Sword of Mana

"Is it a good game? Yes. Is it worth the "sleeper hit" hype? No."

Background: For those who don't know, Sword of Mana is a remake of a electronic RP Gamer classic - Final Fantasy Adventure. This was a very simple game - no long, elaborate plot, graphics that would make the eyes of most current fans of Square bleed, and gameplay as difficult in concept as the original Mario Brothers.
Those were the days. This review does keep in mind the fact that this game is a mere remake, so certain aspects in homage to the original that it would be criticized for, will not be.

Gameplay:
Not bad. Unlike most Squaresoft RPGs, rather than being turned based, this game is really an Action/Adventure RPG, not unlike the Legend of Zelda series. Let me comment on the bad parts first, then I'll get to what I liked about it.

Sword of Mana's fun factor primarily suffers from a lack of clarity and challenge. It should be difficult for me to take on a boss and figure out puzzles, it should not be difficult for me to figure out some things central to actual gameplay, such as how to reach job classes. While I am no fan of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the informative class system menu used in that game would have been helpful, particularly due to the irreversible nature of the class system in this game.

Once you have embarked down the path of a warrior, you can be nothing else. While I do enjoy skill trees and even prefer them to job systems which allow switching at free will, the game effectively puts you on a bicycle at the top of a hill and lets you go. Without training wheels or a helmet. This is something that does not need to be repeated from the games of yore in gameplay mechanics. There will be more on the lack of clarity in the Technical Aspects and the Setting sections, where appropriate.

The bosses weren't all that memorable, but that might have just been me. I can't say I'd have particular fun or distaste taking them on again. The most difficult part about beating a boss tends to be choosing which of three weapon types or four spells to use on them. After that, you spam your attack button and heal when you start hearing a beeping noise. Perhaps I set this game against too high a standard, but I cannot help again comparing it to The Legend of Zelda game franchise - and I find the bosses all the more lacking when I do.

I know that people reading this review who have had more than a little experience with the game will be questioning my knowledge at this point. Yes, there are actually seven weapons and eight elements. However, there are only three weapon attack types, and the only difference between most of the weapons are range and how well they spam. Oh. And slashing weapons cut grass for items. That is literally it, which I find disappointing. As far as spell elements go, most of you will find yourself relying primarily on Light, Fire, and two more of your choice - probably with Wind or Earth as one of those two. Enemies tend to repeat weaknesses, and some elements have much better support abilities than others do.

Side-quests in this game - something I feel is a must in any RPG - felt like a definite afterthought, tacked on at the last moment to try to differentiate it further from its predecessor. None of the sidequests are very involved, and many involve you being asked to get an item with no idea where to get the item. The reward received is almost always the same: an item which no one explains the use of until much later in the game, and some money.

Those were my criticisms of the gameplay. Now here is what I enjoyed about the gameplay. The puzzles. The puzzles aren't difficult at all to begin with, but they get better as the game goes along, I am happy to say. You will occasionally find yourself stumped, at least for a moment. Not too difficult, and not too easy. This gives the game some of the challenge it misses in its fighting.

Another thing I do applaud the creators for is this: their realization this was a RPG that focused more on action than on levels. They made the level system accordingly. There are no points in which real ''powerleveling'' is required to survive, something which many RPGs end up suffering from. Though this paragraph is short, I cannot emphasize how much this is a good thing. Despite my disliking for so much of the gameplay decisions they made, they removed the tedium of powerleveling - and that is what kept my interest to let me play.

Controls and Technical Aspects:
This could have also used some work. The controls were off a bit, primarily when it came to jumping. More times than not I've had to jump around like a ninny for 10 seconds to test to see if I'm allowed to jump off that ledge or not. It usually takes me three tries to jump across small gaps or up short ledges. This needed definite work. I've also had more than a few times where I swing and my target is in the arc of the swing, but does not get hit. This tends to be a less glaring problem though, I simply walk away and then slash again, and it works.

The offensive magic was difficult to use at times, primarily for the hero, but the heroine suffered some of its drawbacks too. It was a good concept, but its execution was a little clumsy and time consuming for taking out multiple enemies. When you are being attacked by a swarm of voracious humanoid praying mantises, holding down a single button for 2 seconds is considerably more difficult than just spamming the A button - particularly when a single sword swing from a fighter tends to do almost comparable damage to a magic blast from a magician, and in far less time.

The item menu was bad. Just bad. They needed to have better organization, NOT have 2/5 of the menu suddenly disappear when you're not being attacked with no explanation. For quite a while, I was very confused as to why the game felt like eating some of my items until the circumstances for having those items reappear on the menu were explained to me. They also needed a way to simply dump unwanted items that were cluttering your menu if you so chose. You appear to have practically unlimited item space in this game, but having to scroll through extra items is time-consuming and annoying, regardless.

The ally system was also very poor. The AI for your partner is what I would have expected from NES or early SNES days, not the GBA. They appear to act somewhat randomly, and almost completely disregard your ''stay back'' or ''stay close'' setting. You also cannot switch between control of your ally and yourself outside of battle or when your ally is in the midst of doing something - regardless of whether or not you actually want her to do that action. Even Neverwinter Nights has a better ally system... and that's saying a lot. A multiplayer mode to allow ally control similar to Secret of Mana's or Kirby Superstar would have been very helpful and given a more favorable review.

Setting:
I have a great distaste for the plot of this game. The storyline is clichéd and all too familiar to anyone who likes to keep up with Japanese anime or the modern turn-based RPG. The big problem, though, is not that the premise is bad. It is that the execution is rushed, and you can feel it is rushed.

More than once I can recall being told to do something or go somewhere without an in-character explanation. I can surmise why it needs to be done based on the fact that I, as the player, have access to more information in-game than the character does, but that should not be a requirement. This game also made me feel empathy for no character in the story at all, which is a complete failing on the part of the story-teller. They continually got to the ''meat'' of the story, the exciting parts, without the build-up - the seasoning - that is necessary to make the meat taste good.

The execution is, thankfully, aided somewhat by the hero/ine choice you make at the beginning of the game. When you've played both sides, several things do make more sense than they did before, which is a nice touch. However, not enough makes sense. I'd elaborate, but I don't wish to spoil you.

The atmosphere could have been better. You pray to a goddess currently considered heretical in order to save your game. Okay, fine. You mean to tell me that no one notices those giant statues to the heretical goddess in the middle of the town? The villain's airship? The villain's castle? Have at least some plausible explanation for something that glaring, please.

And as for the everyday people... The sidequests (going back to gameplay) just should have been more involved, let you see more into who they are. At best, I only sort of kind of got a feel for the society in this game, something I think is a major failing. NPCs are just typical NPCs in this game, bland and boring.

Recap:
It was an okay game, and a good remake of the original; but I was not too impressed with it. I did have fun playing it, 6 is average, not a bad score, so don't start trying to lynch me for this review. I'll likely play through the game again later, but Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga is going to be staying in my GBA SP a lot more often than this cart.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/04