Rating: 
Summary: Fun but flawed
Review: The idea of Summoner appealed to me from the start. I've never found an RPG that has a perfect combination of hack 'n slash action with an in-depth plot, and until Neverwinter Nights finally appears, this seemed like a good way to keep myself occupied.The plot has been outlined here by other reviewers, so I'll skip that. It is fun, though, with a few surprises here and there. Plenty to keep the action flowing, and keep you playing for a few more hours. The last time I felt this addicted was Diablo 2, so be warned. There are some great graphics, with particularly nice 3d environments such as the forests on the random encounters. It would have been nice if more had been made of these though. When you leave a particular location, the game shoots you out to a campaign style map, where you trudge around a 2D map of the world to move from one city to another. I'm sure the engine would have been quite capable of letting you stay in 3D, and combined with the random encounters this might have made the game gel a bit better. Spell effects are great too - and the player, NPC and monster models are nicely put together. Where the game falls apart a little is in the AI. For some reason, the designers seem to have forgotten to program the monsters to avoid area damage. Almost all the battles in the game boiled down to creeping up to monsters from behind, and finding a nice position from which to cast Blizzard or Wall of Fire spells, and watching your enemies get toasted without them even appearing to notice it. Hmm. Something else I didnt mention is that on my Windows 2000 system, the game crashes about once every hour - so remember to save. The manual claims that the game wont run at all under Windows 2000, so I dont suppose I can complain too much. Compared to "true" RPGs like Baldurs Gate 2, the plot is fairly linear too. Aside from a few small side-quests (most of which I didnt even manage to get started on), there is only 1 main quest, and no opportunity to play through the adventure with different characters. Still it's a fun game, and took me around 30 hours to complete. And you can sit back and admire the scenery without hvaing to think too much. Pro:
Beautiful forest and city environments, nice spell effects, good ol' hack n slash adventuring Con:
Buggy AI, win2k problems, limited plot, low replay value.
Rating: 
Summary: Great game, one to keep
Review: The term 'RPG' is so loaded these days that it's hard to adequately judge whether or not you'll like a game from that 'genre' or whether it'll make you dump it in the trash out of disgust. Summoner is an RPG, in the sense that you play a number of characters that improve over time, gaining skills, equipment, and various powers on their way towards dishing out some plot-ending comeuppance. Here are a few things that particularly stand out to me about Summoner: 1) Graphics. Summoner is a beautiful game to look at. It's aging now, but still has excellent detail and is very immersive..little in the graphics will grate to such a degree you'll find yourself wondering what the heck happened.
2) Game play. Combat is real-time rather than turn based, with your characters operating dependant on the AI settings you give them..they can emphasize melee combat, ranged, healing, offensive spells, as well as perform specific acts you command them to do. Use the space bar to pause the action and dish out orders, then jump seamlessly back into the fray.
3) Questing. The game has a main quest and hundreds of small side quests you can perform or ignore. Some become fairly tedious and are multi-stage, so that if you're not careful you can miss a vital item or person and never be able to finish it. While you generally can explore however and for however long you wish, certain game events that occur will make you unable to go back and finish quests, as key NPCs or even areas have been destroyed or otherwise affected.
4) Exploring. I'm one of those players that loves to poke around in the wilderness and do my own thing for a while. In any RPG I look forward to the first chance I have to be independent and explore rather than trudge from point A, do task A, walk to point B, do task B, and so on. Summoner is great for this. You can roam around and encounter all sorts of strange things. The random encounters can often be challenging, but are always very detailed. You can escape them if necessary by running to a border in the encounter map a la Fallout/Fallout 2, which is a good way to survive if you get in over your head. I did that a lot. Another great aspect is that tasks are not cued to your levels. That is, exploring and leveling up will actually aid you later in the game, rather than just making everything harder. I always despised RPGs that had random encounters and other events react to your power level, so that you ran into red dragons outside pristine little villages in the middle of the kingdom. In Summoner, exploring is ALWAYS in your interest. Monsters drop random treasure, and extra levels will always help later on. I stumbled over a way to find rings of fire protection early in the game, and used them to finance a number of my item purchases.
