adventure

With the GBA receiving lots of SNES remakes, this one is actually a remake of a classic GB game, Final Fantasy Adventure. This game shines brightly but a few minor things bring it down a notch at times. While Swrrd of Mana is a great game to play, it can't capture the magic f what was "Secret of Mana" on the SNES.

The graphics on Sword of Mana are visually striking! Very colorful and vividly smooth make it feel like a nice Super Nintendo game. However, a problem with the graphics is that we're sometimes faced with slow down, and sometimes even graphical glitches. So while visually stunning, this part of the graphics can sometimes get annoying.

Gameplay wise, this game is pretty fun overall. Several different weapons to choose from that make the experience even better. It isn't much different from Secret of Mana really. The battle engine is the same real time based. What stands out is the different sort of attacks you can pull off. A slash, jab or bash, and so it's pretty fun. The problem with it however is that you have a three combo attack that is sometimes hard to pull off. Even expert players will sometimes find this hard at times. You've got enemies that even when the attack connects they take no damage. A lot of the time the enemies will actually dodge your attacks. After a while this becomes a little annoying.

The other part about the gameplay, you control one of two characters out to stop the Dark Lord from destroying those in tune with the power of Mana. As a member of the Mana tribe and a warrior you must stop the Dark Lord. You can control one of the two characters at a time. You can switch between the two from time to time and the game incorporates the AI for the character you're not using. The problem with this is that unlike Secret of Mana you're AI characters do much stupider things. Many a time the character being controlled by AI will cast spells like crazy or get themselves killed somehow. They fight senseless and its a hassle to get them to move on in an area. For what it's worth though you can use them to take a lot of the damage for you, and you can adjust their actions that they do much like in Secret of Mana.

From time to time your weapons will level up, but battling is actually different from Secret of Mana in some ways. While weapons level up just fine, Secret of Mana had a power gauge at the bottom that when it said 100% you struck the enemy for maximum damage. In this that gauge is gone. Now you attack and kill enemies to fill up the guage at the bottom to increase the amount of damage done. With this battling doesn't go quite as slowly as in Secret of Mana did at times.

As far as music goes it's pretty bland at times. Some points there are memorable tunes but a lot of the time they're a little bland. The sound effects aren't anything special either since they don't sound in character with the action at times.

For what it's worth Sword of Mana is actually a pretty good game. Visually striking and quite fun with a nice storyline, "Sword of Mana" is a pretty good game. The graphics are a few steps above "Secret of Mana" but the gameplay isn't quite as good. Still, I'd recomend this game to any RPGer.

I'll admit I was expecting a Secret of Mana type game. Instead I got something different. It isn't all that great too. You start off by selecting either a male or female and then sit through a VERY long intro (but good intro) before the game starts.

The elements in Sword of Mana are very similar to Secret but they don't flow as well. The gameplay is a such example. Sword of Mana is fun to play at first. The gameplay elements are awesome with all the weapons and items but then a few things start to stick out. One: Attacking isn't like in Secret of Mana. You have this three hit combo that for some reason is impossible to pull off. The power gauge at the bottom is nice but takes to long to charge (you do it by attacking enemies.) Another thing about the gameplay is simply that as you progress further, it becomes more frustrating. You start to miss enemies a lot and even taking out a simple enemy becomes more than its worth.

Lastly, your AI character is an insult. They stand there, either casting spells like crazy or getting themselves killed. Its a hassle to keep them alive throughout the game.

The ring menu is also different. In Secret of Mana the ring menu was fast, efficient and simple to use. In this...it's...not as easy, fast and efficient. Example: First I open up the Ring menue. Instead of it instantly flashing up like in Secret, it has to take time to open up. This isn't the gripe, let's keep moving. Next, I select the item icon. Again we watch it slowly flash to the next menu. THEN I have to choose a sub-category...ok...once that's done with I have to choose ANOTHER sub category depending on the icon I choose. Then you'll have to choose ANOTHER sub category. So when you open up the menu you'll be in it for a while. Rather than the ring menu they should've had the one similar to Legend of Mana.

The music isn't nearly as good as the other two Mana games. Seeing as how Square took so much time to redevelope the game in revamping the graphics (which shower AMAZING detail) they didn't spend as much time on the music. Some tunes are good but a lot sound VERY 8-bit style. So much to the fact that they're annoying and repetative.

The story and how its told is great though! The one thing that hasn't changed in the Mana series, great storytelling (Legend of Mana STILL had good story-telling with all its subplots). However, the dialogue is very stupid at times and the character developement isn't quite there. Sicne the game is so short we don't get enough time to learn as much about these characters as possible. Mix that in with the fact that whoever you don't choose in the beginning is absent from the story for long periods of time.

Overall I was disappointed. The gameplay is what ruined the game for me. It's frustrating a lot of the time. The menu isn't easy to use anymore and monsters that can dodge anything isn't my idea of fun.

Those of you who played Legend of Mana on the original PlayStation may experience some deja vu here and there as you go through Sword of Mana. The ring configuration of the menus is pretty much the same, and after some practice you can zip right through those. The manner of fighting is also similar, with your partner following you around and able to fight independently. The storyline is interesting and I'm continually amazed by the quality of the graphics on the GameBoy SP. This game will definitely help you pass the time, but there are frequent save points if you can't play for hours at a time. Buy this game, I don't think you'll be disappointed!