Gyromancer

For some reason, someone thought it would be a good idea to take Bejeweled, the strengths/vulnerabilities and multiple units from a game like Pokémon, and wrap them all into a beautiful world and story that could only come from the people at Square. The result is Gyromancer, and I don't know who is responsible for it, but I would like to thank that person.

In Gyromancer you are Rivel Arday, an immortal with immense power. The realm in which you reside is in the middle of turbulent times, and a rebel group known as Temperance has just killed a noble family and presumably kidnapped their adoptive son. Tasked by the King to seek out and bring to justice to this organization, you set out to the magical Wood, where you and a ranger by the name of Laska will work together in pursuit of your goal. You'll face the monsters of the Wood, and the perhaps even more monstrous men who seek it's shelter, in a story with plenty of twists and turns, where few are who they seem and death isn't necessarily the end. You know, typical Square Enix fare.

Also add "creepy enemies" to that list.

Story aside, which is told in cut scenes at the beginning and end of the each level, and is quite good, there is the issue of gameplay. There are a total of twelve levels that are involved in the story, as well as several additional levels that contain bonus content and one story level that is transformed after completing the story. While replaying levels allows you the freedom to access areas that may have been closed off during the story or just generally earn trophies for defeating certain enemies or achieving a high score, the story levels focus you on an objective, which usually requires you to reach a location and then defeat an enemy, or just make it to that location, which can be a huge challenge in and of itself, to succeed and thus advance. You'll encounter patrolling beasts, which may be spawned by a monster's lair, blocked paths that need to be removed by a switch, healing fountains, teleporters in select levels, and chests that contain useful items, that is, except when that chest is actually a monster-in-a-box.

Starting out a level.

Prior to departing to a level, you can visit the Summoner's Den, the location where you can change your active beast roster to any beast that you have unlocked by finding it's gyrocode in a level, by spending this game's currency to make the swap. There are 14 beasts with three tiers each, and 5 legendary beasts. Each new tier comes with some slightly different abilities, or just a higher level cap, as there is a leveling component to this game, where the level of your character determines the level of all your beasts, but since various beasts cap out at different levels, they can become useless if you progress too far without finding the gyrocode for the next tier, Each beast maintains a variety of moves, up to 3, that can deal damage or change the buffs and debuffs each party maintains when in battle. Some abilities are related, such as one beast's which first applies a damage over time debuff to the opponent, and then activates a weak attack with another move, but the number of attacks depends on how many stacks of the debuff there are. Other abilities negate an enemy's attack, or are useful for drastically altering the field of play.

In addition to considering a beast's stats and moves, you'll always want to take into account it's affinity color. This is a system to determine relative strengths and weaknesses in battle, and I'll touch on the specifics later. The important thing to consider is that you do not want a team, consisting of only three beasts, to all be weak to the same type of enemy, because while it is possible to overcome those weaknesses, it makes things much more challenging then they need to be

A full Summoner's Den.

When you encounter an enemy, the first thing you'll do is choose which of your beasts you would like to battle with, but choose carefully, because the fight lasts until one beast dies, and if it's yours, your down one of three chances to complete that level. Each beast in your roster will be displayed, as well as all the information about their moves, and their affinity color. The same information will be displayed for your enemy, allowing you to make an informed choice about which beast you would like to use. If possible, you should use a beast that is strong against your enemy, as you will gain a bonus to your might and armor, while your enemy will incur a penalty. Sometimes it might be prudent to do things a little differently, but that is because certain moves prove more effective against your enemy, such as one that stops an enemy's attack, or destroys most of the board.

Combat comes in the form of Bejeweled Twist, the match three game from Popcap. No, this is not a rip off; Popcap was actually involved in the making of the game, at least according to the credits that flash when you start up the game. If you're not familiar with Bejeweled Twist, its a different take on the more traditional form of Bejeweled, in that rather than simply switching the place of two adjacent gems in a field of various gems that have unique shapes and colors to make a match of at least three, you must rotate a group of four gems. When you make a match, those gems are destroyed and the gems above fall down, letting new gems in at the top, thus keeping the playing field always full. It is essentially simple gameplay, as you're just looking for moves that can make matches, while considering what your move will set in motion, such wondering if making this match will setup, or destroy, the possibility of another.

Selecting a beast with which to do battle.

Take the gameplay I've just described and add too it these additional mechanics. Each twist that makes a match charges up both your abilities, and your enemy's. An idle twist, one that makes no match, does nothing for you but greatly increases your enemy's charge. When an ability is fully charged it is placed on the board in the form of a gem if it is an attack, while other abilities may turn an enemy's ability into an unmatchable stone, lock it into place, or just change buffs. You must make a match to activate the ability, which will then deal damage, and sometimes has a special effect, such as causing all gems of the same color to be destroyed, or explode and destroy some gems around your gem, or just create a huge electric cross that wipes out a good portion of the board. If you happen to be using an ability that explodes, it will also destroy any other ability gems caught within the blast radius, activating yours and cutting off your enemy's attack. The result is, with a densely populated board, you can trigger several attacks at the same time to deal a massive amount of damage.

Your enemies work a bit differently. When one of their abilities is fully charged, it is placed on the board just like yours. The difference is, rather than having to make a match to activate it, since you're the only one that is in control here, the ability auto activates after a certain number of turns, usually seven. If you make an idle twist, well, that counts for two turns, accelerating the time until you take damage. This can create a situation where, particularly with an enemy that places a lot of ability gems on the board at once or very quickly, you will not have the opportunity to destroy all of them by making a match prior to them detonating. So, you've got to ask yourself, do you feel lucky enough to survive the damage and focus on your own attacks, hoping none of your gems get destroyed in the process, or do you attempt to stop your enemy, making idle twists as necessary, but also sacrificing bonuses that would increase your rate of ability charge for each consecutive match?

Seven active abilities at once

The final thing to consider when making matches is your and your opponent's affinity color. Make a match of your color, and you'll greatly boost your abilities' charge. Make one of your opponents color, and they gain nothing. So if you happen to both be red, you might want to focus on those matches whenever possible, since they will help you more, and hurt your opponent.

There are several other mechanics that come into play during combat such as increasing bonuses for consistently making matches, which ultimately unlocks a powerful move if you can reach level five. There are four useful items, which unlock all locks, immediately activate your abilities, reverse the direction of your next twist, or resets your debuffs back to zero. Or, if you're worried a fight is going to be particularly difficult, you can activate your breakthrough ability before the fight begins, which unlocks a supped up version of your beasts, assuming you've earned enough points by playing well to have an available breakthrough.

A rush occurs when you activate three or more abilities at once. When all's said and done with this one, only 10 gems remain on the board.

Gyromancer is a good game, plain and simple. It is straight forward, easy to deal with gameplay that can be highly addicting, wrapped up in an intriguing story that makes you desire to know what's going to happen next. In 20 hours I managed to clear the story and all the full bonus levels, as well as unlock a full Summoner's Den. The only issue I ever encountered with the game was that my GPU was able to render it at over 800 FPS, and with no vsync option, I had to go into my control panel and tinker around a bit. Nothing big, and potentially a very limited problem. So if you're looking for an easily approachable game, maybe pick this one up the next time it's around $5, and consider it money well spent - 7 out of 10.

So, the final breakdown:

Score: 7/10

Suggested Price: $5