Secret of Evermore

"A pretty good game,but horrible story."

Secret Of Evermore is a spin off of Secret Of Mana,this game was made by Square of America,and was only released here in America.This has many of the elements from Secret Of Mana,but there are a few differences.

Graphics:8-The graphics aren't too bad,the towns,dungeons,and monsters are done with pretty good detail.

Sound and Music:7-The music is kind of crappy and dull,some of it is kind of inaudible (Fire Eyes' Village for example) and in some cases,corny.The sound effects are okay,like the sound of your dog barking does actually sound like a dog barking,the mosquitos make the sound that a mosquito would make,and so on.

Control:8-I don't really find many problems with the controls in this game.Charging up your weapon may be kind of tedious,but that's just about it.

Gameplay:9-Not bad,since it took a well liked formula (Secret of Mana's) if you played Secret of Mana,you'll find some differences here:Instead of having Magic Points,you find alchemy formulas from different people,and you have to find the right ingredients for it to work.To get ingredients,you can either buy them at shops,or (As you may expect) find them my searching where they could actually be,like water as in an ingredient,you would find water if you search along the water and roots can be found next to trees and plants,although it doesn't really make much sense to only get a limited amount of an ingredient in a place (You can't get as much water as you want from the ocean) it kind of makes you wonder.You get four different types of weapons:Sword,Axe,Javelin,and Bazooka.You also have to keep your armor updated for you and your dog.You can either play as the kid (He doesn't have a default name) or the dog (He doesn't have a name either)but,you may want to remain playing as the kid,because if he dies,it's game over,even if the dog has 100% health,it's still game over.This is one of my minor complains about this game.

Story:4-REALLY crappy story,you just finished watching the movies,when your pet dog finds,and chases a cat into an abandoned building,inside you find a device that warps you to another world,you must find your way back to your world.

Replayability:9-In case if you miss an alchemy formula or two,it's always worth it to start over and try to find it after you beat the game.Not to mention,it's fun to play over and over.

Buy or Rent?:-You will probably not be able to find this in any local rental store,so the only way is to either find it in a used games store,eBay,or get a ROM for it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/01, Updated 03/31/01