5) Character Development. You don't really get many options in choosing your party/cast members, but they're varied enough not to be a real problem. Make sure to train them all up so they can survive on their own, since you'll likely have to play them individually (as well as your main Summoner guy) in the course of the game.
6) Replayability: Very high. The game world is very large, the towns and cities are vast, and the NPCs are very interesting. There always seems to be another area or monster or item or quest to check out, and not in the sort of desperately addictive way it can be in Diablo II. I never felt a sense that I was wasting time or losing out on "necessary" items if I went off the beaten path; both the game and the combat system reward creativity. One game you might favor archers, another you might favor swordsmen and melee tactics. It's really up to you. All in all, Summoner is a great game with high visual standards that has really held up over the last couple years. You can play it for 30 minutes, or burn a weekend without thinking about it. In either event, you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Great game, one to keep
Review: The term 'RPG' is so loaded these days that it's hard to adequately judge whether or not you'll like a game from that 'genre' or whether it'll make you dump it in the trash out of disgust. Summoner is an RPG, in the sense that you play a number of characters that improve over time, gaining skills, equipment, and various powers on their way towards dishing out some plot-ending comeuppance. Here are a few things that particularly stand out to me about Summoner: 1) Graphics. Summoner is a beautiful game to look at. It's aging now, but still has excellent detail and is very immersive..little in the graphics will grate to such a degree you'll find yourself wondering what the heck happened.
2) Game play. Combat is real-time rather than turn based, with your characters operating dependant on the AI settings you give them..they can emphasize melee combat, ranged, healing, offensive spells, as well as perform specific acts you command them to do. Use the space bar to pause the action and dish out orders, then jump seamlessly back into the fray.
3) Questing. The game has a main quest and hundreds of small side quests you can perform or ignore. Some become fairly tedious and are multi-stage, so that if you're not careful you can miss a vital item or person and never be able to finish it. While you generally can explore however and for however long you wish, certain game events that occur will make you unable to go back and finish quests, as key NPCs or even areas have been destroyed or otherwise affected.
4) Exploring. I'm one of those players that loves to poke around in the wilderness and do my own thing for a while. In any RPG I look forward to the first chance I have to be independent and explore rather than trudge from point A, do task A, walk to point B, do task B, and so on. Summoner is great for this. You can roam around and encounter all sorts of strange things. The random encounters can often be challenging, but are always very detailed. You can escape them if necessary by running to a border in the encounter map a la Fallout/Fallout 2, which is a good way to survive if you get in over your head. I did that a lot. Another great aspect is that tasks are not cued to your levels. That is, exploring and leveling up will actually aid you later in the game, rather than just making everything harder. I always despised RPGs that had random encounters and other events react to your power level, so that you ran into red dragons outside pristine little villages in the middle of the kingdom. In Summoner, exploring is ALWAYS in your interest. Monsters drop random treasure, and extra levels will always help later on. I stumbled over a way to find rings of fire protection early in the game, and used them to finance a number of my item purchases.
5) Character Development. You don't really get many options in choosing your party/cast members, but they're varied enough not to be a real problem. Make sure to train them all up so they can survive on their own, since you'll likely have to play them individually (as well as your main Summoner guy) in the course of the game.
