I was first introduced to the Mana series from Square Co. LTD back in the day when the Super NES was considered "next-generation hardware" and co-op meant playing on the same system. Times certainly have changed but Square Enix is trying to revive the good spirit of the Mana series with two new games: Children of Mana and Dawn of Mana; Our focuses in this particular preview is on the former and not the latter, because it sure promises to bring back all the elements that made Secret of Mana such a hit with U.S. SNES owners. But first a little backstory on this new game.
Children of Mana once again revolves around the most powerful entity in the world of Mana: the life giving Mana Tree - that mythical and powerful entity that sits in the center of the world on an island called Illusia, whose very branches stretch way up high into the heavens. There is of course folklore intertwined in the story about a legendary boy capable of wielding that mythical weapon the Mana Sword and a girl who helped him defeat a great evil that attempted to corrupt the tree (where this put the game in the Mana series timeline we're not quite sure, but it's good folklore nonetheless). Ages pass, time flows and everything is better. There is peace, prosperity and safety.. but ruthless forces, seeking to corrupt the world for the pursuit of power have stirred and are once again taking aim at the very entity that keeps the world balanced. And yet again a hero, with the help of some friends, must wield that mythical blade and save the world.
The story is familiar to anyone that's played Secret of Mana, and it looks like the gameplay, though tweaked a bit to support special features of the DS, remains intact - at least on the surface. We're not sure what you can do under the skin of this title (progress to prestige classes, power up your weapons, etc)
On the surface Children of Mana is a real-time action RPG featuring melee combat, multiple character control and special magical abilities using the eight elements. Like previous games players have access to one weapon, magic and an item for things like defeating a status affect, healing etc. We're not sure what you'll be able to equip in terms of armor and accessories, but here's to hoping that all our favorites return. The game features an assortment of special attacks that you can charge up your weapon to use and the usual mix of in-game events, massive boss battles and bright and colorful enemies to vanquish.
The gameplay is divided by the DS' double screens: the upper screen is where all the action and events take place, while the bottom screen is used for map information, leveling data, area listings and map objectives. We assume that your inventory and equip screens will appear there as well, but having not scene it first-hand, don't hold me to that statement...
But the greatest feature in the game is what made Secret of Mana so much fun - co-op play. In that game up to two other players could jump into the game and take over a character. This is 2006 and with the power of the DS up to four players can team up via Wi-Fi to take on the world cooperatively.
Players will also be able to play competitively against each other, steal loot etc. - but details on that element of the game have not been released.
Children of Mana sounds like it will be the kind of game that makes consumers buy a DS (if you don't own one already) - I'm certainly excited about the prospect of returning to the world of Mana and I don't care how I get there. Children of Mana is set for a Q4 release and is being published by Nintendo. – James Fudge.
