A while ago, I stumbled upon a gem of a game called Puzzle Quest for the Nintendo DS. An intriguing concept, the combination of role-playing game with puzzle was immediately addicting. Not only for me, but for my Dr. Mario addict, casual gamer of a wife. Though my affections for the little portable system have since diminished, the RPG and puzzle game mashup has been purchased, and played through again, for my 360.
Earlier this year, when Square Enix announced that, in collaboration with PopCap, they would be releasing a puzzle-RPG title that would use elements from Bejeweled Twist, I knew Gyromancer would find its way onto my Xbox. PopCap plus Square Enix definitely equals “yes, please” in my book. Obviously, one cannot help but compare the game to the excellent Puzzle Quest, but how does it stack up?
Immediately, it was apparent that this title was a lot shinier than Puzzle Quest. Though it still has the cardboard illustrations for characters that are just there for illustrative purpose, the atmosphere of the game, the cleanness of the illustrations, the music, the experience was impressive.
In fact, upon boot up, I was addicted. The story was interesting, in the beginning, and the gameplay was crack. Seriously, if you haven’t played Bejeweled Twist, the puzzle backbone of Gyromancer, try out the flash version here because it is really fun. By just looking at a screenshot you might mistake Twist for the original Bejeweled. However, the mechanics of the game change significantly based on how you move the jewels. To create matches of three or more jewels, you do not swap the gems, but instead rotate a group of four clockwise. At first, it was really frustrating that you could only rotate in one direction, but I got used to it and, later in the game, it was infuriating when the rotation direction was changed.
But this is a puzzle-RPG game, and it cannot survive or be successful based on the puzzle aspects alone. You are Rivel, a mage that is chasing after a rebellious group called Temperance. This group is led by a man named Qraist, who is essentially the bad guy of the story. However, that’s about it for narrative. It is dull, uninteresting, and brought me out of the game. The story is a tacked on element to Gyromancer and truly makes the RPG element of the game weak. Not only was the story tacked on and dull, it was annoyingly superficial. For example, one of the characters dies, and comes back to life, three times. Eyes were rolled. Three times.
So, is the puzzle aspect the only saving grace of Gyromancer? Not exactly. Though the story elements are extremely weak, the questing and gameplay are interesting and fun. You want grinding? Gyromancer has it. You want random battles? It’s there. You want adventurous journeys? Yep. How about the ability to summon badass creatures with unique abilities? Well, read on, because Gyromancer does do some of these things right.
There are ten basic levels, one final boss level, and a challenging endurance level called Challenger’s Door. In the basic levels and boss level, you are given a bit of the story at the beginning and then you play. The story does not come back into the picture until you have beaten the level. In the beginning you are given an overview of the map, a shot of where you are trying to get and then, finally, you are shown your begin point. You move your character along a path and you will encounter monsters along the way. Some of the monsters will be stationary on the map, some will move as you move, and some will be hidden in treasure chests (“monster-in-a-box!”). As you move on to increasingly difficult levels, the creatures will advance as well.
To destroy these monsters, you have in your arsenal three creatures of your own. Once you are in a level, any damage to your monsters is permanent until you leave or beat the level. As I battled it out with my enemies, I began to feel a disappointment with the gameplay. It took me a few battles to realize that I was missing the competition of Puzzle Quest. In Puzzle Quest you make a move and then your opponent moves. Not so in Gyromancer. You make your moves and try and build up the levels for your monster to cast spells automatically (yes, you don’t select what happens) to place ability gems. Opponents will spew out their own bombs to screw with your attack. They do not make moves, attacks are just placed based on your moves. Once their attack gem has been placed you have to get rid of them within so many turns or they will do damage to your creature.
While in battle you have the option to cast spells that you collect in your travels. There are only four spells in this game. All of the spells effects last for one turn and they will allow you to do things such as change the direction in which you rotate your gems, place your ability gems immediately, and unlock locked gems. The bad thing about this is, once you are out of whatever spells, you have the option to buy them from the marketplace for a mere 40 Microsoft Points each. Microtransactions indeed.
You level up after winning so many battles. Your creatures level up with you, even if they weren’t used in the battle. Your creatures will eventually reach their level caps and you will need to summon new creatures in the Summoner’s Den to continue on successfully. You find new creatures on the map in the form of gyro codes. Your found codes can be used in the Summoner’s Den. You must pay to summon the new creature and you must get rid of one of your three to make room for your new warrior. Each creature has an affinity color or a color from which they gain power. Ideally, you want to have a variety of colors in your array of warriors.
This is where the grinding comes in because somewhere near the middle of the game, you must do some serious leveling up to continue. It was in this grinding that I became bored with the game. I wanted every battle to feel like it meant something. However, it seems like every battle was a vicious little reminder that there was another game out there. A better game.
All in all there are plenty of worse games out there. In fact, Gyromancer isn’t a bad game at all. Only a few moments of grinding were tedious for me. The battles were addictive and challenging. The creatures were interesting and fun to unlock. I think it’s the fact that I wanted so much more. I wanted a good story. I wanted less randomness in the battles. I wanted a game that I would want to come back to.
 |
| Title: Gyromancer |
| Publisher: Square Enix |
| Developer: Square Enix and PopCap Games |
| Platform(s): XBLA (Reviewed), PC |
| Release Date: November 18, 2009 |
|
| Doin It RIGHT:
-Addictive and Challenging Gameplay
-Interesting Creatures
-Graphics and Music Create an Awesome Atmosphere
|
Doin It RONG:
- Paper Thin Story
- Unnecessary Grinding to Advance
- No Real Enemy to Strategize Against in Battle |
FINAL SCORE: 7.5 / 10
 |
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