6) Replayability: Very high. The game world is very large, the towns and cities are vast, and the NPCs are very interesting. There always seems to be another area or monster or item or quest to check out, and not in the sort of desperately addictive way it can be in Diablo II. I never felt a sense that I was wasting time or losing out on "necessary" items if I went off the beaten path; both the game and the combat system reward creativity. One game you might favor archers, another you might favor swordsmen and melee tactics. It's really up to you. All in all, Summoner is a great game with high visual standards that has really held up over the last couple years. You can play it for 30 minutes, or burn a weekend without thinking about it. In either event, you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful But Deadly
Review: There is much to admire in THQ's latest release of "Summoner" for the PC. This RPG has some of the best graphics and three-dimensional visualization I've seen in the past year. The sets are quite complex and offer some breathtaking viewpoints. Opponents are well animated with a variety of moves. Cut scenes are abundant, and are a major source of continuity. Sound design is exceptional as well. The story itself is straightforward. Joseph, born a summoner has fled to the village of Masad after his undisciplined use of his summoning skill calls a demon that destroys his home village of Ciran. Unfortunately Murod, the evil emperor of Orenia has heard a prophecy that a summoner will destroy him and is searching for Joseph. The story opens will Masad's destruction at the hands of imperial forces and Joseph's flight to the capital city of Lenele where he will seek his old mentor and try to regain control over his own fate. The first part of the story takes place in Lenele's streets, sewers and buildings as Joseph gains in skill and power while he begins to assemble his party. Soon thought he is out in the world of Khosos traveling to other cities and facing random (and not so random) conflicts. There are many side quests, which provide sources of experience while Joseph and his friends struggle to stop the onslaught of Murod and his hideous generals. Joseph's team will grow to include Flece, a master thief, Rosalind a mage of the Order of Iona and Jekhar who became Joseph's sworn enemy when Ciran was destroyed. "Summoner" is a large game, with a lot of enemies to defeat. There are plenty of opportunities for hacking and slashing as well as spell casting. Joseph's special ability to summon demons and Flece's thieving add extra dimension. Bugs are few and far between. Altogether a very effective conversion of a PS2 game. There are a few drawbacks though. Combat and control are a bit awkward, and take a lot of getting used to. There's simply too much mousing around to do. As a result battles drag out. The fighting AI's are pretty good, but the players running on auto are prone to run off and do the wrong thing just when you want them to follow the leader and sneak by some potential trouble. A few scenes get repeated a bit too often (I think I had to fight my way through Lenele's sewers four or five times). If you leave the viewpoint on auto it has a habit of picking bad angles of vision. All of these things act as irritants. Towards the end it's a real temptation to start up a trainer and let the game run on auto as much as possible. OK, "Summoner" isn't perfect. But its overall quality is pretty impressive. 2001 has been a dry year so far and "Summoner" provides many hours of good gameplay. If nearly genocidal hack and slash RPG's are your cup of tea, this is the game for you.
Rating:
Summary: Awsome...
Review: This game in my opnion is a great game, the overall design is awsome! Graphics - 5 Stars Play - 4 Stars Sound - 4 Stars Lots of thinking, and interacting involved in this one!
Rating:
Summary: summmoner
Review: This game is very good but i think should come with a book to help you solve stuff am currently stuck in monastary if anyone can help me with this i would appreciate it
Rating:
Summary: summmoner
Review: This game is very good but i think should come with a book to help you solve stuff am currently stuck in monastary if anyone can help me with this i would appreciate it
Rating: 
Summary: It's an ok game, not a real worthy investment.
Review: This game was fun for a while, but I didn't find it worth the $[money], I shelled out for it. I found the single player quite monotonous and repetitive due to the numerous, tedious tasks. However, the multiplayer is far too linear and not really worth the time to complete.
Rating:
Summary: It's an ok game, not a real worthy investment.
Review: This game was fun for a while, but I didn't find it worth the $[money], I shelled out for it. I found the single player quite monotonous and repetitive due to the numerous, tedious tasks. However, the multiplayer is far too linear and not really worth the time to complete.
Rating:
Summary: Lightning Girl!
Review: Well I personally reakon they should make this game into a film. But thats another story. The only apsect about this game that I did find a bit worrying was the amount of space it takes up on you hard drive but to be expected when you actually start playing the game. General outline is that joseph the main chap has been born with the mark of the summoner. A person that through the use of rings is able to summon creatures to aid him on his adventures. You can get both deamons and dragons to fight along side you! Which I do believe makes the game nice and original just by the story line. Joseph has to use his rings to defeat an evil guy, who I havent reached yet and I guess destroy him. There is character evolution throughout the game all characters as well as having the hand to hand abilities also have a levl of magic apart from 1. He's a warrior sent with you from the king. So you can puddly puddly into situations. Fire fireballs, create ice storms, reserect the dead. It endless, weapons are well thought out and I think the game is tops. Definate testing needs to be done before you are to buy not everybodies cup of tea.
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