Children of Mana (Nintendo DS, 2006)

Yet another disappointing title being released in the Mana series. The first Mana title was called Seiken Densetsu. It was released in the U.S. as Final Fantasy for Game Boy. The game was decent for a game boy title. The second title in the series was Seiken Densetsu II in Japan, released in the U.S. as Secret of Mana for the Super Nintendo. In my humble opinion, Secret of Mana was, and still is, probably the best RPG released for that console. While others may not agree, that is irrelevant. What matters is that the Mana series seemed to be well on its way to achieving status among RPG fans as being right up there with everyone else's favorite RPG series, Final Fantasy. The unfortunate truth is that, EVERY GAME RELEASED IN THE MANA SERIES HAS TURNED OUT TO BE COMPLETELY AWFUL when compared to Secret of Mana (U.S.). I feel that Squaresoft has taken this series in the wrong direction, and that more people should start pushing Squaresoft to bring this series into its maturity.

As for the game itself, you should realize that it's a dungeon crawler. The game isn't very open ended, and quests are extremely repetitive. The main objective of every level, or "zone", is to find a "gleamdrop", carry it to the "gleamwell", and hit "A". But wait, there's more, You do this about 300-400 times throughout the course of the game.

Then you go back to town. Same old town every time. The storyline is standard.
While the combat system is fun for an RPG type game, it's nothing new. In fact, Secret of Mana for the Super Nintendo was more innovative, and that was almost 15 years ago.

This game is just as my rating says, "Average".

First the bad: I was expecting some more updated graphics, but the graphics are old fasioned. There are side quests, but work as returning to previous dungeons and make your way through to the end like you would do during the regular story line.

Now the good: Real-time battle system, multi-player, good story line, and summon spirits to aid you in battle!

The basic game play takes place on the top screen with the menu options on the touch screen. In dungeons, you will have to clear so many zones before reaching the end. You will have to attain a "gleamdrop" in the zone use it over the "gleamwell" to reach the next zone. The touch screen in dungeons will show a map, a hint on where the gleamdrop is hidden, and, depending on the dungeon, where the gleamwell is hidden.

Another good feature is the use of gems in the game. You can buy gems, find gems in dungeons, and fuse gems. Gems are placed on a gem framed and a player can use the gems to create specific stats and to gain special abilities (ex. Crystal of Defense add +4 to defense and Sword Expertise gives the sword attack +8, double damage, and three consecutive waves).

Also, while different weapons and armor increase stats, a character must be at a certain level before equiting a certai item. If you obtain the Diamond sword around level forty, you will have to till you reach level fifty before you can equipt it.

I think that about covers it.

Unlike other offshoots of the Mana franchise, this one keeps it fairly similar to the original. The added ability to duel wield two types of weapons, matched with occasionally frenetic gameplay makes this a fast paced game. In addition to duel wielding, there is also an added feature of using and fusing gems. While using the gems is less important for those using a melee combat character, the system works smoothly and intuitively. That is except for the severely limited number of gems you can use at any given time.
The magic system also works somewhat differently from what may be expected. You’ll have the ability to choose from all of the elementals you had in Secret of Mana, however you will only be able to have one with you at a time. What’s worse is that the elementals do not level up through use, but only by equipping a gem that will increase that specific elemental’s level. For those using a magic type character, this proves to be both costly and frustrating (especially during longer dungeons).
Overall, the run time goes to about 30 hours, but there isn’t much of a plot line to follow, and 98% of the game time ends up being spent on level grinding via taking odd jobs in dungeons you’ve already defeated. Despite those issues, fans of the Mana franchise are almost guaranteed to enjoy this game, but even they may get bored with the level grinding well before finally beating it.

Graphics – 8.9
Gameplay – 7.2
Story – 6.4
Overall – 8.3 (All ratings on a 10pt. Scale)

-Rev.

This game was a pretty good addition to the Mana series. Was abit hard to really get into. Was pretty fun to play and enjoy but not a top ten in my list.

If you liked the rpg, secret of mana on the nes, you'll love this game. I haven't play the multiplayer setting yet, but I will. This game has all the same monsters and gameplay as the original version. I highly recommend this rpg.

That said, I don't feel the series has gone in the BEST direction. Is it a good game in the series, though? Sure. I give it about a 7 out of 10. IT has got its flaws, but there is also a lot to love about this title. Give it a chance.

Great fantasy game! Very easy to get into to! Good graphics and story. Easily addicting! This game is FTW

I was going to go on a long tirade, explain in detail the things I liked, and didn't like about this game. I have realized, however, that is a waste of time.

The first thing you will notice about this game is that the imagery is lovely, and the music is pretty nice as well. It has some very high quality animated cutscenes. That is about as deep as it goes.

Everything else about the game completely sucks. The story make Star Wars seem like Alexander Dumas. If you don't get that analogy, please stop reading here. The action is so mindnumbingly repetitive that it gave me a tumor. You spend three hours rinsing, and repeating until your eyes bleed, and then... NOTHING! Your reward is more mindless button mashing, enjoy. Or, don't buy the game. I only wish I hadn't made the mistake, because now I have a useless DS game I can't sell to someone in good conscious.

Pros: Excellent story, love the battle sequence, and a great continuation of an oldy but goldy, "Children of Mana" from the SNES.

Cons: The Co-op portion of the game only allows 1 person to advance, so in a way you have to play the game twice to beat it...

I bought the game cause i love the Mana games they are fun. Children of Mana was an ok game i was expecting more and they should have added more it just didnt have enough to keep my interest so i found myself at a lot of times bein bored and just turning it off but i ended up beatin it and the story was really good but it gets really repetative really fast.

The characters to play as were kool but they all get the same weapons and everything so if they would have all been different in their own way besides look it would have been good but overall it was ok i would give out a 5 out 10

Good game, I cannot really wright a review about it since I have not played much. Did not realize it was action/adventure.

This was an easy purchase, good product and fast shipped item. Seller was easy to work with. Would buy from again.

A fantastic game. Highly recommended. I had been searching for a replacement of this game for quite some time and the sellers price was great.
This is a game that can take 80 hours to complete. You don't have to immediatly go through this game in an hour. You can take your time and go on side-adventures. That's one of the great things about the Mana games. They are top of the line RPGs.

It is totally thumbs up with my nephew the brainiac. It also arrived timely and was a quality product.

The product was brand new in case w/ instructions. I like absolutely everything about it. If I could have changed anything about the product, I would have sealed the game in plastic like the manufacturer would. Although the game inside was perfect with no scratches or defects, it would be nice to have it sealed. This by no means changed my opinion of the product. I would most definitely buy items like this again. Grade A product!

This game takes me back to the early games of Mana, from the original Nintendo Games. I am having fun with this game .

I was extremely please with this item and the service. I can't put it down and look forward to doing much more business with this seller. Thank you.

The product was exactly what I ordered, which was a pleasant surprise. It is fun to play....now I need to find the walk-through.

A Fantastic Multiplayer game for the whole family. Love it and my Gf loves it. it iwll keep you busy for hours and hours. You will never get sick of this game. not too hard but still challenging. Loads of missions to do and you get to chose from 4 characters to play with.

This seller meet all my needs, i recommend to everyone.!!!
Fast, Precise, Nearly Flawless!!!
Expect me back in the near future

This game is great for young audiences but ass for hardcore game fans following the "Legend of Mana" series you might just want to overlook this one.

I don't dislike anything. Their service was great. I will highly reccomend them and intend on doing so.... Thank you so much for your great service..

I haven't ever played this game before, but it looked really cool and it's an RPG which I really like. So...we'll see!! ^_^