Sorcery Review

Oddly enough, Sorcery was revealed at E3 2010 and was not present at E3 2011. This prompted many people, myself included, to wonder if the game had been canceled. Fortunately for everyone who anticipated this title, it has finally made its debut. It’s every bit as good as you’d hope it would be.

Move Calibration

Being a PlayStation Move game, you must calibrate the controller to the correct settings to function correctly. Luckily, I didn’t have many problems calibrating the controller; it only took me two tries to find the correct setting. After I got it to the proper setting, the tracking was the best in any of the Move games I’ve played.

Move Controls

The Move controller acts as your wand, and you move it around in different directions to perform various spells and cast them in many ways. You can aim in any direction on the screen, whether the enemy is above you, below you, or at the same level. There are also curved shots, which can navigate around corners to target enemies hiding behind cover. This is extremely useful, and you can even perform arc shots that can find their way over surfaces you can’t cast spells through.

Story

The game’s story is interesting enough, but Sorcery slowly approaches it. As you play, you start to figure out different pieces of the story and discover the origins of the various characters you see in the game. You play as a young man named Finn, an apprentice under a sorcerer named Dash. Finn has grown impatient with the meticulous teaching of Dash and one day accidentally hits Dash’s brewing cauldron with some magic, which causes it to explode, requiring Finn to find new ingredients. Finn’s cat sidekick tells him the only place to find the ingredients is in the Land of the Dead.

Long story short, after Finn acquires the ingredients, he is met by an enemy, whom he defeats and presents with an orb revealing Erline’s proper form. Erline gets petrified and tells Finn they must hurry back to the village and Dash, but upon their return, the village is attacked by weird creatures known as Bogeys. Erline explains that her mother has made a deal with the Nightmare and that they must escape and hide from her. It’s an excellent story for a game that didn’t need to rely on one, and I found myself immersed in what was going on with Finn and Erline.

Finn & Erline

I can’t remember another duo quite like Erline and Finn. In the beginning, you felt as though maybe they weren’t even going to spend the whole game together as they made little jokes about each other and such. As Sorcery progressed, however, you saw how connected the two were. You hear personal things now and then and see exactly what makes each tick. More than that, though, it gives you a feeling that the journey that they’re on together has brought them closer than ever before, and I can liken their relationship to Ratchet and Clank, which is high praise. I can see this being a new series, with Finn and Erline as a couple of new franchise characters in the PlayStation family.

Gameplay

Spells

The gameplay is where this game shines. When you start, you only have the Arcane Bolt. This is a fun, electrically charged spell that can be used on enemies. You will get more spells via the Spell Nexus that you’ll find in different parts of Sorcery. You’ll collect most of the significant elements with these Nexus, and they make the game enjoyable. You get these spells to cast on their own, and you get to combine spells to cause havoc for your foes.

You can create a barrier of fire and then shoot your Arcane bolts through it to create fireballs, create a whirlwind of fire and shoot bolts through it that will shoot out all over the map, and you can even freeze enemies in place and break them into a thousand pieces. The possibilities are amazing and a nice touch. Sometimes, you’ll even need to light torches or freeze waterfalls to get to your destination, a significant gameplay element that seemed to go unnoticed.

Alchemy

If the main spells aren’t enough to get you into this game, then the Alchemy system will. Countless potion combinations can give you that added advantage in battle by raising health, improving damage, or even giving more gold from chests. There’s a traveling merchant from whom you can buy items for potions or find them in treasure chests throughout the game. The coolest part is mixing the potion, as every movement is precisely how you would do it outside a game. You can pour, mix, grind, and shake all your ingredients, then stir your potion before finally shaking it and pouring it into your mouth to drink it. The detail is impressive.

Graphics

The visuals weren’t stunning, but they were perfectly fine to me, considering how immersed in the world I was. The enemies have many different forms. Environments range from dark and dreary to bright and vibrant. The main characters look relatively basic. The textures looked a little dry at first, but once you progress through the game, you see the detail put into every spot where the game takes place. I found barely any bugs in the game, except Erline’s tail, which can be seen skipping around sometimes in dialogue.

Length

Sorcery can be completed in around 8-10 hours on the two higher difficulty levels. This is a shame because it’s tough to put down. There isn’t very much replay value involved, as determined players can attain the Platinum trophy in one playthrough. There are no modes other than story mode, and no multiplayer options. This could be a fantastic experience if a sequel were to include multiplayer. There’d be nothing more fun than a 4-player online co-op with each person casting different spells and combining them. We can only hope for that at a later time.

Final Thoughts

Even with these slight problems, Sorcery is, without a doubt, in my mind, the best PlayStation Move title available and should be experienced if you own a PlayStation Move controller. The story is terrific and easily surpasses some of the stories in higher-budget games on the market today. Sorcery resulted from a lot of polish and was worth the two-year delay. I hope this marks the start of a new PlayStation franchise, because I’m eager to see what adventures await Erline and Finn. If you haven’t yet, buy Sorcery now. It’s well worth the price.