The game is played for the most part in
third person, from the outset of the game you could be mistaken
for thinking that Summoner 2 is not an RPG as there is a
sequence where Maia is defending her ship against an attack
from some pirates. This does provide a purpose; you will
learn the basics of combat through this starting sequence.
This will also be your first encounter that will introduce
the problems you can have with the camera, but you are able
to adjust the camera with the right analogue stick. This
is not something that you will do by choice; you will have
to adjust the camera for the combat scenes as you will not
be able to see all of the enemies at one time as enemies
will attack from all different directions. When in battle
you will notice that Maia and the other characters move
quite awkwardly and sometimes you will think enemies attacks
are missing you but in actual fact they are dealing out
some serious blows. This is one thing that can be overcome
with time as you will get used to these little niggles and
soon after you will be using deeper aspects of combat and
using three character in your team at once to kick the baddies
bottoms.
When you are controlling a three-member
squad you will only control one character directly, you
can switch to the other instantly using the shoulder buttons.
Those characters not directly controlled by yourself will
fight and follow you automatically. You can also choose
from a few different behavioural options that will enhance
their fighting, spell casting or supporting skills. Your
computer-controlled pals do a pretty good job of watching
your back for the most part, occasionally they will mess
up and end up in disaster. Other times they can do even
better than you, but the best strategy is to take control
of the weakest character in the bunch and keep him or her
out of trouble. As you progress meeting other characters
you will come by some situations that need a certain combination
of characters in your squad to over come the problem and
Maia will not necessarily be in the squad of three.
The combat can get very intense at times,
but all it requires is lots of button smashing and the odd
special attack here and there. Although fighting isn't that
complex the enemies do get tougher as you progress through
the game. Some enemies may only be defeated with the use
of weapons and magic only. Enemies act in pretty simple
but effective ways, they will either run at you and hack
or stand back and fire with their weapons or magic. The
only bad thing about this is that things do get quite predictable.
As you progress through the game defeating enemies and completing
quests your characters will gain experience and skill points
that can be spent on a large variety of different abilities,
although some of them are pretty useless. Being able to
customise your characters through out the game is very enjoyable.
Maia, the lead character gains the ability to transform
into a wide range of nasty creatures. This is great when
you want to give the bad guys a really hard kick in the
nuts to gain the upper hand in battle.
Graphics are not Summoner 2's strongest
point, characters are interesting but they all tend to be
a bit simple. The environments range from nothing special
to some that look quite impressive, but the frame rate seems
to chug a long at a fairly slow rate throughout the game.
The highlights of the visuals come in the form of cut-scenes,
which have much better animations and more detailed character
models. Overall the visuals are the weakest link in Summoner
2. You are the weakest link good bye!!!
The sound in Summoner 2 is not that good
either, it uses lots of canned sounds that you will probably
have heard before and the music consists of mellow tribal
sounds that are OK but never brilliant. The voice acting
is a completely different matter though, it's all very good.
All the characters sound great; the voice actors have all
done a great job of the dialogue, so good in fact that the
storytelling becomes compelling and it really drives the
game along in the right direction.
Summoner 2 is a good lengthy game that
offers a lot of stuff to do along the way. The combat is
pretty frantic at times but it can also get a bit repetitive
and predictable. The ability to choose the characters you
want to take into battle is a very good idea that makes
the game feel open ended without compromising the superb
storytelling. If you enjoyed the first instalment of Summoner
you should go out and get your hand on this straight away.
Anyone that didn't get the opportunity to play the first
Summoner should definitely start with Summoner 2. Summoner
2 is a great action game that mixes it up with some RPG
elements to produce a good solid game with an engaging storyline.
8 out
of 10
