When I was a child, I really enjoyed The Secret of Mana. There was something about it I just identified with: The hero was an outsider — even in his own village! There is the young girl who wanted to fulfill her own dreams (even if it was with a soldier) and a mischievous sprite who was more interested in having fun. It was a masterpiece because of its storytelling and unique combat system. Obviously, I enjoyed it.
It all started with a game that holds one of Square Enix's most popular series‘ names: Final Fantasy Adventure. In it, you play an escaped gladiator who has to help/save an important young woman with some help from friends gained while adventuring. If this sounds somewhat familiar, you are right. It was remade for the Game Boy Advance as Sword of Mana. Years later, the aforementioned Secret of Mana was released. Several years after that was Secret of Mana 2, released only in Japan. Then there was Legend of Mana, which I swear is Square Enix’s response to the Grand Theft Auto series on the PlayStation. There was so much stuff to do, and there is not enough space to it describe here. Now, a few years after Sword of Mana and Legend of Mana, Square Enix has released a new game in the Mana series for the PS2 — Dawn of Mana. Dawn of Mana is a prequel of sorts to the much-loved Secret of Mana and Sword of Mana.
Dawn of Mana follows the adventures of Keldy, a young man who is friends with a tree girl, Ritzia. Anyway, Ritzia forces Keldy to rescue her pet rabite who escaped from her care. While this is going on, the empire invaded the sacred isle that they live on, and they go search for the sacred beast to save them. Instead, they find a sword. Guess who pulls it out? Yep, it’s Keldy. Now it is up to him to power up the sword and save the world from destruction. While the story itself is not bad, the presentation is not the greatest. Furthermore, if you have played any of the other Mana games, you probably have a strong idea where things are going.
Anyway, the game is rather beautiful. Nothing is going to hurt anybody’s eyes with its cute-ish cartoon style. Water flows, flames burn, monsters appear in a flash of light, and mysterious mists inflict various status effects. As nice as it is, there are a couple of problems. First of all, whenever you have Keldy running around inside, all of the walls and things seem to meld into one gargantuan mass. In other words, it is difficult to figure out where one surface ends and another begins. Second, the engine has a habit of slowing down when moving between sections. Also, there was one time when Keldy was in a tight space surrounded by monsters when the engine started chugging. It is very odd that this happens. This is especially true considering how smoothly the game moves.
But what of the gameplay? The game is a hack-’n’-slash game: moving around and smacking monsters with your sword. It is not too far removed from other games in the genre. But what makes the game unique is its physics engine. To power up Keldy, you need to scare the monster(s). This is done by throwing boulders, logs and nuts, shooting magic pebbles given from the various elementals and hitting them with other monsters — anything you can get your hands on to scare the living daylights out of them. This is even a requirement for bosses as it is the only way to effectively damage them. Anyway, Keldy gains medals from these scared monsters to power up; attack, health and magic increase in effectiveness. Also, with the help of Faye — an annoying little fairy that follows Keldy around &mdash he can cast magic. I swear it seems to increase in level at random intervals. This also is true of the whip function of his sword. Oh, yeah, he has a whip that he can use to fling objects and small monsters.
But there is a big catch to all the “leveling” that Keldy’s sword and Faye’s magic experience: It resets at the start of every “chapter” (actually, the word “level” is more accurate). Yep, all that hard work to power up is lost. Thankfully, the levels are HUGE. No, really, they are. Usually there are multiple methods to get through some areas, which unfortunately means you could unintentially be backtracking. This is especially frustrating thanks to the camera and lack of differing feel for each space. Do not get me wrong, each area uses a wide color palette; it can quickly get confusing due to the fact that it all looks the same, especially when the requirements for each map are not being told. For example, early on the game has you jumping on these massive buttons. But it never tells you why until the very last button is pressed. And even then it takes some patience to find the “average” door that was just opened.
This brings us to the controls. While it is rather tight on the whole, it also is very loose. Let me explain: First, you are always fighting the camera. It does not seem to have a very good idea of where it should be, and you’ll constantly be trying to adjust it to where you need it to be. It is so horridly unrefined that it gives me a headache. Second, there’s the lock-on system. The game lets you lock onto other objects at a push of a button — but never an actual monster. This leads us directly into the third issue: the loose targeting system. While shooting pebbles is wonderfully done, the rest of it is not. You have to position Keldy just right for him to accurately swing his sword. And using the whip can become an exercise in frustration as it because whatever is at the other end of it never seems to go where you want. The only way to effectively use the whip is in a large group of monsters crowded together; there is no guarantee that what you’re aiming for will get hit.
The audio is rather solid. The usual sword swipes, fires, icicles, goblin speak (well, it is rather shallow anyway) and other magical effects are in place and used well. Music is more of a relaxing orchestra. It is not bad, yet at the same time, nothing will truly jump out at you. It holds the mood, and it does its job well. Voice acting, on the other hand, is not. Keldy and Ritzia and Faye are all annoying to listen to, sometimes more so depending on the circumstance. Also, each elemental follows a different accent. For example, in all the other Mana games, Gnome is depicted as a mischievous being. In this game, he has a Scottish accent and is a natural storyteller. Wisp, the light elemental, sounds French and a tad annoying. And who would of thought that Shade, the dark elemental, is actually Count Dracula doing community service work.
So if we look at Dawn of Mana as a whole, it should be a very pleasant experience. Something that would keep people busy for a fair amount of time until something else comes along. But it is not such an experience. Fighting the camera is a chore and ruins the experience. It’s hard to be entertained when you have a headache and cannot focus on the task at hand. While this could be forgivable for some developers, this game was made by Square Enix. These guys are masters at making games, so I’m a bit confused about how something like this escaped company doors.
As much as I love the Mana games, this is perhaps the hardest one to recommend to anyone. As I continuously note, the camera is horrid and is a deal breaker for me. Thus, I highly recommend that all interested people rent it. Also, good luck finding a copy of this game; I have had no luck except through Game Fly. Instead, I recommend that you hunt down Secret of Mana instead. (I think it has been re-released through the Wii’s virtual console.) Anyway, Dawn of Mana could have been so much more, but at the very least, it should have been a decent hack-’n’-slash game at its core. That’s what really bothers me about the entire experience. There is so much wasted potential for a game series that has such a rich history.
