Sword of Mana Review (no fat)

Game Description

Sword of Mana provides fans of the series a lovely follow up on the GBA, a rehashed version of an old Gameboy classic (Final Fantasy Adventure) in which turn-based battling takes a backseat to a faster, action friendly format.

Two different viewpoints of the main story allow for a rare replay value in an RPG, with both a hero and heroine as selectable characters. With combos and Amigo Attacks to help through battle and a multitude of customizations, Sword of Mana is all geared up to keep players busy for hours.

Sword of Mana – Classical Ties

The mistake a lot of console gamers make is think that the handheld version will be just as good as the console version. And since this is an oldschool series, with oldschool ties then it is even under higher scrutiny.

Final Fantasy Adventure was little known before it became a worldwide phenomenon. It made its way onto the older Gameboy with a curious real-time action/RPG battle system. The pace was quick, and the options were not overwhelming at all. In the new formula made for Sword of Mana, everything holds true except for the underwhelming options. Borrowing from the Super Nes system Brownie Brown incorporated the ring menu to help players through the deep and involving options. Helpful in some cases, but truly shows how outdated it is in others.

The ring menu is a good idea, but with the incredibly deep and complex options in Sword of Mana it is a bad fit. The story also gets a little facelift but it is all cosmetic, lengthy scenes tell the usual story of youngsters on different paths to save the world from an evil egomaniac. Its told in a very silly, but fun way. The lightened mood is a plus and keeps anyone from taking the story too seriously, which would have been a big fault.

Sword of Mana –Side Dishes

Any good RPG can keep you more busy with managing your characters and side quests than the actual game, and Sword of Mana is no different. Gamers will not only control 1 character, but also an AI controlled character will follow them and help. This AI character can be switched to a playable one, and then back and forth. A very good buddy system is applied to the game but it falls short with the weak AI

There are over 8 different classes to be gained when leveling up, with hidden classes when combined with a set. Five levels is all it takes to master that class, which is easily done since experience is handed out like candy on Halloween.

Magic is a handy little feature which needs to be practiced before used. The magic system suffers from the same Final Fantasy Tactics flaw, where by the time you cast it you may miss your enemy. But it is subtle enough where you will want to use it to get to the more advanced magic casting.

Weapons are of the complex variety and you won’t find a golden sword just lying around after a fight. Instead, Sword of Mana opts for upgradeable weaponry, in more than one way. Along with the added benefits of status changes, players will also be able to boost the weapons overall power. This is good enough for the easy battle system, varying attacks styles that consist of either the bash, jab, or slash attribute.

Other extras include the summoning of elements…sort of like calling your ace in the hole when needed. There are plenty of other fun things to keep you occupied, and at the very least the game makes most of these worth your time.

Sword of Mana Graphics

Yes, it is beautiful in some instances, but there is little merit in good animations for only 10% of the game. Overall, the graphics are a little drab and, to top things off, if too much is happening on the screen at once there is noticeable slowdown. With a wacky and seemingly cock-eyed AI controlled partner whacking away at everything in sight, and jumping off mountains to see if he can fly, it becomes too much to handle all at once.

Sword of Mana Sound

Although there are some memorable tracks throughout the game, the overall sound quality is below the GBA hardware. The music and sound effects sound like they are struggling to fit in, and the attempt falls far below quality standards for any Square title.

Sword of Mana - Summing up

Sword of Mana tries to reproduce classic gameplay into a modern format, and delivers for the most part. The major flaws come out of the unique systems like the ring menu and AI partner, but even with these, the game is a great adventure to play on the GBA.

The multilink support is useless, being nothing more than a character grabber for an Amigo Attack: and as far as the replay ability goes, with the two characters, it is a joke. There is not enough differences in the story to make it worthwhile to play again.

Sword of Mana is a great solo Action RPG that any fan of the genre and series can come to appreciate for a while but it is bound to get boring or frustrating after some time.

Sword of Mana Cost

The game currently retails for $9.99US at the time of writing.