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Will Song Summoner Be the First Good iPod Game?

Posted by John Constantine

Square-Enix, they of the beloved, monolithic RPG franchises Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, have quietly released an original strategy RPG for, of all things, the iPod. Even more surprising is how cool it sounds. In Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes, you build an army (Tune Troopers as they’re called in-game) using the songs stored in your iPod. You level your forces through the usual fighting and whatnot but you can also build their stats by listening to the song that created them. That is, frankly, one of the coolest game features I have ever heard of in my entire life.

It’s interesting to hear about such a unique and well-considered game coming out specifically for the iPod, especially in light of the recent announcement of the iPhone’s grand gaming aspirations. Games have been coming out on the iPod for close to two years now, but they’ve been pretty terrible. A little wheel is just not conducive to controlling even the simplest of games; Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are unplayable messes, and the less said about Sonic the Hedgehog the better. Apple’s success with the iPod in Japan, not to mention the slow iPhone sales, certainly has something to do with Square-Enix’s efforts on the platform, but it’s still strange.

I’m not sold on gaming for platforms not specifically built for gaming. Cell-phones, iPhones, Blackberries, iPods, etc. aren’t ergonomically sound for videogames. Sure, they’re fine for card or board games, even simple puzzlers like Snood, but anything deeper is a stretch. RPGs do seem like a good fit, but Square-Enix and any other developer throwing their hat in the ring will have to make sure that the game they build is made for very quick, short use.

Do you play games on your iPod? Do you like them? Let us know in the comments

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Posted Jul 08 2008, 04:00 PM

Filed under: john constantine, square-enix, ipod, snood, song summoner, iphone

Comments

Derrick Sanskrit said:

If my iPod nano was the newer one that supported games, I'd totally try this out. It's only five bucks, half what I paid for Dr. Mario on WiiWare. The only downside would be that I change what I listen to so frequently that my characters would hardly ever level up.

July 8, 2008 7:05 PM

Rob said:

If I still lived in NYC and had any kind of train commute I would definitely give it a go. But now I could only play it at home, when I could be playing on the Wii or listening to music on my stereo.

And the listening to the song to level up does sound fucking cool, but to second what Derrick said, I change up my songs way too often for that to work. Hopefully there's another way to make the characters level up.

July 8, 2008 9:06 PM

Rob said:

Oh shit, I just had a crazy vision about this.

Nickelback's sales are fading and they strike a deal with ipod to feature their songs in the games, and the only way to level up your players is to listen to Nickelback songs! Nerds unite and bring back Nickelback-nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Who am I kidding, Nickelback's sales are never going to decline.

July 9, 2008 9:44 AM

Demaar said:

I want this game on PC, or as an XBLA/PSN title. Some way I can get my own music into the game without needing to own a damn iPod, anyway.

July 9, 2008 10:51 PM

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

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