Back in the days of the 16-bit gaming, a company known as Squaresoft published a game for the SNES called Secret of Mana. The game took players on an epic quest where three heroes fought to protect the Mana seeds and save all of humanity in the process. It was an action RPG, and a rather fine one at that. There are some people (myself included) that would label Secret of Mana as the best RPG ever created.
The reason I tell you this is not so you would go out and try to find yourself a copy of the game (although if you do, best of luck finding a copy). No, the reason I mention Secret of Mana is because Children of Mana (for the DS) plays a lot like its SNES predecessor. At least, this is what I've concluded from my playtime of the game's demo at E3.
The Mana series of games (or Seiken Densetsu for those of you familiar with their Japanese name) could be compared to the Legend of Zelda games, at least on a surface level. You run around in a isometric 2-dimensional world, attacking enemies with your weapons in realtime. There's an overworld, you trek through dungeons, and you obtain new abilities. They're still RPGs through and through, however, with full statistic-based attributes, leveling up, and a multitude of playable characters.
The E3 demo featured three characters, each accompanied by their own spirit/summon. There was Ferrik with his pal Salamander, Poppen escorted by Undine, and Tamber with the power of Luna at her disposal (each of the three mentioned spirits were also featured in the afore-mentioned Secret of Mana). Each character faced the same mission. Bring Tess back from the Mana Tower safely!
Now, who Tess is and why its important to save her wasn't really explained. However, that didn't stop me from saving her three times (once with each character) while I acquainted myself with the next chapter in the Mana series.
The controls are simple. The A button attacks and the X button is your secondary weapon. The Y button uses a gumdrop (healing item). Holding the B button summoned your "spirit" and holding the attack button ("A") unleashed a secondary action for your selected weapon.
The demo featured four weapons. A sword, flail, hammer, and bow. Each weapon had its own strengths and weaknesses (naturally), and each was suited for different situations. For instance, the sword was ideal for quick strikes, while the hammer was good for knocking enemies around like pinballs. And since enemies did damage to other enemies if knocked into them, that became a rather ideal situation (more on that later).
As previously mentioned, each weapon has its own secondary ability. The sword was able to deflect projectiles away from the character (such as arrows). The flail could be used as a hookshot, effectively turning players into Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. The hammer performed a hard smash that dealt considerable damage to multiple enemies. And, finally, the bow shot out a music note which dazed any enemies it hit.
The game utilizes both screens of the DS in fairly standard fare. The top screen has the actual gameplay, with weapon icons, items, and your characters HP/MP gauge in various corners. The bottom screen features a radar mini-map of the immediate area as well as the character's current level and remaining experience till their next level up. The screen also provides the name of the area and current zone, along with the players current account balance (money). And later, when Gleamdrops are introduced, it provides a hint as to where players can find the next Gleamdrop, as well as Gleamwell.
What are those? Well Gleamdrops and Gleamwells are what allow the character to advance from zone to zone (at least, in the Mana Tower demo). Gleamdrops are the crystallized form of the Mana Tree's Power. Gleamwells were not fully explained in the demo. Each zone contains one Gleamdrop and one Gleamwell, which the player must join together. Since the Gleamwell is immovable, the player must search out the hidden Gleamdrop. A couple of the places I found a Gleamdrop were inside an enemy, and inside a pot. Once the player locates the Gleamdrop for a given zone, they must carry it to the Gleamwell, in which time they will be transported to the next zone.
Earlier I mentioned something about hitting enemies into other enemies; allow me to elaborate. In Children of Mana, when a player whacks an enemy, and they fly backward and crash into another enemy, both enemies suffer damage. The same is true if an enemy is knocked into a character or if a character is knocked into an enemy. It is a rather neat gameplay element that really hasn't been done in previous titles, but should've been long ago.
There is also an attack gauge that slowly fills up as the player attacks or gets attacked by an enemy. Once it fills up, the character will attack faster and have more powerful attacks.
The lone boss battle in the demo is a rather curious one that offers no real explanation. Your character fights against a Fire Bird that is immune to all forms of attack during a brief portion of the battle. However, at one point a sword flies down from above and sticks itself into the dirt. Somehow this sword's presence is enough to remove the bird's immunity, and even though the player never picks it up, you're then able to damage the boss at will. I'm not entirely certain what the significance of the sword is, but I'm rather excited to find out.
Children of Mana seems to be an update to the old Secret of Mana game, which is fine. Even most of the enemies appeared to just be graphical upgrades of the ones in Secret of Mana. The only major concern I have with the with the game is that from reviews I've read based on the Japanese version, the game seems like nothing more than a dungeon brawl. There is essentially no story, just lots of fighting. Still, even if the game is comprised entirely of dungeons, it should still provide a rather entertaining experience that should be pretty enjoyable.
