Gyromancer Review

It always seems like Square Enix is always up to something new this especially holds true for their collaborations. Two unlikely companies seem to team up and create amazing titles. The first time was with Disney and that ended up with Kingdom Hearts and now Square Enix has teamed up with PopCap to make Gyromancer. In this game the player takes the role of Rivel, who is a summoner, able to summon monsters of course. These monsters help to solve puzzle battles and unravel that mystery of Aldemona Wood.

Visually this game isn’t anything special and honestly it doesn’t have to be. This is not the type of game to rely on visuals to carry it along. The game focuses on gameplay though this is not to say that the visuals are bad though they are just average. The cutscenes look like pages from a storybook. So even though the pictures are still the game still has that storybook effect and it is really cool.

The gameplay however is most important and the developers spent a lot of time on it. This game is very different from games like Puzzle Quest where there is just one puzzle and the enemy and player take turns. This is more action-based which is always fun. The puzzles take the form of Bejeweled except instead of swapping gems the gems are matched by turning them, hence the title. On top of that difference there are ability gems which are the abilities of course! Once the meter at the bottom of the screen fills, an ability gem appears and if the player matches that then the player unleashes their attack or attacks (which are called rushes).

The story itself is full of twists and turns (a recurring theme). At some points in the game it’s hard to tell who is on the good side and who is on the bad side of the story. Rivel turns up in Aldemona Wood and is trying to track down Qraist who has murdered the Count and his family. It seems to be two separate stories going on with Rivel traveling to find his missing memories and Qraist trying to be the master of the wood.

The flow of the game itself is semi-linear. This means that certain puzzles are needed in order to move on to the next part of the story. However, there are many awards to earn and summons for monsters that are needed for future quests. So it is in the player’s best interest to not leave any stone unturned.

There are not many things to not like about the game but the control scheme is confusing and some of the buttons do things like replay moves and bring up the menu. It’s not like the player would know that at first glance unless he or she just pushes random buttons but pressing the A button should do just fine. There are also the female characters that are just pathetic. There’s Laska who just keeps getting in the way and getting killed and Jeana who is an awesome baddie but she winds up killing herself for Qraist.

Overall this game is worth every bit of the money that it costs to purchase it. The game is definitely not for everyone but it doesn’t mean that it is not worth a try. Try the game out, it is great fun.