Swords and sorcery, and a destiny that is yet to be fulfilled – these elements come together smoothly in a linear tale of high adventure.

Summoner: A Goddess Reborn, a THQ/Volition/CrankyPants Games release for the GameCube, is a very linear game, but combines smooth graphical elements and excellent sound to deliver a wonderful experience.

This title is actually a re-release of a previous game, albeit with some new features. A Goddess Reborn is the GC version of the PlayStation2 title Summoner 2. However the game has been tweaked a little for the new platform.

Players take on the role of Maia, queen of the Halassar. Her quest to retrieve stolen documents and fulfill her destiny to become the goddess Lamarah reborn will take her (and you) to many exotic locales, filled with a wondrous array of unique monsters and challenges. Even getting past the opening tutorial screens can be a bit of a challenge for newcomers to the game. Because of the overall lack of save points early in the game, some may find themselves repeating entire scenarios over and over again.

The game begins on a roiling sea, a ship boarded by villains and Maia learning to handle the sword, defend and cast from her array of magical spells. Defeat the boss pirate, and the game flicks to a cutscene, which while contrary to the action of the game, introduces a wonderful and deadly assassin character. You can eventually have three people in your party and switch between them during the game, and during combat scenes. If one gets low on health and is knocked unconscious, you jump into the skin of another. When all party members are down, the game is over.

Fortunately, you can pause the game in mid-fight to cast spells, which can heal or revive down party members.

The game also parallels Electronic Arts’ Pirates – The Legend of Black Kat in the loot management department and the way your controlled characters interact with other non-playing characters. If one of the controlled characters comes across treasure, an icon flashes over that character’s head. You then click and pull up what the item is. Quickly jumping to the inventory screen allows you to equip newfound treasure.

The player interface in this game is a delight to work through. It may take 20 minutes, or so, to become truly comfortable with it, but once you do, you’ll wonder why more games don’t pattern interfaces after this game.

Those are the good points, now for the bad …

The camera angles in this game leave much to be desired. Coupled with the fact that players can only block attacks from the front, which presents a challenge, and you may be spending a great deal of time trying to control the camera to bring up a strong rear third-person perspective as you do dealing out attacks, defending and monitoring health status. Jumping into the role of another player only furthers the frustration and challenge.

Other than the camera, the controls of Summoner are fairly straightforward and easy to use. It is apparent that pains of been taken to make this game relatively accessible in the majority of game facets.

The combat can be a challenge. Each character is capable of special attack moves and combination moves. The latter can leave you open to a counterstrike, so you simple can pull off the same triple-key tab each time. The AI seems to evolve and the enemy will either counter with devastating effects, or simply block through the same attack uses over and over. You can also see, during a battle with a boss, when openings will occur, and if you time it right, you can score very good damage. It is also possible to lock on to a target, but pressing the R key. This allows you to concentrate your attacks on a single enemy.

Potions can be hotkeyed as well, making drinking that health potion during combat much quicker. The combat is real-time, not turn-based, and you will need to make certain that you manage health, attack/defense angles and your potions wisely.

The storyline is linear, but very nice. The graphics are lush, bright and well animated. This game looks terrific and sounds very good. The vocal characterizations, battle sounds, musical score and special effects are very well done.

Summoner: A Goddess Reborn is a terrific role-playing game, and since there seems to be a lack of similar titles (for the time being) on the GameCube system, it is a welcomed site. The game has some unique elements, is a nice challenge, and presents a terrific vision of a fantasy world. It is, for the most part, a joy to play.

This game is rated Teen for blood and violence.

Gameplay: 7.6
The maps are mazes and while you may go in different directions, there is only one path to the goal. The camera also makes this a little too convoluted during combat. Having a camera that moves around is nice, but that should also include a way to center the camera behind the played character.

Graphics: 8.8
This game looks very good, with lush environments, and great animation. The game does incorporate some arcade elements, but they serve only to give players the most information possible in a restricted (no-keyboard) controller environment.

Sound: 8
The vocal characterizations, music, combat and special effects are all solid performers and really support what one sees onscreen.

Difficulty: Medium
The camera angles make this game a challenge, but the player interface is easy to work through.

Concept: 8.5
The game is ported from another platform, true, but this is a welcomed addition to the GC club, which is not overfull of RPG titles. The story is very well done and the majority of game elements are designed with ease of use in mind.

Overall: 8.2
The game has some drawbacks, to be certain, but still has to be considered a wonderful choice for fans of the genre and platform. It can suck up a lot of space on a memory card (19 blocks), but this game is a treat for the eyes, ears and mind.