Twitch
29-03-2006, 11:46 PM
The Mana series or Seiken Densetsu as it is known in Japan finally returns in this the sequel to the largely popular Secret of Mana that was released for the SNES/Super Famicom back in 1993.
The story is this Long, long ago, there was a goddess. She cherished all life and transformed herself into a Mana Tree to watch over the world. Thus the legend began. As time passed, memory of the goddess faded from people's hearts... One day a man crept into the sanctuary where the Mana Tree slumbered. With the power of Mana, he built a great civilization. But this marked the dawn of a terrible age of darkness... The man forced the world to kneel to his will. His name was Vandole. When souls were trapped in the darkness of despair, a glimmer of hope shone in the hearts of a few brave youths. The fighting was fierce, but they would not give up. One wielded a holy blade that gleamed as brightly as the hope in their hearts. powerless before this light, the darkness was vanquished. The power of Mana was reclaimed from human hands and restored to it's rightful place. But now... The people have forgotten the goddess once again....
And this is where the game begins you have the choice of playing as the male lead a warrior or the female lead, a mage. The character you choose determines the intro to the game, If you choose the mage you begin as a young girl of the mana tribe whos village is being attacked by the evil ruler of the empire Dark Lord, and she is the sole survivor and because of this she decides that she will kill dark lord to avenge her people.
Choose the warrior and you start as a young boy whos parents were killed by dark lord for habouring fugitives, he also seeks the death of Dark Lord but for the killing of his parents.
G R A P H I C S
The game uses the same 2D 16-bit sprites as Secret of Mana did, which to anyone who hasn't played it they are fairly similar to the sprites from, the early Final Fantasy games and the original Suikoden. A lot of bright and pastel colouring has been used in much the same fashion as it was in Secret, which I found allows the game to follow on in the footsteps of the original fairly well.
The point of view the game uses is a cross between a birds eye and the sidescrolling view of a platformer, which allows the player to see most of the action that occurs without having to worry that an enemy that is off screen will kill you while you can't see it. As can be seen below.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/manass_thumb.jpg (http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/manass.jpg)
As you can see from the Screenshot also on screen is the player HP and MP.
S O U N D & M U S I C
The music from the game is of the same variety as Secret and changes with day and night and depending on what is happening at that point in time, such as a sad melody for a time of sorrow and an upbeat tune for the battles.
The characters voices aren't heard within the game in similar style to the orginal Mana games with all of the dialouge beign put across in box's, the characters cries after being hit by an attack or when attacking are heard though.
If you are interested in hearing the in game music before playing the main theme can be heard on the main page of the official site which i've put a link to at the bottom of the review.
G A M E P L A Y
The controls are very easy to get used to, with the abiltity to change weapons spirits and the like all controlled from within one central menu. This makes for easier gameplay in that when you come up against different enemies as they each have a different weapon traits that they are weak against, whether it be slash (swords), bash (knuckles), or jab (arrows) as well as a type of spirit. This menu system allows you to select quickly and without risk of taking damge in the process.
The game has a system of leveling up, but, not in the typical sense as it is within other games of the character going up a level and the stats increasing based on a certain percentage value within the game. In Sword of Mana you have the ability to select the type of level up that occurs so you can choose which of your stats go up and the choice also determines how much by. The stats include HP, MP, power, defense, intelligence, mind and agility. Your spirits and weapons will also level up through constant use. Each of the spirits within the game has two abilites, one to attack and the other to help, with things like health and speed increases which increase in potency once the level up has been acheived.
Unfortunately, you can only choose your own level up and not that of the NPC which does make it slightly bad at times with the NPC being weak in certain attributes.
P R O B L E M S
As i've already mentioned a real problem I had was with the NPC not being able to be selectively leveled up in the same manner as the main character can be which can cause problems if your having to constantly revive that character.
C O N C L U S I O N
In my opinion this was an excellent game with many good hours to spend on it just like many of the other games from Square Enix so if your into the Final Fantasy series or a fan of the Secret of Mana or Final Fantasy Tactics then I'd recommend you get this game it has been out for a while now but is still great for fun.
