Sorcery Review
Sorcery (Available exclusively on PlayStation 3)
ESRB Rating: E10+
Players: 1
Genre: Action
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: The Workshop
Release Date: May 22, 2012
Parent Talk: The ESRB rates Sorcery E10+ for everyone over the age of ten. The game features fantasy violence, mild blood, and mild suggestive themes.
Plays Like: Imagine being Harry Potter; that’s Sorcery. We’ve never seen Sorcery’s motion gameplay before. it’s catered to a younger audience, but even the hardcore and get a kick out of being a sorcerer’s apprentice.
Review Basis: Finished the game.
Can you believe it’s here? Back at E3 2010, we covered the debut of Sorcery and said it was one of the most promising titles to be revealed for Sony’s Move controller. Fast-forward two years and it’s finally available. Sorcery is my favorite Move-supported game, but the long development cycle instilled unrealistic expectations in me, and unfortunately maybe you too.
The Great:
A motion first. The gameplay works as intended in a non-sports Move game. Flick your wrist in one direction or swoop it in another and Finn will perform a bolt attack in the same manner. You can even combine attacks such as a tornado followed by a fire spell, essentially creating a fire tornado of doom. If you want to feel like a wizard with incredible powers, Sorcery is for you.
The Good:
+ Disney-like storyline. Finn, a young sorcerer’s apprentice, steals a magic wand. He, along with his trusty cat, Erline, embark on a magical journey. It’s unusual, appealing, and charming for children and adults.
The So-So:
+/- The visuals. They’re either lush and creative, or dull and uninspired. This contrast takes away from the experience, and it’s a shame the Celtic influences couldn’t have been used to more fanfare.
+/- Crafting potions. It’s very useful, but becomes tiresome. They grant new abilities and stronger powers, but the motions that create them are usually the same.
The Bad:
- Balancing issues. It may be because Sorcery is meant for younger gamers, but I always felt overpowered. Once you learn the best spells, everything else becomes ignored.
The Ugly:
Short. Even on the toughest difficult, Sorcery lasts for five hours. I imagine even less on the lower settings. This is strange considering how long the game was in development.
The Lowdown:
Sorcery is my favorite Move game, but it’s not my Game of the Year. If you have children over ten in the house, this is the perfect game, but it might be too light and easy to maintain adult attention.
Final Score: 7/10
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Good review. I do think that your score is a bit too generous though, but maybe you really liked the prospect of functional Move controls in a game, so it’s understandable. At that price, it’s really not worth a buy especially since there’s no replay value. If this were a downloadable title priced at 15$ or 20$, it would’ve definitely been received more positively. Sony did spend way too much money on its development cycle though so that isn’t exactly a practical way to launch this game. From what I can tell in your review, it still feels like a tech-demo not a full game, ala Wii Sports.
Once the price drops, I may DL it. Not worth my money now.
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The reason I scored it a 7 is because I compared it to all the other motion based games out there today, and it’s leagues better than its competition. I also found it really captured the essence of being a wizard and I’m positive children will enjoy this one for a long time. As an adult there’s little reason to keep coming back, but that’s why I mentioned it like that. The difference between this and Wii Sports or Sports Champions is that there’s a real story, you unlock better powers, etc.
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Pat, do try out Skyward Sword if you ever get a chance. It starts out slow, but in my opinion the best 3D Zelda yet and a big reason for that is motion controls.
But yeah, besides Skyward Sword, which took like 5 years to arrive on the Wii, I’ve never been impressed with motion controls game, except for a few party games here and there.
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I gotta admit that I’m really disappointed with what motion gaming turned out to be :(
Back when they announced Move and Kinect during E3, all the motion control haters turned out to be right afterall. They’re just not used properly or at least don’t justify the chunk of $$$ spent to get motion controlled gaming. There aren’t enough games either.