Song Summoner Review
Take on the role of Ziggy a person with unknown potential who is on a quest to find the brother that was stolen from him by evil robotic looking characters. This iPhone/iPod touch game by Square Enix will give you a taste of what a solid turn-based strategy game with a little hint of Monster Rancher thrown in there. You will gain characters throughout your journey through the game, but some of them will be created by the very music that resides on your device.
Graphically you're looking at a game that has some of the feel of a PS1 game, but with some little upgrades. You'll have quite a few troops, all with different looks at your disposal, and you'll be facing off against many different robots, the bosses, of course, all having a very unique look about them. The battlefields very a little bit, but overall there's a sense that the amount of animation and tiles to be used in the game are limited.
You would think that in a game titled Song Summoner that there would be some kick-ass music to go along with the game, and unfortunately that's not really the case. There's some there, but its nothing that is going to blow your socks off.
The controls are the same as almost all games on this platform. You're going to select your unit and you'll have an action wheel at your disposal, then you get to touch where you want the unit to attack, use an item, or move to. There are some small issues when trying to select precise locations to unleash your fury or to move your character that will get you frustrated, but overall you'll have enough time and health to survive an extra round.
This game is definitely one that I can keep going back to when I've got time. Its easy to pop in for a battle and then pop right back out. There's definitely some limitations that piss me off in this game, the biggest one being the amount of times you can deploy a unit that you created. If you're like me and want to use your stud characters in every battle, you better be scouring the world for Rewinds (the item that replenishes a use of the unit). There's also the harmony attacks which take place when you've got adjacent units to the one attacking, which can turn the tide of battle. Overall most of the battles you're going to be able to get through and get an S rank on. I think I replay a map or two just because I wanted to test out some new units, but overall I was able to just go forward with the story. Speaking of the story, there are times where it just doesn't feel solid, maybe its because of the ability of jumping in and out of the game, so the story doesn't have that much time to stick, but sometimes its almost absent for me.
If you are looking for a good turn-based strategy game, which is what this platform can do best, then this is definitely something you should get your hands on. The enjoyment of being able to use your favorite songs to create units is something that makes me keep coming back. This game gets a 8.1 out of 10.