by Jay "THE FLEA" Wade
The Mana series has finally returned! Legend of Mana is the 4th instalment of the Mana Series.
(2nd in America) Many played and loved the Secret of Mana for the SNES many years ago.
If you think Legend of Mana will play just like Secret of Mana, you'll be in for a surprise.
While the look of the game is still in the fashion of SoM, The gameplay is a whole new idea.
You have to create your own world map. You choose an area and place your home base at.
Then you find artifacts that add new places to your map.
There's no exploration on the world map, just different places and towns to jump to.
In the beginning of the game you choose a male or female character and choose a weapon they can use. (Sword, Knife, Bow, Spear etc...) but the problem is you'll find tons of weapons you can't use due you are a sword expert and can't use a knife.
The story is pretty simple, your an adventurer and help creatures of all kinds by battling bosses or completing quests. (kind of like Tomba!)
The battle system is nothing like the SoM, it's not even turn based.
It's more of a action arcade fighter like Final Fight or Streets of Rage then a standard RPG.
You against 3-4 bad guys or a huge boss and beat the crap out of him. (I'm not kidding)
Computer players join your quest and will battle at your side, but most of the time they really aren't any help. A second player can jump into your adventure if he too has a save from a LoM game.
You can use special attacks when a special technique meter is full.
Also you can breed pets that will be your sidekick, raise them, level them up and keep them happy and they will serve you well. (don't make me sick my fluffy yellow bunny on you.)
PUBLISHER: SQUARESOFT
GRAPHICS: 8 SOUND & MUSIC: 7.5 CONTROL: 7
SECRETS: 8 ORIGINALITY: 9 FUN & REPLAY: 9
There's a lot of collecting in LoM. Collect character profiles, logs of your missions, and places you've been. LoM is a fun "little" RPG, it's just not a epic RPG like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana. OVERALL: 8