male), Sorceress (female), and Cleric (female) characters.
Gameplay: (4) I've read it before somewhere so I can't take credit for the analogy, but the game does remind me a lot of Heroes of M&M crossed with the original Myst. It is sort of turn-based, but you don't have to wait for the game to make moves -- so it's seamless. I understand the PC version will have more of a 3D effect but obviously to fit it on the PPC it's an animated 2D setting with movie animation movement and a battle interface with 3D creatures. Performing feats, actions, and spells are point-and-click (from an abridged menu) and every room has its own animations and sound effects. You can perform an action on an object or from the interface which executes an action on the entire area. You can also click on objects to get a closer look and if the area-to-area movement animations get dreary, you can click on the directionals for a fast Myst-zip-like transition. There are scores of secrets, puzzles, and the overall gameplay allows you free reign almost like playing D&D, but with more obvious outcomes. What's also unique in this game is that performing feats such as searching or hurdling through a door require a feat ability roll--right with your ability bonuses brought up from your character sheet. But you don't manually perform counter rolls such as for surviving a trap, the game does that automatically and even shows you the roll count in the interface next to your character.
That brings me to the character. Like in Doom, when you get hacked up by a zombie or crashed on from a boulder trap, your character gets all bloody and disheveled. At times your sword or axe even breaks. But this is played from a first-person perspective so I'm referring to the image of your character down on the bottom interface. I like the battle interface, you can control different attack movements like slash, stab, and hack, and cast spells, or even retreat (later on this is helpful). There's also a useful monster bio window with background, abilities, and even tips--but this is based on what you know at the time of playing. The detail changes as you gain more wisdom and experience points.
Graphics: (5) The graphics are undoubtedly the best I've seen on the Pocket PC and when even compared to some lousy PC games. The images are quite crisp and very detailed. At times the animations seem just a little out of place but strangely when tested on my new Xscale PPC they're better placed. Go figure. A lot of work went into the story and graphic design -- some apparently compiled into the game and some pre-loaded as you play.
Sound: (3) There's nothing wrong with the game sounds but there's also nothing new there. Each area seems to have a different background sound and it's obvious they went with mono wave formats to save space. One good thing, in my opinion, is the lack of background music. I absolutely HATE the same, boring background music in games so Hurrah! for that. Also the sounds sound (pardon the pun) the same on my newer PPC so it's the same average-quality throughout.
Overall Score: (4.25) Strong effort. Pleasing. Good purchase.
Slashdot welcomes reader features -- many thanks to shiroi_kami for this one.
I can't comment specifically on the Dwarf (male)
Ah, but you just think he's male. You never know with dwarves...
there goes all that increased productivity my iPac was supposed to give me.
On the "Itchy & Scratchy" CD-ROM, is there a way to get out of the dungeon without using the wizard key?
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
'nough said.
A Winshit CE palmtop doesn't have the option of just recompiling desktop software.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
the sounds sound (pardon the pun) the
Not a pun, just poor writing.
I would suggest putting the whole title of the game up. I didn't get the Falcon comment until I looked up the game. Some screenshots would have been nice.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
Is there any incentive to get a PDA for gaming, as opposed to a $60 GBA?
I'm serious, what is the state of game quality on modern PDAs? Is it analgous to PCs vs Consoles, IMO the PC 'scene' suffers from too many crappy games.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Actually, the latest version of Nethack has ports for Windows CE, which you can find right here. Hmmm... I think a bathroom break is coming on. Gotta smack me some grid bugs!
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
"Anyway, you're basically following in the footsteps of an adventurer named Falcon--yep, that's right, you're not Falcon (as the game title would have you believe)."
How does the name Sorcery lead to think of the name Falcon?
I had an iPAQ, they are fine little handheld computers. But as game machines, they leave a lot to be desired.
The "button problem" (no two buttons useable at once) make most gaming marginal at best (RPGs may be an exception). Plus, the button/D-pad layaout was all wrong for games.
They also cost too much for game machines. I was always afraid my sons were going to break it, so rarely let them play with it.
I won't even go into the fact that they run an EEE-VIL OS.
I own a GP32 now. It's not as fast (133MHZ ARM), but the controls rock (much better than a GBA) and it only cost ~$160USD. It runs lots of emulators (soon GBA too) and is fairly simple to code for. It uses SMC cards for storage.
Excuse me, I need to go hide in a toilet stall and play Doom now...
The game's main site features icons for several languages. The Korean icon features the flags of both North and South Korea.
Now I know this has nothing to do with the game, but somehow the probability of this site being accessed by a North Korean RPG fan strikes me as slightly lower than the possibility of it being accessed by an Afghani teen using a Babbage's Analytical Engine built from spare AK-47 parts and pigeons.
For inmates of the People's Republic of Korea, it is probably even illegal to know there is such a thing as the Internet.
The only RPG that will ever have a "strong" storyline is Planescape: Torment. Every other game can have an "ok" storyline. The only First-Person shooter with a "strong" storyline is Marathon. Everything else can have an "ok" storyline, at best.
This sounds like a "weak as all hells" storyline.