An Atmospheric Dungeon Crawl: Sorcery PDA Reviewed

[John Walkosak]

Sorcery PDA is a dungeon crawl extraordinaire. While not an action game, this title has more than enough atmosphere to keep you riveted to your Pocket PC.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/johnwalkosak-may03-sorcery-01.jpg" /> <br /><!><br /><i>If you’ve got a hankering to explore some dark, dank labyrinths (and who doesn’t) and do battle with evil beasties, then hoist your mace and grab your Pocket PC and fire up Sorcery PDA, Falcon's Quest. Just don’t use the Pocket PC as a shield.</i><br /><br />Sorcery PDA Falcon's Quest is a fantasy themed role playing game in which you must go on a quest to find your world. That is pretty standard fare. But this game really immerses you in its world, and has more than enough backstory to get you into the game.<br /><br />When installed, you also get a short story in Microsoft Reader format giving you the back story of your character and an image of the world you will be moving though. It is important that you read this carefully.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/johnwalkosak-may03-sorcery-04.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 1: Be sure to read the included short story; it just might contain some clues...</i><br /><br /><span><b>It’ll Build Character</b></span><br />Sorcery PDA is unique among role playing games. Like most role playing games, you start a new game by rolling the dice to generate your character statistics. But these stats really make a difference; if certain stats are too low, your character may miss a clue, etc. This lends a nice bit of replayability to the game. As you progress through the game, you earn more experience and your statistics grow. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/johnwalkosak-may03-sorcery-03.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 2: Your characters statistics. These do come into play, and because of this create some replay potential.</i><br /><br />Once your character is generated, you then progress directly to the game. <br /><br /><span><b>Sounds Good</b></span><br />Right from the start, you are immersed. This is, in part, due to the fabulous sound in the game. Blowing winds, dripping water, etc., really bring the game to life. I highly recommend using a good pair of headphones while playing.<br /><br />But don't stop at the sound. The visuals are equally stunning. As you move through the world, you are presented with a series of predominantly still images, with a modicum of animation. As with the sound, these visuals really set an atmosphere of a dark and lonely world; deserted hamlets, ancient dungeons, dank sewers. All are completely realised. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/johnwalkosak-may03-sorcery-02.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 3: This is one of the first scenes you will be presented with, and gives a good example of the visuals. Look closely, as there is something here that requires close examination.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Gameplay</b></span><br />All of this atmosphere is nice, but this a game after all, and gameplay is key. This game does not disappoint.<br /><br />I referred to this game as a "dungeon crawl" because you are on a quest, and as with any good quest, you must explore. As you move through the world, you are presented with several puzzles and challenges. You've got to examine the screen carefully, as sometimes just finding the puzzle can be challenging. For example, as shown in Figure 3 above, the first screen of the game shows the front doors of a castle. But if you look closely, at the base of the castle there is a pile of some sort. When you click on it to examine it, you are presented with a pile of bones. You must examine this closely as somewhere in it is a key that you will need.<br /><br /><span><b>Monsters</b></span><br />As one would expect, these lonely, dank nether realms are not completely uninhabited. Every so often, you will encounter a certain somebody who doesn't really want you around. Thus begins the combat portion of our show. Unlike the standard arcade type of combat full of fast action and spurting blood, Sorcery PDA uses the paper and dice type of combat, with rough graphics. Because of this, combat moves very slowly on a turn by turn basis (ie: - you rolled a 7 - you missed). This is really where your character statistics come into play. <br /><br /><b><span>Gotchas</span></b> <br />My only complaint is the game's combat system. Combat is slow and as such is really a distraction to the game. This is really the nature of the beast with a role playing game with turn based combat.<br /><br /><b><span>Where to Buy</span></b> <br />The software can be <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=63691">downloaded from Handango</a> or purchased for $24.95 (affiliate link). <br /><br /><b><span>Specifications</span></b> <br />To be able to crawl in this dungeon, you are going to need some serious Pocket PC real estate. The game needs a whopping 17,321kb of space. While you can install to a storage card, the game performs much better when installed in main memory. I know that it runs on my PPC2002, but I am not sure about 2003.<br /><br /><br /><b><span>Conclusions</span></b> <br />This game is an entertaining and atmospheric quest. I can’t wait to see what these guys do next.

[GoldKey]

Wow, looks pretty cool. Two questions,

How is the game for starting and stopping, ie can I save anywhere or only at predefined points?

What is an estimated time to complete the game? $25 seems OK if I get a good amount of gameplay, not so good if I can finish it in a few hours.

[GoldKey]

Are my eyes going that bad. I could have sworn it said 19.95 when I first read the review, now it is 24.95, but the post does not show having been edited.

