SUMMONER

                 Reviewed by Stefan Herber

Don't know what it is about Playstation conversions to PC but they
seem to stand out a mile. In the case of RPGs they also seem to
have a very different feel about them. I've never actually played
a game on Playstation so I'm not familiar with the limitations of
that system but they do seem to stand out for RPG fans. "Summoner"
will disappoint hardened players in having no character
generation, relatively limited stats and combat that is
straightforward to say the least. But it has quite a bit going for
it as I plan to point out.

The plot is slightly unusual in one respect - you know something
of your past! For a dreadful deed in using your special powers
that summoned a demon that destroyed your city you've been in
hiding. But alas - the evil rulers for reasons of their own have
decided to exterminate you. So marauders have attacked your
peaceful village and you now have no choice but to try and solve
everything. This leads to all manner of locations, innumerable
quests and a lot of wandering back and forth across the terrain in
the hope of a "chance" encounter that will allow you to solve your
present quest. The main story is pretty linear but most of the
quests can be done in any order although the game won't always let
you do it when you so desire.

Of course this wouldn't be a proper game without monster
respawning. That's right - every time you revisit an area you have
to fight your way through the same monsters again and again. To be
fair there are very few areas you must revisit where this happens
and at least initially all of the towns and other large areas are
monster free zones. Also their A-I is pretty hopeless - they'll
let you blast them to bits with ranged weapons or spells and
provided you don't get too near they won't attack.

I suppose I liked it. It was certainly addictive and didn't seem
particularly long. I think I timed 25 hours of gameplay and that
was with most of the missions. But don't expect the depth of games
like Baldur's Gate or you'll be very disappointed. More an RPG for
beginners.


















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