The Legend of Mana

The Secret of Mana series (Seiken Densetsu) series could probably be considered Square's #2 series, right after the big Final Fantasy. The series is simply an Action-RPG, filled to the brim with a kind of Chibi anime style that basically tries to be a serious Medieval style game. It basically started off with "The Secret of Mana" and "Final Fantasy Adventure", and finally reached it's apex with "The Legend of Mana" for the PS1.

The game basically is somewhat of an open ended affair. You start off as a male or a female, then go through the game in different "Areas" at different days completing quests. Really, the game is more of an open-ended adventure than anything else. No fancy cutscenes, no real story direction, it just somewhat leads you down the path of ignorance.



Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure there IS a story, it's just suspiciously not there for me. I'm one of those guys who wants things laid out before hand- maybe a cut scene or something of that nature. But no. See, The Legend of Mana tries hard to be somewhat of a "Create your own Adventure" thing that actually doesnt let you do so, and it is very flawed because of it.

The battle engine, as well, needs some work. There is a noticeable time lag between hitting a button and attacking, which has no reason for being there. The old Seiken Densetsu games had some form of "Charging" system, but in this game, I didn't notice it (Forgive me if it's there. I just hit the attack button and expect things to die, and when I am prevented from such, I get cranky like a little child). The game is 2D, so there really is no excuse for the poor battle system- Guilty Gear did better.

Another gripe is the play system in general. To make things "Unique", they decided to add a "Week" system. What this basically means is that what may happen on the game's equivelant of Monday won't happen on a Wednesday. Anyone who has ever played a game that has a system like this (The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask) knows how annoying this can get. If the day runs out, you're screwed. If you have to wait another week, you're screwed. You get the big picture.



What's the redeeming factor for this game and the reason it didn't get a mushroom? Simple. The game has multiplayer. God d***it, game developers, why don't you learn that from this game, if you don't learn anything else. This game became pretty fun by adding a second player beside you. Sometimes, it was so bad and so corny, it was fun. This is one of those games I can play even with a young cousin in tow or the like. It's just fun.

One other, minute redeeming factor is the fact that the music and art are very well done. However, this is like putting a Pentium 2 in an Alienware case- no matter how pretty it is, the game is still pretty d***ed problematic. That being said, the music is still worth listening to on my iPod, and some of the art is beautiful, albeit chibi.

Many gamers know that some of the lamest games, like Well of Souls, can be made fun by playing it with someone else. This is one of those games. I would seriously recommend this game based only on the fact it has multiplayer. That being said, if you don't have anyone to play this game with, don't get it. Even though it's like $15, it's still not worth the time and effort, unless you're some sort of Seiken Densetsu freak.

3 star(s) out of 5

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