What Is It?
Last week I took notice of the
Square Enix Rehabilitation Tour, which involved them releasing their top PlayStation 1 and PSP games all at once. To further prove my theory, Square has gone ahead and uploaded Legend of Mana, the curious little adventure game from 2000. This is the fourth game in the long-running Seiken Densetsu series and the first Mana title released in the United States since the award winning Secret of Mana seven years earlier. Given the pedigree of the franchise, it's easy to understand why many were disappointed by this PlayStation release.
The game is a lot like any other Zelda clone, you play an adventurer (either boy or girl, it makes no difference to the story) who battles evil to keep everybody safe. Much like the Super NES installment, Legend of Mana offers multiplayer support. It's a shame that it's only two players (Secret of Mana allowed three people to party up), but two is better than one. The game revolves around your team battling monsters and collecting loot, all while earning new stories and adventures to go on. All this is wrapped up in beautiful hand drawn graphics and some of Square's most inspired score.
Does It Still Hold Up?
From a visual point of view, this is one of Square's best looking games. The cartoon-style graphics are so impressive that the developers could get away with reusing them in a modern game. The two-player is also a welcome addition, especially since it's so easy to have a friend jump in and out. From a technical point of view this game holds up incredibly well.
Where the game falls down is in the user interface. The developers made a number of questionable decisions that keep this game from being the must-own sequel it should have been. For one thing, the player is given control over where each level is going to sit on the map. This is great, but it means that whenever you decide to move you are going to have to switch to the giant world map. As a result, the pacing feels off and the world never feels cohesively put together.
The slow pacing also rears its head in the levels and towns. You can't just run around a wide open world, you're constantly being spit out on a large overhead map. This is especially jarring in towns, but it's bad no matter where you are. On the other hand, the game's short quests (which can be completed in full in just a few minutes) are perfect for PSP owners. The game could be a little more diligent about saving the data, but that's a problem I have with a lot of games from that era. Players shouldn't have a problem overcoming some of the game's more curious design choices and have a great time playing Legend of Mana.
Is It Worth The Money?
I went into Legend of Mana with a pessimistic outlook. I'm one of those people who was deeply disappointed by the original PlayStation release. I expected something as good (if not better) than Secret of Mana. My expectations were high; perhaps even unrealistic. But the game didn't deliver what I wanted. It was slow, had weird control quirks and was a big step down from Secret of Mana.
I vowed to give this game a fair shot the second time around, and I'm glad I did. Legend of Mana may not be as good as the Super NES game, but it remains a solid adventure game with beautiful graphics and two-player support. The price is right, too. Even if it doesn't meet your expectations, few people would argue that this game is not worth six dollars. Even with my doubts, I have been won over by this game's charm and interesting storytelling. Legend of Mana is definitely worth a second look.
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