Fantastically playable and charming action RPG that you'll all fall in love with.
Secret Of Mana is one such game. It's one of a handful of old-school Square-developed gems that gamers happily dedicated a piece of their hearts to 14 years ago. In its simplest form Mana is an isometric action RPG. You control a young orphan who inadvertently pulls an ancient sword from a stone. Hmmm... sound familiar?
It turns out the sword was protecting the local village from monster attacks and no sooner is the sword removed than a giant bug invades the village. The villagers get angry, the orphan kills the bug with his new sword, and the villagers chuck him out anyway. It seems a bit harsh even all these years later but everything happens for a reason and our young friend is soon moving on to bigger and better things, i.e saving the world from certain destruction.
The gameplay itself is a mixture of monster-mashing action and traditional RPG elements. As with the Final Fantasy games you can increase your vital statistics by defeating enemies and buying new weapons and armour. The big difference is that you're free to wander around the gorgeous locals and take on enemies at your discretion.
Bish, Bash, Bosh!
In the field it's all about bashing enemies with the action button and casting spells via the ring menu that can be brought up at any time. Throughout your travels you'll bump into two other characters (a princess and a sprite child) who will join you on your quests. These characters can either be controlled by your friends or by the computer. The computer intelligence isn't perfect and characters do sometimes get stuck behind items on the field, just as they did 14 years ago, but it's something you learn to live with. You can set up your characters' aggression levels so that they either stay back and defend or jump in and attack.
The magic in the game is obtained by gaining the trust of Elementals who will then imbue the princess and the sprite child with the ability to cast curative and offensive spells. These range from fire and ice, through to earth and lightning. The main hero can't cast spells himself but spells can be cast upon weapons to strengthen them. For example, through Undine's power of ice the sprite child can summon a hailstorm to rain down on enemies, while the princess can empower your sword with a super chilled edge.
It's A Kind Of Magic
It all sounds fairly standard now but at a time, when action RPGs were extremely rare, it really stood out. To this day there still aren't that many genuinely decent alternatives and although Secret Of Mana 2 did more of the same, it was sadly never released outside of Japan.
While the gameplay is really satisfying, it's the sumptuous graphics and the dreamy soundtrack that really raise this game above the rest. At the time the game's graphics were among the best ever seen but even after all these year it still retains a certain charm and is far from ugly. One element that can never age though, is the soundtrack. To this day it still boasts some of the most memorable videogame tunes ever and is up there with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI/VII.
With great action, solid RPG elements and a fantastic audio-visual package there won't be too many gamers who won't fall head over heels in love with Secret Of Mana. It never gets more complicated than pressing a few buttons at the right time, but somehow it manages to provide a deeply rewarding experience for those willing to put the time in. And when you can experience one of the SNES' golden greats for only 800 Wii Points, there's really nothing to complain about. In fact, with games like this turning up on the Wii Shop Channel, you have to wonder whether you really need to go to the shops at all...