Sword of Mana

"Like the title screen, Sword of Mana is Beautiful, yet blotched with clouds"

Let me start off by explaining a brief history of Square's Mana games. The first one released was Secret of Mana for Snes. Secret of Mana was an awesome action Rpg that instantly became a favorite to many. Afterwards the Japan only Seiken Densetsu 3(Snes) and Legend of Mana(PS1) were released. Though there is not enough evidence to prove that the Mana games are connected, you may be wondering where the second mana game fits in. The true second mana game was actually Secret of Mana for Snes. The first mana game was in fact Final Fantasy Adventure(FFA) for the original Game Boy, it just did not have mana in its name. Square-Enix has now completely remade FFA, and has made the new action Rpg known as Sword of Mana.

Gameplay:
The game takes place in a world in which long ago there was a goddess who cherished all life. In order to watch over the world she transformed herself in to a tree, the Mana tree, and gave life to the land. Eventually, over time, the memory of the goddess faded from the peoples hearts. One day a man of evil crept into the Mana Sanctuary, where the Mana tree slumbered. His name was Vandole. Acquiring the power of Mana, he built a new civilization and forced the world to kneel to his will. When there seemed to be no chance for the world to survive, a few youths came forth and challenged vandole with a sword of shining hope, they were victorious, thus peace was returned to the world.

You can choose either the Hero, who masters in fighting, or the Heroine, who masters in magic when you start the game. They both offer slightly different stories, but not much difference in the game other than that. I chose the Hero path. You start the game twenty years after the defeat of Vandole. You are a prisoner of Dark Lord, the man who killed your parents. After a coliseum fight, you and a friend try to escape from the castle, but on the way you are confronted by dark lord, after trying to fight him you are knocked off a bridge and manage to survive.

Your quest has begun. What seems like a deep story, actually turns out to be quite shallow. Although everything comes together and you find out more things about the characters near the end, there is not really a whole lot of character development for the first half of the game, you never really get attached or really get to know any of the characters. It's pretty much the equivalent to how shallow most Game Boy RPGs stories were. Although the story in Sword of Mana is not what you most people would call great, it is still pretty entertaining and will keep you playing to advance the story.

When attacking enemies, which there are a lot of, its pretty much like its predecessors, basically hack and slash until the monsters hp has depleted. There are tons of bosses and a lot of different areas, which is a plus. There are also lots of different weapons with different effects. Some enemies will not even be affected by weapons, that is where magic comes in. There are many magic types like water, fire, wind and dark. To get a new type of magic you will have to find a new magic spirit. Magic spirits are spread over the world, but don't worry about finding them, each one is part of the story and it is required you find them to advance, same goes with weapons. You may be thinking that is too linear, which it is, but you can also level up your magic and weapons, and also forge and temper your weapons and armor to make them stronger. Overall the gameplay in Sword of Mana is pretty good, it may not be such a long game and the story may be lackluster, but it is still enjoyable.

The controls found in Sword of Mana are actually quite simple. You hit A to use your weapon and you hold B to run, you can also run while attacking. L is to jump and R is for magic. The jumping part could have had a little bit more work done on it in my opinion. You usually have to hit jump multiple times just to get up a ledge, even when you are properly aligned. For magic you either tap R or hold then let go of R depending on what type of magic you are using. You tap R if you are using defensive magic such as Speedup or healing light, and you hold it and let go after about 2 seconds if you are using the elemental attack of the spirit that is equipped. This can sometimes be tedious if there are lots of enemies around attacking you, that is why I never really used magic and you really do not need magic either, you can go through the game fine without it. Select switches your control to another party member, if there is one, and start brings up the unique ring like menu that fans of the Mana series will be used to, but newcomers may find strange. The control in Sword of Mana is pretty straight forward.

The game is pretty fun to play through, but can be quite short if you do not bother leveling up much. There are a few side quests, if the main quest, which I finished on level 53 in a disappointing 13 hours, is not enough to satisfy you. The game is short, but that can even be helpful to the lasting appeal, considering most people beat short games again once they finish them. You can also beat the game under the Hero or Heroine's story so that is sure to add some re-playability to the game. Most people will have fun with this game, but I think many people who play games just for a good story will be turned off and may have a hard time getting enough ambition to finish this game, it may become a chore to them.

Graphics:
Probably the most exciting part of Sword of Mana, it's graphics. The graphics found in Sword of Mana are pretty impressive, and can possibly be the greatest 2d graphics Square-enix has ever created, better than any of their Snes games. Everything looks great the Npcs, you, the surroundings, the enemies, bosses, magic attacks and every other graphical aspect of the game you can think of. Everything is just so detailed, from the plants growing on the walls to the shiny crystals in the desert sand, I don't see how graphics can get much better on the GBA, unless of course Mario and Luigi is involved, but that is still a whole different style of graphics and cannot really be compared. Although the graphics are amazing, there are still some flaws. Flaws like glitching. In a lot of places in the game there are transparent walls, Npcs and items. This does not really affect the game as a whole, but it does take down the score a little as it is very obvious, and can bother you. It almost seems as the graphics were rushed, just copy and paste work. But even if the graphics were rushed, you can't help but admit the graphics are still pretty damn amazing, props to Square-enix/Brownie Brown for a job well done.

Sound:
The sound is what this game would be a failure without. The Music in this game is great, although some of it may be repeated considerably too much, it really brings that special feel to the game, it makes the game feel like a classic square rpg. The sound effects were done well too, not as great as the music but good enough. When you hit a wall with your sword you hear a cling, when you hit an enemy you here a swish, basic sound effects here. The music might also seem familiar to many early game boy rpgs, considering of course that this is a remake of a game boy rpg. From the title screen to the ending theme, the music in this game is just plain great.

Overall:
Sword of Mana is a pretty decent GBA title, and can be considered one of the better GBA rpgs if not the best GBA Action rpg. It has the music, graphics and gameplay to keep you entertained, and although it is very easy, it is or was at least very enjoyable for me to finish. Sword of Mana is in my opinion the best action rpg on GBA and although fans of the the Mana series probably won't think its the best one yet, newcomers and veterans alike will enjoy this game.

Gameplay: 8
Controls: 8
Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Lasting Appeal: 6
Overall: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/25/04