A good RPG for the GBA, with a few flaws here and there
Well. Ahum. Sword of Mana is a remake of a very old game called...dunno from very long ago. It's a pretty good RPG. It follows the standard Sword of Mana type, with real-time fighting, many kinds of weapons, and Rabites. You can play as either a heroic (boy) kid who's lost his parents to the evil Dark Lord, or a female magician who's lost her village to the same evil.
Graphics - 9/10
The graphics are very nice for a GBA. The characters look good, the world has a nice design, and one of the best touches here are the dialogue windows, with detailed pictures of the person who's talking. The various monsters look very inspired and are cool.
Gameplay - 8/10
If you've played Sword of Mana before, you know what you're gonna get. Real-time fighting, with customizable weapons of different types, magic, items, you name it. The battle system is pretty easy to use at most times, but it can get difficult at times, especially in boss battles. You've really got to to keep your wits about you, and have fast reflexes. Also, the control is a bit slow at times, which is a bit annoying. So it gets 8.
Sound - 9/10
The music in this game was surprisingly good! The GBA isn't the best when it comes to music, that much is true, but this one is really good. Filled with emotional themes, as well as great battle and dungeon music, which fit the game really well. And the final boss theme? Well, boy, it's gold. But the sound in general is a bit so-and-so. They're mostly repetitive cutting sounds. There isn't much sound at all in the game really. Great music, okay sound.
Value - 8/10
There are many things here that are good: The story is good, if a little confusing at times, the music is great, the gameplay is solid. And since there are two characters, you can play the game twice and see the diferent parts of the story. There are also MANY sidequests to do here, which should keep even the best RPG player in check for quite a while. Overall, is it worth it? Yeah. Go buy it now. It's definitely one of the best games for the GBA.