Sword & Sorcery: review

Opening visual to Sword & Sorcery

Starting point

For the first time ever I feel like a game was made that defines the Ipad as a powerful and significant gaming device. Superbrother: Sword & Sorcery is a visual, audio treat. The game focuses on showing you something you've never seen before, similar to Flower on the PS3. The audio was recorded specifically for every scene which really makes you feel like you're participating in a game that has a purpose. This game is not your typical adventure game and don't expect something similar to Zelda or a dungeon crawler.

There is plenty of action, adventure
and enemies but the focus is more on exploration and admiration than heavy gaming. I started the game a bit confused because you must hold the Ipad on one specific side to start the game and then you're introduced to the Archetype of the game. This man is on the top image in this blog post. He's in charge of directing you through the game with crazy lines of dialogue. For every dialogue line they post you are encouraged to share it through social media (specifically Twitter). The dialogue is meant to be very creative and abstract. So once you've been introduced to the game you finally start as your main character. He is a sword wielding pix-elated knight. There are two basic options for controls, you can either double click on the space you would like you're character to move to or continuously press on the screen for him to move in that direction. So you start off in a forest and quickly you are introduced to a dog that follows you and a man that chops wood and knows the area. He unlocks a gate and you are off to a forbidden area to retrieve something that will help you read minds and control certain elements. The game then shows you what type of adventure you're really in for. 

I was amazed that the game could make me feel a sense of discovery or even an emotion like fear so quickly. Honestly after retrieving the first item in the cave you are pursued by an enemy easily twice your size and the music that accompanies the scene installs that fear in your head. I won't go too far into story details because that is the majority of the fun. you're probably thinking where's the combat in this game, I mean you do have a sword for a reason. That is probably my favorite part of the experience. To enter into combat you must turn the Ipad upright in the portrait mode. This triggers a battle and shows your health and your enemies health. There are two buttons, one sword button and a shield button. You cannot advance so the general trick is to block and attack while your opponent is backing away. Unfortunately I forgot to take a screen shot of a battle so that's up to you to find. I still have about half the game to complete so this is a first look at the title. For the price of $4.99 I highly recommend this title to those who are looking for a new experience on their device.