The story starts simply enough. You are the Hero, and Dark Lord kills your parents and enslaves you, forcing you to fight as a gladiator. So your mission is basically to get revenge. If thwarting his evil plans happens on the way so be it. One of the major additions to this over the original is a second playable character - a young girl from the Mana tribe. You can play through the story as either of the 2 characters, and they cross paths and join forces at certain points as well.
There'll be some killin, and then there'll be some babysittin
The game is in real time with an attack button, a magic button, a dash button and a jump button. The controls are very simple to pick up, since they consist of basically just mashing the attack button and using the occasional magic later on. The jump button is only used to get to another platform. There is also the ability to swap between either of the 2 characters you are currently controlling (you are always either solo or with a partner). However it appears as though because of this option they decided not to bother with decent AI.
It will cause you no end of grief having a partner and 90% of the time you would probably be better off without one. Not only can they not be left alone to fight a single enemy, but they frequently walk right into enemies that require special weapons to defeat (eg a certain monster may need a piercing type weapon). There is an option to set how close they are to the enemy and whether they use magic or weapons however this is mostly for show. Plus you cannot change their weapon. With the magic setting the character will waste all their MP on a few crappy enemies, and if the distance is too far they will get stuck on bits of scenery more than they already do (which is frustratingly common).
Wooho I'm a lvl 100 bard....errr.....
Leveling up gives you the choice of putting levels into one of 5 job types: Warrior, Theif, Sage, Monk, Magician or Random. Different types give different bonuses and special combinations give you special titles with their own rewards. Magic is handled via the spirit system. There are 8 elemental spirits to collect and each has two different spells you can employ - one defensive one activated by pressing the magic button and one offensive one by holding it down instead. It works however would be nice if it was a bit more indepth.
The game also employs a familiar ring menu system. However it is rather unwieldy and forces you to go through many different menus just to check how much experience you need for the next level up. Your partner also has very limited ring menu options which severely hampens their effectiveness. The game is saved at certain save points, however the game really does need a save anywhere feature.
Please step into my 'Hot House'
A nice touch is the Hot House. This is a cactus that you can grow at certain handy locations which is like a portable base. You can grow seeds there into vegetables and fruit which are used in item forging. Once you reach a certain stage you will have Watts the blacksmith residing in the other room - and he will forge and improve your weapons and armour using the items you provide for a small fee.
The graphics are the whole good, but not drop dead gorgeous. There is a real range from average to quite nice. However the game really could have used a bit more detail - other titles such as Golden Sun and even Final Fantasy Tactics Advance really show it up. The music is quite good, and the sound effects rather average. You won't be completely wowed aurally, however the sound in general does add to the game rather and detract from it.
Which would you rather: 2 player mode or Amigos? Too bad muahahaha
The real disappointment is the lack of 2 player linkup. One of the great features of Secret of Mana was that at any time a friend could pick up a controller and control one of the NPCs. Of course this is a remake of a different (albeit similar) game on a handheld, but still it is not good enough. What is there instead is called the 'Amigo' System. This allows you to transfer your character to a friend's cartridge as an Amigo. This can be summoned as a special move once a day (gametime) and can unlock other special goodies if you collect a lot of different people. Unfortunately it really is more of a gimmick - much like the majority of GBA linkup features.
Sword of Mana is a nice step back into the past however the gameplay really shows through as bland and repetitive. It comes off as more of a chore than fun, which is a real shame. Only the truly dedicated or younger audience should buy this one - everyone else give it a miss.
Loading...