[Jason Dunn]

Are my eyes going that bad. I could have sworn it said 19.95 when I first read the review, now it is 24.95, but the post does not show having been edited.

It's $24.95 - I updated John's review once I went to the Handago page and checked the price. I'm not sure where the $19.95 price came from - maybe the developer jacked the price up $5 after John had already written the review?

Posts only show being edited if someone has responded to them before the edit is made.

[Raynne]

Yes, the sound effects and graphics are great, but currently I have numerous complaints. I have a Dell Axim and they never did any testing on this device. I bought the game in February, and due to bug reports, the only modules released are Mod 1 part 1 and mod 1 part 2. There are "supposed" to be 14 Mods eventually. The last time they posted a news update was in May. I am still waiting.

My other complaint is there are very few places where the game saves itself. For example, there is a maze that is hell to get through and you are attacked at almost every turn. Yet, if you die, you have to start completely over because the game wasn't saved.

[GoldKey]

Raynne,

Thanks for the info. What types of problems are you having running it on the Dell, as that is what I have.

Also, I understand that it may not save automatically very often, but can you manually save whenever you like.


Jason - thanks for the price update, I edited my original post to reflect it as well.

[Raynne]

Yes, but manually saving isn't going to a button and choosing save. It is using file explorer and copying the files into a new folder. Then if you die, copying the folders back. It is just bugs where certain things won't work, or sometimes you get a black screen. Like, I couldn't continue to the second mod (when it was actually available) because I couldn't go through the castle doors, and therefore, it wouldn't prompt me to install the second mod. Now that it actually does that, the mod isn't available.

[GoldKey]

So the complete game is not available yet? I would not want to start something that isn't available for me to finish yet. There is no guarantee that the whole thing will be made available. Just like I wouldn't start a book without knowing I have the conclusion available when I want it.

Additionally, that seems like a pretty ugly way of saving a game, it seem there should be a smoother method.

[John Walkosak]

Are my eyes going that bad. I could have sworn it said 19.95 when I first read the review, now it is 24.95, but the post does not show having been edited.


Oops! :oops: Apparently I pulled the pricing link from the wrong page. My apologies :frusty: I'm going to blame it on Blackout 2003...

[Raynne]

No, it isn't available yet. If you order the game now, you only get maybe an hour of gameplay, if you manage to get through the maze without dying. You basically get mod 1 part 1 with the download of the game and mod 1 part 2 is available for a seperate download.

[GoldKey]

No, it isn't available yet. If you order the game now, you only get maybe an hour of gameplay, if you manage to get through the maze without dying. You basically get mod 1 part 1 with the download of the game and mod 1 part 2 is available for a seperate download.

I think they need to price it accordingly then. I would rather pay $2 per mod as they come out than $25 now with no guarantee if/when the rest are available.

[muaddip]

The add-on mods are free ifyou buy the full version.

[Raynne]

Yes, they are free. But the point is that only one Mod has been released in a good number of months, and it is getting rather frustrating.

[GoldKey]

The add-on mods are free ifyou buy the full version.

Right, but since they are not available now, I have to wait until when/if they are available. Really, you are buying a subscription with no guarantee of the whole product being delivered. Plus, I want to play at my own pace. If I really like it, I want to continue playing until the end, not have to wait for them to release each piece.

[Ainvar]

Took them forever to get it out and now you can not play it all the way through from what I am hearing..... I think I will wait till it is all ready for download then I may buy the game. But as of now it all seems a little hokey.

[muaddip]

There are currently 2 mods available with reports that the 3rd is coming along nicely. I agree with you that it is frustrating to be able to only play to a certain point. I just want to make sure that all the facts are out there.

[aroma]

Nice review John. Just one comment though. I think you should have included information about their "Module" approach to the game in your review. It is a little disturbing that the game was finished at the end of March, and at that time they estimated one week per module to realease them, and here it is almost five months later and they've released 1 module (2 parts). This DEFINATELY begs the question if its worth 25$.

- Aaron

[rsmithline]

I agree aroma...I think that is a rather important detail I would like to have seen mantioned in the review. I am glad a read the replies here before I ordered it.

R

[Autarch]

I agree, too; the "module approach" is a deal breaker for me. I'm not going to pay $25 for an hour or two of gameplay when additional modules are being released at the rate of one every 5 months. There are other good RPGs (e.g., pocket EverQuest) available now, in their entirety.

Edit: There's also no way I'm buying this game until I know it's compatible with WM2003.

[GreenApple123]

I bought a replacement PDA battery for my PDA about a month ago from http://www.laptopsforless.com/pdahandheldbattery and it works great. Is there any reason to think that a replacement PDA battery would be any worse than the manufacturer’s replacement?