-Twitch
Visit the official site Sword of Mana (http://www.square-enix-usa.com/games/SOM/)
The story is this Long, long ago, there was a goddess. She cherished all life and transformed herself into a Mana Tree to watch over the world. Thus the legend began. As time passed, memory of the goddess faded from people's hearts... One day a man crept into the sanctuary where the Mana Tree slumbered. With the power of Mana, he built a great civilization. But this marked the dawn of a terrible age of darkness... The man forced the world to kneel to his will. His name was Vandole. When souls were trapped in the darkness of despair, a glimmer of hope shone in the hearts of a few brave youths. The fighting was fierce, but they would not give up. One wielded a holy blade that gleamed as brightly as the hope in their hearts. powerless before this light, the darkness was vanquished. The power of Mana was reclaimed from human hands and restored to it's rightful place. But now... The people have forgotten the goddess once again....
And this is where the game begins you have the choice of playing as the male lead a warrior or the female lead, a mage. The character you choose determines the intro to the game, If you choose the mage you begin as a young girl of the mana tribe whos village is being attacked by the evil ruler of the empire Dark Lord, and she is the sole survivor and because of this she decides that she will kill dark lord to avenge her people.
Choose the warrior and you start as a young boy whos parents were killed by dark lord for habouring fugitives, he also seeks the death of Dark Lord but for the killing of his parents.
G R A P H I C S
The game uses the same 2D 16-bit sprites as Secret of Mana did, which to anyone who hasn't played it they are fairly similar to the sprites from, the early Final Fantasy games and the original Suikoden. A lot of bright and pastel colouring has been used in much the same fashion as it was in Secret, which I found allows the game to follow on in the footsteps of the original fairly well.
The point of view the game uses is a cross between a birds eye and the sidescrolling view of a platformer, which allows the player to see most of the action that occurs without having to worry that an enemy that is off screen will kill you while you can't see it. As can be seen below.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/manass_thumb.jpg (http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/9/6/5/6/manass.jpg)
As you can see from the Screenshot also on screen is the player HP and MP.
S O U N D & M U S I C
The music from the game is of the same variety as Secret and changes with day and night and depending on what is happening at that point in time, such as a sad melody for a time of sorrow and an upbeat tune for the battles.
The characters voices aren't heard within the game in similar style to the orginal Mana games with all of the dialouge beign put across in box's, the characters cries after being hit by an attack or when attacking are heard though.
If you are interested in hearing the in game music before playing the main theme can be heard on the main page of the official site which i've put a link to at the bottom of the review.
G A M E P L A Y
The controls are very easy to get used to, with the abiltity to change weapons spirits and the like all controlled from within one central menu. This makes for easier gameplay in that when you come up against different enemies as they each have a different weapon traits that they are weak against, whether it be slash (swords), bash (knuckles), or jab (arrows) as well as a type of spirit. This menu system allows you to select quickly and without risk of taking damge in the process.
The game has a system of leveling up, but, not in the typical sense as it is within other games of the character going up a level and the stats increasing based on a certain percentage value within the game. In Sword of Mana you have the ability to select the type of level up that occurs so you can choose which of your stats go up and the choice also determines how much by. The stats include HP, MP, power, defense, intelligence, mind and agility. Your spirits and weapons will also level up through constant use. Each of the spirits within the game has two abilites, one to attack and the other to help, with things like health and speed increases which increase in potency once the level up has been acheived.
Unfortunately, you can only choose your own level up and not that of the NPC which does make it slightly bad at times with the NPC being weak in certain attributes.
P R O B L E M S
As i've already mentioned a real problem I had was with the NPC not being able to be selectively leveled up in the same manner as the main character can be which can cause problems if your having to constantly revive that character.
C O N C L U S I O N
In my opinion this was an excellent game with many good hours to spend on it just like many of the other games from Square Enix so if your into the Final Fantasy series or a fan of the Secret of Mana or Final Fantasy Tactics then I'd recommend you get this game it has been out for a while now but is still great for fun.
-Twitch
Visit the official site Sword of Mana (http://www.square-enix-usa.com/games/SOM/)