The reason I tell you this is not so you would go out and try to find yourself a copy of the game (although if you do, best of luck finding a copy). No, the reason I mention Secret of Mana is because Children of Mana (for the DS) plays a lot like its SNES predecessor. At least, this is what I've concluded from my playtime of the game's demo at E3.
The Mana series of games (or Seiken Densetsu for those of you familiar with their Japanese name) could be compared to the Legend of Zelda games, at least on a surface level. You run around in a isometric 2-dimensional world, attacking enemies with your weapons in realtime. There's an overworld, you trek through dungeons, and you obtain new abilities. They're still RPGs through and through, however, with full statistic-based attributes, leveling up, and a multitude of playable characters.
The E3 demo featured three characters, each accompanied by their own spirit/summon. There was Ferrik with his pal Salamander, Poppen escorted by Undine, and Tamber with the power of Luna at her disposal (each of the three mentioned spirits were also featured in the afore-mentioned Secret of Mana). Each character faced the same mission. Bring Tess back from the Mana Tower safely!
Now, who Tess is and why its important to save her wasn't really explained. However, that didn't stop me from saving her three times (once with each character) while I acquainted myself with the next chapter in the Mana series.
The controls are simple. The A button attacks and the X button is your secondary weapon. The Y button uses a gumdrop (healing item). Holding the B button summoned your "spirit" and holding the attack button ("A") unleashed a secondary action for your selected weapon.
The demo featured four weapons. A sword, flail, hammer, and bow. Each weapon had its own strengths and weaknesses (naturally), and each was suited for different situations. For instance, the sword was ideal for quick strikes, while the hammer was good for knocking enemies around like pinballs. And since enemies did damage to other enemies if knocked into them, that became a rather ideal situation (more on that later).
As previously mentioned, each weapon has its own secondary ability. The sword was able to deflect projectiles away from the character (such as arrows). The flail could be used as a hookshot, effectively turning players into Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. The hammer performed a hard smash that dealt considerable damage to multiple enemies. And, finally, the bow shot out a music note which dazed any enemies it hit.
The game utilizes both screens of the DS in fairly standard fare. The top screen has the actual gameplay, with weapon icons, items, and your characters HP/MP gauge in various corners. The bottom screen features a radar mini-map of the immediate area as well as the character's current level and remaining experience till their next level up. The screen also provides the name of the area and current zone, along with the players current account balance (money). And later, when Gleamdrops are introduced, it provides a hint as to where players can find the next Gleamdrop, as well as Gleamwell.
What are those? Well Gleamdrops and Gleamwells are what allow the character to advance from zone to zone (at least, in the Mana Tower demo). Gleamdrops are the crystallized form of the Mana Tree's Power. Gleamwells were not fully explained in the demo. Each zone contains one Gleamdrop and one Gleamwell, which the player must join together. Since the Gleamwell is immovable, the player must search out the hidden Gleamdrop. A couple of the places I found a Gleamdrop were inside an enemy, and inside a pot. Once the player locates the Gleamdrop for a given zone, they must carry it to the Gleamwell, in which time they will be transported to the next zone.
Earlier I mentioned something about hitting enemies into other enemies; allow me to elaborate. In Children of Mana, when a player whacks an enemy, and they fly backward and crash into another enemy, both enemies suffer damage. The same is true if an enemy is knocked into a character or if a character is knocked into an enemy. It is a rather neat gameplay element that really hasn't been done in previous titles, but should've been long ago.
There is also an attack gauge that slowly fills up as the player attacks or gets attacked by an enemy. Once it fills up, the character will attack faster and have more powerful attacks.
The lone boss battle in the demo is a rather curious one that offers no real explanation. Your character fights against a Fire Bird that is immune to all forms of attack during a brief portion of the battle. However, at one point a sword flies down from above and sticks itself into the dirt. Somehow this sword's presence is enough to remove the bird's immunity, and even though the player never picks it up, you're then able to damage the boss at will. I'm not entirely certain what the significance of the sword is, but I'm rather excited to find out.
Children of Mana seems to be an update to the old Secret of Mana game, which is fine. Even most of the enemies appeared to just be graphical upgrades of the ones in Secret of Mana. The only major concern I have with the with the game is that from reviews I've read based on the Japanese version, the game seems like nothing more than a dungeon brawl. There is essentially no story, just lots of fighting. Still, even if the game is comprised entirely of dungeons, it should still provide a rather entertaining experience that should be pretty enjoyable.