Publisher: THQ
Developer: Volition
Genre: RPG
Game Website: summoner.com
Everyone. I'd like you to meet Joseph. Joseph is a farm boy, pulled against his will into a magical adventure in a fantasy world. Well, where have we heard that before? The list goes on and on, doesn't it? Yawn.... But wait, there's a twist: Joseph is a farmboy, yes. But he's a farmboy because he is a Summoner, a wizard of great natural talent who once summoned a mighty demon to save his friends and family, but sadly lost control of it and it rampaged, destroying his hometown. Naturally, they ran him out of town on a rail. Hey, if that happened to you, you'd probably chuck it all and take up farming too.
But protagonists of upcoming medieval fantasy role-playing games can't retire for long and Joseph's destiny soon catches up with him as his world is beset by a great evil. Joseph must beat his ploughshare into a weapon and take up summoning once again, seeking out the mystical Rings of Summoning before an invading army can plunder his homeland. All with the help of a handful of friends, who aren't all that friendly. Such is the backstory of Volition's Summoner, due in stores in a matter of weeks.
Volition is best known for Descent and the Freespace series of shooters. Games that offered innovative control schemes, solid and compelling backstories and truly state of the art graphics. Volition is also one of those cursed game studios that consistently produces critically acclaimed games to disappointing sales. Summoner represents them branching out, out of space and confining tunnels into the world of the RPG. I took the opportunity to visit them at their Champaign, Illinois headquarters to see how it's coming along.
As I sat down with producer Alvan Monje I was first impressed with Summoner's graphics engine. True to form Volition is out to wow you from the start. The game uses a 3D camera system that lets you get in behind the character for a 3rd person over-the-shoulder perspective or zoom out to an almost top-down view of the action. Everything is 3D and the depth of color easily rivals such lookers as Sacrifice, while the level of detail, and gameplay style is vaguely reminiscent of Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption.