Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
By Capybara Games Inc.
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Description
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP was chosen as the iPad Game of the Year Runner-Up in App Store Rewind 2011!
*****UNIVERSAL VERSION. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is an exploratory action adventure with an emphasis on audiovisual style. Traverse a mythic little realm, use a sword to do battle & evoke sworcery to solve mystical musical mysteries. Co-operate with friends via Twitter, experience a videogame world that is affected by moon phases & help a wandering warrior monk complete her woeful errand.
CRITICAL RESPONSE
***** from over 2000 reviewers!
***** from TouchArcade.com
***** from The London Times
10/10 from Destructoid.com
9.5/10 from IGN.com
"Gworgeous" remarks Kotaku.com
"Swo Engrossing" enthuses Joystiq.com
"It's just walking!?" observes Baiyon.
"Achievement in Art" awarded by IGF Mobile 2010.
S:S&S EP features an album's worth of original music by noted composer Jim Guthrie as well as artwork & designs by Superbrothers Inc, crafted & engineered by videogame wizards at Capy in Toronto, Canada. For more details, feel free to stop by http://swordandsworcery.com
Listen to Jim Guthrie's Sword & Sworcery LP: The Ballad of the Space Babies, available April 2011 on iTunes, Bandcamp & limited edition vinyl.
What's New in Version 1.05
#sworcery has now become resolution independent, and is enabled for iPad3 Retina screens.
Customer Reviews
An overpriced art piece
While this game has its share of interesting puzzles, the majority of your time will be spent tapping the screen until you find something, and spinning your device around to access your hint book in hopes that one of the pseudo-poetic brainfarts from your NPC acquaintances will make enough sense to help you progress.
Actually, I take that back. The majority of your time will be spent not even playing, as by act 2, you get to wait weeks at a time for the moon to change in order to proceed. I've read online that there's a key you can get to access some kind of room that manipulates moon phases, but I never got it, because if you happen to start playing during the dark moon phase like I did, you're made to destroy a tree where you're supposed to get the key from during the light moon phase. This locks you out of the moon room (or "grotto"), forcing you to wait, or change your iDevice's time. This is not only an incredibly annoying bug, but it breaks apps like Twitter until you change the clock back.
The music is literally shoved in your face from the get-go, when you're greeted with an oversized vinyl record. Apparently this is to let you know how indie the game you overpaid for is. The music itself is enjoyable, but very sparse and basic. There is nothing new or interesting about it, it's a standard Indie Game Soundtrack. Why it's heralded as a centerpiece of the game is beyond me. Perhaps its to help sell the ~*limited edition vinyl*~ they're hocking. For some reason, the author decided it would be cool to distract you from one of the nicer parts of the game by recording himself mumbling entries from his diary, and making them play at random moments throughout the game. This is not only unnecessary, but distracting and pretentious.
While this game sports combat, what little is there is basic and unengaging. Flip your device, tap the sword once to attack, hold the shield until your enemy attacks. Rinse and repeat. You win. The boss battles are no better. All three of them are exactly the same, requiring you to tap in rhythm with the music. Its even the same song.
The story is nonexistent. You're a Scythian girl (its never explained what a Scythian is) who suddenly decides to seek out pieces of a trifor--I mean Trigon, in order to vanquish some smoky black thing which is also never explained at any length. Your friends don't speak, but instead are read like a book. Their thoughts are stored in your "megatome", and you get to seek out hints of where to walk to next while sifting through their meaningfulcore hipster musings about nature and the moon.
Once you plow through all of this and reach the ending, it's not even good. I'll avoid spoilers, but basically you win, and the credits roll. There's no replayability either; if you reload your game afterwards, you're back outside the last room.
Essentially, this game isn't even a game, it's a sad attempt at being art; a point and click walkathon with a few "tap until you figure it out" puzzles and some rhythm combat. I expect a lot more for a five dollar game.
But at least the graphics are pretty, right?
Immersive fantasy experience
S: S&S EP could be described as "an album you can walk through"; an artistic, emotional presentation that's far different from the explosion-fests in many games. It uses the capabilities of the iPad--touch, multitouch, rotation--to present a mix of puzzle-solving and action that keeps you involved. The visual artistry is a deliberate simplification, where they convey remarkable amounts of detail with pixellated characters: can you depict an entire human head with two pixels? Yes, if you're as good as Superbrothers. Then, layered on top is a sense of humor that keeps the story engaging and tempts you to actually use that silly "Tweet" feature. I highly recommend the game, and I especially recommend keeping it plugged into speakers at all times for the maximum effect.
Great!
Such a great time. Just bought the soundtrack and steam version.
Really glad to see retina display support for the iPad!
Thanks for the continued support!
- $2.99
- Category: Games
- Updated: Apr 26, 2012
- Version: 1.05
- Size: 152 MB
- Language: English
- Seller: Capybara Games Inc.
- © Copyright Capybara Games Inc, Superbrothers Inc 2011
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.2 or later
