Dawn of Mana

"A perfect game in everything that matters - gameplay included."

After reading thousands of reviews saying the same thing about Dawn of Mana over and over, I couldn't have worse expectations on the game. Yet I decided to buy it, since I'm a Seiken Densetsu fan and I usually don't trust reviews and stuff like that too much. And God, how lucky I am for having bought this game. I just can't understand how anyone who likes platform
games could hate it. It DOES have a few technical issues, but they don't make the game less enjoyable in any way.

Graphics: 10/10

The graphics in Dawn of Mana are absolutely perfect, period. Beautiful environments, nice character models, stunning FMVs... there's absolutely nothing to complain about, no matter how you look at it. The fact that many monsters and environments resemble - or were taken directly from - previous Mana games also adds a lot to the magic feel of the game as well.

Sound: 8/10

The music is beautiful and fits in the game nicely, and fans of older Mana games will find it quite familiar to previous games in the series. Voice acting is pretty good too - surprisingly good, to be more exact. The only bad point is that some of the sound effects can get really annoying after some time.

Story: 8/10

For players who have spent the last ten years playing thousands of different versions of the same "bad guy kidnaps good girl, good guy goes after good girl and defeats bad guy" plot, maybe Dawn of Mana's story will not impress too much. All the overused cliches from generic RPGs are here, but the excellent voice dubbing, intelligent and well thought dialogue, nice event planning and wonderful FMV scenes make up for that, making the story look
and sound as good and even as innovative as it should.

Gameplay: 10/10

Okay, now's where things start to get interesting. According to 90% of the people who played the game, the controls are what screws up the rest of the game. Well, what can be said about that? Let's see:

First of all, what makes many players abandon the game after playing for a few minutes is the fact that the game itself is completely messed up. You will find yourself swinging enemies around and smashing everything that's in your sight all the time. The physics are extremely strange as well, and some objects behave as if they were light as paper. That may seem like something bad, but believe me, it's actually what makes the game so much fun.

Second, the fact that your level resets to 1 after a chapter ends. It may sound like a major letdown, but since there is not much to gain from levelling up in the first place, it never annoys as much as it could. Besides, getting emblems from the enemies is so addictive you would still want to do it even if there was no level at all.

And finally, the camera. Except for the fact that the camera is fixed up way too close to Keldy's back, it works perfectly, rarely making it difficult to see where the enemies are coming from or which platform you'll have to jump on next. Using the L1 button to center the camera angle is something you'll need to be constantly doing, though, since the camera movement is rather slow.

Final Score: 9/10

Seriously, I'd recommend this game for anyone. Any player who likes action RPGs and has an open mind to judge the game - especially the battle system - by himself and not by other players' opinions is sure to like Dawn of Mana. It's really a shame that so many people have come to expect too much of the title, which is one of the most addictive games I've ever played.
Just play and see for yourself if it's good or not, that's all I can say.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/31/07