Being more an advocate of the classic Bejeweled “swap any gem with any adjacent gem” game mechanic; I was initially sceptical about Gyromancer, which uses the Bejeweled Twist mechanic of “rotate four gems clockwise”. However, by the end of Gyromancer, the ability to twist gems into whatever patterns I wanted came naturally to me. In fact, when I booted up Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords a few days after beating Gyromancer (just for fun), I struggled to see ways to match three using the traditional approach.
If you’ve played Bejeweled Twist than you already know how the gameplay works in Gyromancer. By twisting sets of four gems in a clockwise motion, you must align three or more gems to make a match and clear them from the board. When this is done, the gems will disappear and new gems will fall to take their place. Simple enough, but when you introduce the RPG/Pokémon type elements of getting various creatures to battle each other, then it becomes interesting.
There’s also some Final Fantasy Lite type story in the form of a rebel group intent on overthrowing the monarchy, an immortal called to save the day (you), and a mysterious wood where the story takes place. Unfortunately this isn’t very interesting, and mostly serves to prop up the gameplay. You will make your way through 11 different levels, most featuring a boss, in your quest, all the while collecting more dangerous beasts, levelling up and advancing the storyline.
These levels ultimately felt a bit short to me, and while there are awards per stage to collect, only the most dedicated or masochistic will want to replay the first stages to get these. There are also a variety of creatures and variations to fill your menagerie with, but it’s not something that is integral to the main quest, or to your enjoyment of the game. Speaking of replay value, there is downloadable content available, but if you have to pay for it (sorry 360 gamers), I wouldn’t bother, as it’s really more of the same with overpowered creatures to collect as rewards. You’ll need to be a high enough level to finish these levels, and by then you won’t need more powerful monsters.
By matching gems, your beast’s abilities fill up, and when full, an attack gem appears on the board, and matching this gem will cause damage to your opponent. Your opponent, however, automatically has their abilities fill up, and their gems appear on the board with a countdown. When this reaches 0, they will attack you, forcing you to go on the defensive in order to avoid taking damage. Maybe I was just expecting too much Puzzle Quest, but I didn’t like this style of “combat”. It felt unfair that they could attack without so much as lifting a finger; while you had to do all the hard work for both offence and defence.
Graphics-wise, the story plays out in various cut-scenes, driven mostly by single-panel character cut-outs sprouting lengthy speeches to each other. The detail on the creature models is quite impressive, and the attacking effects are pretty, but beyond that, the game is pretty average in the graphics department.
At 1,200 MS Points on the 360 or about R116 ($14.99) from Steam with the extra three maps included, it’s a difficult decision on whether to recommend this. It’s fun while it lasts but ultimately the experience won’t last long, and the lack of multiplayer or any redeeming replayability ultimately hinders the game. For fans of the puzzle genre, I’d say give it a try. For everyone else: you’d probably be better off without Gyromancer in your life.
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