Sorcery Review

It’s been quite a while since I’ve played a PlayStation Move title, and I literally had to dust off mine to play this game. But boy oh boy was it worth it, sorcery has got to be the best Move title out on the market!

It’s hard to believe that we first caught a glimpse of Sorcery way back at E3 2010. Developers The Workshop have been tinkering and tweaking away at the game since then and have now given us the chance to become a true sorcerer. From the first minute and tutorial right at the beginning you can see that during this long two year development cycle that The Workshop paid particular attention to the motion controls.

Interesting monsters but some repetative enemies

You control a teenage boy named Finn who is a sorcerer’s apprentice with incredible potential yet to be discovered. The story begins when Finn’s mentor and teacher, Dash, leaves on a trip and Finn alone. The mischievous boy that he is, he soon steals a wand and is then hurled into a strange adventure with his feline friend, Erline, at his side. Sorcery is mainly directed to the slightly younger audience but I think the game play is what adults will really enjoy.

It’s a good thing that the gameplay of the game is so excellent as it will help hide some of the flaws of the game. Now none of these flaws are really that bad, but are some things that I think deserved mentioning and one or two just bugged me personally. The first thing is the graphics and environments, sure at first some scenes look great, colourful and pop out, however there are others that seem a little bland and unimaginative. Many of the enemies fall into this category unfortunately, besides the constant repetition of enemies and some environments you don’t really notice as you are having a lot of fun waving your arms around casting spells.

Aside from the bland graphics the real question is how does it play? After all this is a PlayStation Move title which requires a Move controller and either a navigation controller or a dual shock controller. This may scare away the anti motion gamers but it really shouldn’t. Mentioned for the umpteenth time this is the best move game on the market. Ok back to the controls.

Conjuring spells like a true sorcerer

I thought it would be a problem that I only have one Move controller but it’s not the case. Using the navigator or DS3 controller solely for moving your character around with the left analogue, re-centre the camera with L1 and shield with L2. Very simple and comfortable even with my DS3. The move controller is where its all happening though, a quick flick forward and you will shoot a bolt in that direction. It’s so accurate that you can flick forward and to the top right and that’s exactly where the bolt will go, which comes in handy when you start facing enemies on different levels and locations in a level. Flick it right or left and the bolt will go there, but the clever thing is the targeting system which automatically will send the bolts toward the enemy if you flick it in the general direction, but don’t worry it doesn’t baby you along you can still miss the targets. Want more challenging and interesting ways to use the Move, OK. You can curve the bolts but flicking and twisting your arm either right or left. You can then curve the bolts around cover to hit your targets. Very cool. Sometimes I found curving and hitting targets to the far left was a little challenging and the game would send the bolts just off target, taking a few attempts to hit it, but nothing game breaking.

Now what would a sorcerer be with out having some awesome spells? The game does a great job of continuously making you feel progressively stronger. During your play through of the game Finn learns elemental spells making him stronger as a sorcerer and being able to combine your simple bolt attack with the elemental is where the combat system really shines. They can be used both independently and in tandem, for example conjure up a tornado and then fire a fire bolt into the middle causing a swirling fire storm. Awesome right? And it’s a very satisfying feeling knowing that you ‘sort-of’ created it that. Its this freedom of allowing you to create different spells that makes the combat dynamic though as with most game you will end up finding a spell that works best and then stick to it and rarely changing to anything else.

Some exciting environments

I must also point out that the Move was surprisingly so responsive and quick. You can fire slow bolts or really quick successive ones. Other uses for the move controller are cleverly used, taking potions, mending objects, opening chests and moving things out of your way. You start to feel like a sorcerer with power.

Throughout your adventure, you’ll encounter treasure chests filled with gold and special items. These items can either be sold for gold or they can be used to concoct potions that, upgrade many of Finn’s abilities. If you want more health, more mana or more powerful spells, you can bet that there is a potion to help you out as long as you have the right ingredients of course. These potions soon become very helpful and useful that you won’t mind the repetitive motion required to brew them.

Conclusion
If you have a Move then you simply have to get this game as it makes full use of the Move and so well. If you don’t this might be the game that will finally force you to get it. Not the best visuals as the enemies become repetitive and some of the environments a little bland, but this is a motion controller game and so you are more concerned as to how it plays, which is brilliant. Very responsive and great use of the Move controller, in a sentence (mentioned so many times already) this is the best PlayStation Move title on the market!