Lousy story, kiddie-like enemies, good bosses...
STORY:
The storyline is about a young hero and heroine who wish to defy the plan of a masked-dictator who cleverly calls himself "Dark Lord" in order to earn his subjects' trust and support. The duo travels together at first, but gets separated now and then, making you change NPCs for the sake of diversity. The game starts pretty well, with good, humorous lines, and a promising story. It's just that it fails to deliver.
For starters, the epic storyline is scrambled with silly lines, making the characters sound more like confused school kids rather than larger-than-life heroes. I mean, when a major character in the game is about to make the ultimate sacrifice and turns to the heroes and says "Well, I'm off", as if he's going to his mother's house for dinner, well, that's plain stupid.
Most important NPCs and villains are killed in the storyline in a way that was supposed to make me sad, but all I felt was confusion and anger for the creators failing to immerse me into the game's tale. We don't get to know the characters before they die, and since we do not know them, how are we supposed to feel a sense of tragic loss?
Major plot holes loom in the game, making me question in the end why most characters did what they did (the major villain's goal is laughable at best).
GRAPHICS:
Mixed emotions here.
The enemies are silly looking-pokemon like creatures, and all the time you see the epic hero fight rabbits, wide-eyed crabs, shade-wearing turtles, slimes who have major vision problems and only 1-2 of the creatures actually look nice. The enemy bosses are extremely well-done though, and are sure to make up for interesting fights (I especially liked the giant squid and the dragon).
The backgrounds are very nice, and put me in the mood fairly easily. Forest areas are especially beautiful, but there wasn't a moment where I was disappointed. Good work there.
SOUND:
Plain sound effects are doing their job, while most music themes made me want to turn the music off. 1-2 music clips are nice though, like the mana sanctuary and the desert theme.
GAMEPLAY:
Typical GBA side-scrolling slash-em-up. Except that it has a lot of options and character development. Too bad the game is easy as a bell, especially if you spend some time practising. You have many weapons at your disposal (though not at first), each with it's own features, strengths and weaknesses. After some point of the game, you can temper with your equipment, and make them better, or add elemental attributes. You also acquire various magic spells, and if you search a lot, you can enhance their power.
When your character levels up, you can decide in what class you want him to power up, whether it is a thief, a warrior, a monk, a wizard etc., reminding us of the good old Dungeon and Dragons game.
FINAL VERDICT:
Sword of Mana could have been a lot better, if it had descent character development, some care in the dialogue, and an original story. The "There-is-no-God-and-man-must-depend-on-himself" point has been done to death, and is getting really, really old. Especially if it's delivered in such lousy taste.
If you can tolerate a hastily-written scenario, and corn-ball dialogue in an "epic" game, you should try Sword of Mana. The customization and diversity in character development may make you come back for more. It didn't make me, but it might just be the thing for you.
Happy playing!