Sword of Mana

"A great game."

Sword of Mana is a great game. It is one of the best Role Playing Games on the GBA and one of the best games on the GBA.

Story: 8/10
In Sword of Mana the some of the people have forgotten the goddess and are refusing to use the power of Mana. The ruler of those people is the Dark Lord. He is an evil man. He is trying to kill all the Mana believers. You get to pick from two different characters (the Hero and the Heroine). They have different stories, but they have the same goal. To defeat the Dark Lord.
Hero’s Story: The Hero’s parents were killed by the Dark Lord ten years ago and Hero was made into a slave. He wants to get revenge and defeat the Dark Lord…
Heroine’s Story: The Heroine was living a peaceful life with her mother until the Dark Lord came and destroyed her village. She found out before her mother died that her mother was not her birth mother. It looked like she was doomed to a life in hiding but no matter how far she runs the Dark Lord’s soldiers are never far behind…

Graphics: 10/10
The graphics in this game are great. They are very colorful. The animation is smooth and the cutscenes and characters are awesome. The areas look excellent. It uses the GBA’s full potential. It looks almost as good as the one on PlayStation. There are no flaws in graphics.

Sound/Music: 9/10
The music/sound in this game is amazing. The soundtrack is really good. Most of the music are remakes from Final Fantasy Adventure. The music in the town and stuff is relaxing. Also, the music in dungeons and stuff is really good.

Control: 7/10
The control in this game is pretty good. The flaw with it is that when you want to change magic or weapons you have to press start and select spirits and that gets annoying sometimes when you are fighting a boss or a lot of different kinds of enemies. Other than that the controls are pretty good.

Game Play: 10/10
The game play in this game is good. What I really like about it is that it is that it is not turn based. It is all action. It is an RPG so when you kill enemies or a boss you get experience points and you raise your stats with them. Fighting enemies and bosses is fun. There is only one flaw with the bosses. They are really easy. There is a wide selection of weapons to choose from like the lance, the sword, and the mace to name a few. You can make your weapons and armor better by tempering them and forging them. To temper armor you need fruit and to temper weapons you need veggies. You can grow fruits and veggies from seeds. There is also a lot of puzzle solving. Overall the game play is good.

Replay Value: 9/10
The replay value is great. There are a lot of side quests and in the beginning of the game you get to choose which character you want to be. The Heroine or the Hero. It is also fun just to play it over.

Rent or Buy: Buy
Buy. This is a great game for all GBA owners. Don’t bother renting it because you will probably want to replay it. This is definitely worth your money.

Sword of Mana is a great game and should not be missed by anyone. It is one of the best game on the GBA.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/03, Updated 02/28/04