Saving the Kingdom

Sorcery is a game about magic, spells and the Nightmare Queen’s devilish quest to unleash evil on an Eden land. As a young sorcerer's apprentice, it is up to you to conquer the arcane arts and drive the Queen and her foul minions back to the deep dark of the Faerie Kingdoms. Utilizing the PlayStation Move motion controller, Sorcery puts the sorcerers wand in your hand. This game implores players to lose themselves in magic and a world steeped in Irish folklore tradition.

Sorcery features over twelve upgradeable spells, hundreds of potions and all kinds of goodies to collect. Players must defeat enemies, and create new spells and magic throughout their adventure to thwart increasingly difficult enemies. Take on a variety of quests throughout the kingdom like recovering ancient lost knowledge from the City of the Drowned, doing favors for townsfolk and rescuing children dragged from their all while healing a broken world of Darkness. From humble apprentice beginnings turn yourself into a master wizard conjuring magic to eviscerate your foes and save everyone from eternal night.

A wave of the wand

The game was the first to be demoed at Sony’s E3 Press Conference using the Playstation Move, Sony’s new motion controller. After taking a brief stretch (yeah I didn’t get that either) the demonstrator took control of the character. Right off the bat, he showed a number of moves by vanquishing a rather annoying creature in a cage with a flick of the wrist explaining how the specific move the player makes affects the power and trajectory of the magic spells.

The advertised accuracy of the Move was clearly defined by the motion the player was making. It may take a little time to hone your aiming skills to the level required to kill off the baddies of the Faerie Kingdoms but it’s not going to be too difficult. Simple moves such as resting your arm at your hip to shoot a bolt of electricity can go a long way. Aiming a bolt of lightning at the face of a ‘too close for comfort’ demon can have very satisfying results, as does slamming the ground to create a virtual earthquake around you.

A lot of emphasis is put on using magic spells together. One of the magic spells demoed that I thought was pretty cool was the Whirlwind. While the premise isn’t very innovative, using the Move controller to steer the tornado wherever you want it is really very neat. You can use it to gather up multiple enemies all across a room and then eliminate them all at once in one big Whirlwind. Capitalizing on combining magic you can create a wall of fire with a slash of the wrist along with the Whirlwind to create a tornado of flames. Cool!

The combination of the spells is what caught my eye the most. The possibilities are nearly limitless. There is not really a whole lot of detail about Sorcery coming from Sony, however we can assume that something like cloaking will be one of the many spells. Imagine cloaking a tornado of fire and sneaking it up behind enemies without them being any the wiser. Unveiling the towering inferno whipping up everyone and spitting them out ablaze will definitely have us all smirking with delight.

There are also shape-shifting spells that can, for example, turn the player into a rat. This can be used to squeeze into places a human being would not be able to access, possibly leading to hidden items and locations. Other creature forms will open up other types of gameplay and new possibilities. I just hope I can be a giant eagle and latch my talons in some dumb creatures head to toss it into a lake of fire created by my hand. Is that slightly morbid and possibly demented? Yes. But that is what will make Sorcery a great game: how you deal with your foes is entirely up to you.

Casting a spell for success

Sorcery is a great example of games utilizing the Playstation Move. Reconstructing bridges by swinging your arm around, flicking the controller at an enemy to eviscerate them with explosive fire or linking magic to devastating effect are all examples of how to use the Move to your advantage. Sorcery looks like it is taking the fun, innovative motion controls and charming game design we have seen in existing Wii titles and bringing that whole package to the more powerful Playstation 3. Sorcery looks promising and may just turn out to be the best Move launch title. I mean, what can possibly get better than controlling a freaking tornado?