I have only played one game in this series so far, Children of Mana for the DS, and as it turns out, my second experience with the world of Mana isn’t an RPG as I was expecting, but an action/adventure instead. I like my hack and slash action, so I wasn’t bothered in the slightest.
For the first time ever, a story surrounding the Mana Tree is rendered in full 3D, giving it a whole new perspective. What struck me first in Dawn of Mana were the beautiful animated sequences and overall look of the game. It looks absolutely gorgeous and I found the characters very similar to those in Kingdom Hearts.
The story takes place in the island of Illusia, as we see the different Mana spirits gathering to tell it. It all revolves around Keldy and Ritzia and an evil character who is trying to find an entrance to Malvolia, which happens to be protected by the Great Tree. While we really don’t know much about Keldy, we know Ritzia is an aspiring priestess. It’s up to these two loveable characters and a cute little fairy to rid the land of the evil guys.
Keldy is equipped with a special sword made of vines from the Tree, which are tangled around his arm. He also has a whip that can be used for pulling and throwing things around. Unfortunately, the whip doesn’t work as well as it should, since it’s extremely hard to aim and throw in the direction we want.
He also gets a slingshot and infinite pebbles, although I haven’t used it much. The only specific time I will use the pebbles is for hitting the trees that drop Bumpkins (explosive pumpkins), so that I can be far enough from the explosions.
In the early stages of the game you will find that moving objects around and using them to your advantage is the key to not getting hurt often. There are plenty of logs, rocks, barrels and other things that you can break and send down rolling at your enemies. Doing this will cause them to panic and run around stunned, so you can attack them without being attacked back. The physics engine is interesting and it’s fun to watch as you set an avalanche of stuff down a hill. However, make sure you’re out of the way or things will run you over, and they hurt quite a bit.
Enemies in panic will have a timer counting down above their heads, Hitting them while in this state will drop medals that give you stat boosts throughout the rest of the chapter, so learn to use the environment to your advantage and experiment with the whip throwing things. Objects also take damage, so be warned, after a few hits they will disintegrate.
Magic has always been a great part of the gameplay in the Mana series. Once you have the little fairy with you, you will be able to cast a few booster spells on yourself. By finding elemental icons shaped as the Mana Spirits you get something extra to use with your slingshot. Elemental magic is best used in boss fights, since they stun for quite a bit of time, giving you the chance to do some serious damage.
Square Enix has incorporated nearly no RPG elements in Dawn of Mana. You won’t find any equipment as you play, and any recovery items you find can’t be carried or accumulated. When a monster drops one it just lays on the ground, and if you walk over it, the item is instantly used.
Like in Children of Mana, every time you finish a chapter your character’s stats are reset. I didn’t like the feature in Children, and I don’t like it in Dawn either. It just makes it seem like your entire progress through the previous chapter was pointless.
The game also has a Challenge Arena, where you go through a series of battles to defeat a certain number of enemies within a time frame. The Arena has a shop where you can purchase eggs, which hatch into Pets that can fight alongside you in the challenges. Arenas are unlocked as you complete chapters in Story mode and this is the only place where you can actually equip Keldy with something: ribbons. Ribbons are bought at the Arena shop and they’re used to give Keldy’s stats and abilities a little boost.
I’ll be honest: I have mixed feelings about Dawn of Mana. The visual and audio departments are absolutely incredible. The cut-scenes take your breath away with the beautiful artwork, superb animation, professional voice acting and wonderful music. The story is interesting and very well presented, and the Arena challenges and extra difficulty modes offer some replay value.
While I don’t mind hack and slash combat or platform action (I am clumsy at it though), the actual gameplay is flawed with the awkward targeting and whip control, frustrating camera angles at the worst of times, and barely there RPG elements.
This Dawn may be a bit foggy, but the sun will eventually shine for Mana.
Special thanks to Sonia Im, Charlie Sinhaseni and Square Enix for providing a copy of this title.