Song Summoner
Score: 87% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Square Enix Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Turn-Based Strategy/ RPG
Graphics & Sound: Song Summoner was my first experience with a "commercial" iPod game and is a big reason I still carry my iPod around even though I also have one built into my iPhone. I played the game on the smallest screen possible and was impressed with how great it looked. Visually, the game holds on to one of the hallmarks of RPG design and gives all of the characters a distinctive trait that is really easy to pick out on the battlefield. This was right in line with my expectations but text, on the other hand, was my big worry. Small screen size was the reason I abandoned my GBA Micro and I was expecting the same squinty-eyed experience with my iPod. Everything is big enough that it is readable, though not so big that it engulfs the entire screen. Icons are used when appropriate and also help to speed up the process. Although Song Summoner makes use of the songs on your iPod, the game features its own soundtrack. Though not as memorable as other Square Enix soundtracks, the songs work for the game and fit the overall mood.
Gameplay: Song Summoner looks a lot like Final Fantasy Tactics and plays a lot like it too - but within a much simpler form. In what could be called a trip towards the "casual" realm, many of the more complicated elements, like terrain-influenced accuracy and loads of stat management, have been removed. Hardcore Strategy RPG players will probably lament the loss, but the tradeoff is that Song Summoner is a much faster game, so it isn't hard to squeeze in a few battles while waiting for the bus or that hour wait that precedes every doctor's appointment. Battles are usually simple to follow and do a better job at mixing up goals than most SRPGs. Most involve destroying the other army, though some require that you damage the enemy general. Some of the more strategy-focused ones involve positioning troops to hit switches to open doors while others defend. One of the really great things about Song Summoner is that it doesn't take itself that seriously. The entire game feels like a game and really embraces the iPod as a platform. The most exciting and addictive aspect is the Monster Rancher-style soldier creating system. All of your soldiers, called Tune Troopers, are created using the music already stored on your iPod. I've easily wasted hours uploading songs just to see what type of troops would pop out. Songs that you think will make great soldiers produce duds, while others will produce monsters. To date, my best trooper was created from an Avril Lavigne, while my worst came from the song "You're the Best" from Karate Kid - so there's no telling what you'll get. While the latter was a big disappointment, "The Touch" from Transformers: The Movie spit out a cool soldier that quickly became a staple in my army. The downside to Song Summoner's revelry in its "musical" background are the annoyingly bad puns and forced "cool" jokes that make up most of the dialogue. This, however, is a minor thing since a deep story isn't something the game is aiming for. Instead it's your basic robots trying to steal all of the music in the world setup with the personal motivation of your kid brother being kidnapped thrown in.
Difficulty: Characters no longer have a "Speed" attribute to determine their turn order; instead, each side can move all of their soldiers around at once. This is a major reason for the increased gameplay pace and makes it easy to roll over "lesser" enemies rather than having to chase them around the battlefield. The flip side is that it also makes most battles incredibly easy - especially ones where you just have to destroy a specific target or get a character to a certain point on the map. Getting back to troop creation, there is one hang-up with creating troops that are ultra-powerful from the start. Troops can only be summoned a set number of times before they are lost forever. You can always use a special item called a "Rewind" to give them another play, though you still have to watch how you use your troops, otherwise you can end up in a situation where you have a bunch of low level troops against a powerful boss.
Game Mechanics: Though you won't spend hours micromanaging your soldier's stats, troop management is still fairly in-depth and requires a bit of strategy. Again, all of your troops can only be summoned a limited number of times. Though there are a few extremely rare exceptions (again, it's all in the song), you can only summon powerful troops 2 - 3 times. So, even though that Metallica song you really like produced what looks like a dud, the ability to summon him might make him a good investment, especially if you play with him in battle a few times. Characters earn crystals by participating in battle, which acts like experience points. After a battle, you can dump these points into soldiers, increasing their level - giving them a nice stat boost. With a few battles under their belts, weak soldiers can go toe-to-toe with your powerful troops. You can also take individual troops into special VR training games that will earn them a few extra crystals. Additionally, crystals and other attack boosts are earned just by listening to songs on your iPod. Besides the text size, my other concern going into Song Summoner was using the iPod wheel as a control method. It was fairly obvious that some sort of Radial Menu would be used, and it is, but the wheel's sensitivity made me wonder just how easy it would be to use it. For the most part, my pre-conceptions were pretty much what I got from the game. The Radial Menu is easy to understand, but the wheel is a little too slick so it is easy to shoot past an option. Still, it is playable and eventually you'll learn the right amount of thumb-muscle control to make selections. Overall, Song Summoner makes a genre notorius for not being approachable, one that anyone can get into. Players who logged 200+ hours into Disgaea or Final Fantasy Tactics may not like the stripped-down gameplay, but the ability to create troops from songs should give you something every bit as obsessive as trying to tweak stats. Still, the gameplay is very straightforward and easy to pick-up, making it a good buy if you have $5 and are sick of playing Vortex or Solitaire.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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