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GBA | RPG | Summon Night: Swordcraft Story

Boxart for Summon Night: Swordcraft Story
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 8 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.25
  • SOUND: 3.00
  • CONTROL: 4.00
  • FUN FACTOR 3.75
  • AVG USER SCORE n/a
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.8

Review: Summon Night: Swordcraft Story

Review by Her Misnomer | 07/27/2006 | 11:45:17 AM PST

An RPG with side-scrolling, real-time battles? A story that doesn't revolve around missing crystals or ailing princesses, for once? That's what Sword Night: Swordcraft Story has to offer and more.

Protip: Use your Guardian Beast to heal during battle.

Protip: Use your Guardian Beast to heal during battle.

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story places you in the shoes of a budding apprentice whose ultimate goal is to become a master weapon smith known as a Craftlord. The overall story is somewhat generic but its engaging dialogue and multi-part cut scenes offer a lot of meat for the hungry RPG gamer.

Battles of Heart and Sword

At first, Summon Night: Swordcraft's anime-esque art and rather nonsensical title had us seeing red. We'd been burned in the past by other Japanese RPGs that had nothing more to offer us than a generic storyline, a mediocre battle system, and grind-it-out gameplay. Fortunately, we were pleasantly surprised to find that Summon Night doesn't follow in the footsteps of its mediocre predecessors.

If you get lost, just press select to find out your next move.

If you get lost, just press select to find out your next move.

Perhaps the most entertaining aspects of Summon Night's gameplay is the battle system. Reminiscent of the system employed in Tales of Phantasia but much better implemented here, it throws you into a 2D side-scrolling, real-time action environment with every random encounter. You can equip up to three different weapons to switch between in battle, as well as five different spells/actions that your faithful sidekick guardian beast can use to help you out. The battle system is actually rather solid in this game, making the inevitable grind a bit more enjoyable for those who don't favor the turn-based system.

Make or Break

Unlike a "normal" RPG where you can equip armor and weapons that are either found or purchased at a shop, Summon Night utilizes an interesting crafting mechanic in which you, as an aspiring Craftlord, make your own weapons from the techniques that you acquire during your travels. The crafting system is a bit confusing at first, but once players get the hang of it, they will be able to churn out a variety of weapons including swords, axes, spears, knuckles and drills. Players can utilize mystic ores to incorporate elemental properties into weapons, making them even more powerful and impressive.

You can jump hit your enemies, but be sure you don't get hit yourself.

You can jump hit your enemies, but be sure you don't get hit yourself.

All Hail the Craftlord!

While Summon Night has fairly intricate graphics, for the GBA anyway, the audio could have been better; it's reminiscent of the SNES era but it fails to fully live up to old standard. The storyline is somewhat lacking and a bit shallow but overall, gamers who want to play a simple RPG to pass the time should consider picking up a copy.


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