The generally described genre of “matching” games is a very broad category – matching similar colours to achieve some kind of effect or victory is a game as old as time.
However, Sdorica – Sunset pairs this with a story-based RPG experience directly tied to the matching games.
Starting as many anime-based games often seem to do, you start the game far in the future, going through a tutorial section, only to be then propelled back in time to the very beginning of the story. A military officer meets a giant tiger, as well as a luckily a talented magic user, fully rounding out your party.
Combat plays out by swiping at least two of the same coloured balls along the bottom section of the interface. As you swipe over them, you’re made aware of the total damage dealt by your attacks, depending on the colour. Each of your characters possesses different strengths and abilities, activated by these coloured balls.[sc name=”quote” text=”Each of your characters possesses different strengths and abilities, activated by these coloured balls.”]
Swiping over at least four of the balls activates an upgraded form of the attacks, allowing you to strategically plan your attacks based on when you need them. As each ball floats in a line from the side, you can strategically plan out your battle plan; you know you’re going to need to attack more hard at a certain time, so try to sync up the colours properly when you need them.
Outside of the combat levels itself, the overland map is confusing to the extreme – there are extraneous menus, UI icons and weird stuff everywhere, so it starts to leave you confused beyond belief.
Luckily though, except for leveling up your individual characters, there’s not much you need to pay attention to with the rest of the level. It’s the combat levels themselves that are the important thing.
The story everything is based on is in-depth and decently well written – there are a lot of cutesy moments, anime-esque expressions performed by the characters are animated beautifully, with nice little details constantly hidden within.
The detail within the story is… well… it’s a bit silly and very common to anime storylines, but that doesn’t make it bad, per se. It just makes it very silly.[sc name=”quote” text=”The detail within the story is… well… it’s a bit silly and very common to anime storylines, but that doesn’t make it bad, per se. It just makes it very silly.”]
The gameplay is strong, the visual effects and animation pleasing and continuously engaging, so much so that you find yourself not properly reading the descriptions and text of the writing, instead focusing on the moving characters, silly dances and emotions they’re expressing oh so beautifully.
It might be best if it were a bit clearer exactly how you can predicate the meta in Sdorica – Sunset, but overall the gameplay is consistent enough to be enjoyable without too much frustration.
Sdorica – Sunset is an especially decent game with a good blend of both tactical combat and colour matching gameplay. Assuming you’re looking for some decent story-based game that manages to blend its gameplay elements well, you likely won’t go wrong with Sdorica – Sunset.
[review pros=”The gameplay is nicely blended between the two genres. The visual effects are beautiful and engaging. The UI and visual details can be a little confusing.” cons=”It can take a little while to realize how good it is.” score=8]
