Unleash the Light
By Chad Sapieha,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Tale based on TV show shares values of kindness, friendship.
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Unleash the Light
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What’s It About?
UNLEASH THE LIGHT wastes no time with backstory or explaining connections between characters but instead assumes the audience is diving in with a thorough knowledge of the Steven Universe TV show. Players take on the role of six of the show's heroes -- Steven, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Lapis Lazuli, and Bismuth -- as they adventure in groups of four through small dungeons en route to showdowns with a pair of new Gem adversaries created by TV showrunner Rebecca Sugar specifically for the game. To move through dungeons, players simply swipe the screen to transition from room to room, tapping on any sparkling treasures they might find to pick them up. Some rooms contain simple puzzles -- such as shifting colored light towers to combine them into the proper hue -- that need to be solved to progress. If enemies are present, play automatically transitions to turn-based combat. Each member has his or her own collection of attacks and abilities that draw from a shared pool of star points. A healing ability might use a couple of stars, while a whip attack that can hit multiple foes in an attack zone cone may cost three. Once the star pool is depleted, play shifts to your opponents so that they can take a turn. As the story goes on, characters gradually level up, growing in strength, earning new abilities, and gaining special badges, costumes, charms, and upgrades that further enhance their prowess in battle.
Is It Any Good?
This one's for Steven Universe fans who love a good, classic turn-based role-playing game. Unleash the Light captures the show upon which it is based almost perfectly -- which is perhaps to be expected, given the assistance provided to the game's developers by the show's creator, Rebecca Sugar. The energetic cartoon aesthetic and familiar characters voiced by the original actors makes it almost feel as though we're playing a series of interactive episodes. More than that, it's true to the cartoon's heart. The heroes are kind and supportive to one another, and the writing provides some true laugh-out-loud moments. If you don't love them already, you're bound to begin caring about and rooting for all six of these pleasant protagonists over the course of the game.
Happily, exploration and combat are a match for the story. Navigating dungeons by sliding to move between rooms is fast and efficient, meaning you're unlikely to ever lose track of where you are. And the tactical battles are a blast. They start out on the easy side, but as the game goes on, players will need to master a timing mechanic that involves tapping the screen at precisely the right moment to defend against enemies or deal extra damage when attacking. Plus, as characters learn new abilities, choosing the right one (or the right badges, charms, and costumes prior to battle) at the right time and executing it properly can mean the difference between success and failure. Unleash the Light is that rare game based on a TV show or movie that not only captures the soul of the source material, but also manages to deliver some pretty entertaining action, to boot.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about screen time. If you were given half an hour of screen time, would you rather watch an episode of Steven Universe or play through a few dungeons of Unleash the Light? What type of screen time is more satisfying, interactive or non-interactive?
How do friendships come about? Is there a magical moment when you know that you've suddenly become friends with someone, or do friendships tend to evolve more slowly without you even realizing that someone has become your friend?
Game Details
- Platform: Apple Arcade
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Cartoon Network Games
- Release date: November 27, 2019
- Genre: Role-Playing
- ESRB rating: NR for No Descriptions
- Last updated: December 19, 2019
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