Children of Mana (DS) Review
Introduction
First things first, while sharing the mana name like many previous instalments of the franchise, Children of Mana discards the traditional structure of other adventures in the series in favour of dungeon based gameplay that will likely be familiar to those who have played the Pokemon Mystery dungeon games. While Children of Mana may prove to be a disappointment to those expecting another full fledged mana game, it is nice to see something different done with the game, even if it is slightly flawed in some ways.
Gameplay
For those not familiar with the dungeon style of gameplay employed in Children of Mana, the player must progress through the areas known as dungeons level by level, where the objective is to find the portal and its key in order to advance to subsequent levels. All the enemies and in short, all that is evil in the world, is conveniently confined within these specific areas of the game, and to be truthful there arent a particularly large number of them. The biggest flaw of Children of Mana is the fact that there really isnt a particularly great variation in what youll be doing throughout the short course of the main game, such that the gameplay becomes stagnant, and at times, repetitive and boring. When your goal is to progress through a large number of levels in a dungeon, it is particularly monotonous when the same level template is used multiple times, sometimes even consecutively, an occurrence that was frequent in my time playing the game. While each world/area has an appropriate differently themed dungeon, it is distressing to return to a world expecting to explore new areas in a side quest only to be greeted with the same randomly generated levels youve come to expect time and time over.
Things dont get much better upon witnessing the pure simplicity of the combat and magic system and it soon becomes apparent that Children of Mana lacks both depth and a sufficient degree of difficulty. Four weapons are included in the game; the sword, flail, hammer and bow all return from past mana instalments. Two of these weapons may be equipped at once and each has its own attack method and secondary function. The sword is quick and nimble and has the ability to parry projectiles, while the flail attacks radially and can also be used to pull in objects and pickups. Its probably also worth mentioning that when using the hammer the laws of physics are readily discarded for a style of gameplay akin to pinball where the character and enemies fly around the dungeon rebound off walls and each other. Youve been warned. Despite the varied functions of the weapons, what the game always comes back to is simple hack and slash style gameplay. Whatever the situation youll likely find yourself madly tapping the A button while moving in the direction of the enemies. Youre often not encouraged to shift your weapon set-up unless its necessary to clear an obstacle and since the enemy characters have no specific strength or weakness to weapon types there is no particular strategy except to run in and beat the crap out of them by madly swinging whatever weapon you have before the AI has a chance to realise whats happening.
Due to this, I found that for the most part of the game I was generally discouraged in a way from using magic, which is also quite limited in Children of Mana. Only one elemental spirit can accompany you at one time giving your possible spell combinations a grand repertoire of 2 with a single attack and support spell that varies with the spirit. In general magic tends to be useless unless used very specifically in a certain scenario, and even then it doesnt stand up when you can much more easily smack them around with your sword. Even though you can select from 4 characters at the beginning of the game with varying stat balances, youll still end up playing in the exact same way. Children of Mana obviously had some good ideas about varying the gameplay with the different spells and weapon functions, but in all honesty the level of thinking and strategising in the game is akin to nothing more than smacking your enemy around repetitively til you find the item to progress, doing it some more, then to follow the simple directions of rinse and repeat til you can smack anything you happen to come across around like its your bitch. Couple with this the fact that the story of the post-apocalyptic world from Sword of Mana is faint at best and the player will generally question themselves regularly as to what there is to motivate progression through the game other than being able to see the sand/ice/ruin/evil vortex world that comes next.
On the flip side however, Children of Mana is very easy to pick up and play, and while the easiness will prove distressing to some, it also means that the level-grinding present in most RPGs is abolished. The save system is also of worthy mention, allowing you to save every few levels in a dungeon, so that the player can come and go as they please without spending hours trekking through enemy infested territory to find that damn elusive save point. Its Mana simplified basically, and its a blessing just as much as it is a curse. For the more hardcore though, youll be happy to know that Children of Mana contains enough to please. The gem system can be used to customise your character by placing the magical geodes you find on your journey into a special tray. These unlock new abilities, strengthen spells and power up your stats to name a few effects, and two gems can be combined to create a new stone with different properties. This part of the system is actually quite fun to play around with once you get into it, and the nature of gem fusion means youll be seeking out rare rewards in side quests to both use and fuse. Children of Mana is not a game I would recommend playing for hours on end if youre not a fan of dungeon style RPGs, but despite its flaws in difficulty and variation the gameplay is still solid and enjoyable of you dont overdo things.
Graphics
Personally I noticed a little difference in the art style of the characters when compared to previous mana games, but thats just an observation and not at all a bad thing. The worlds of Children of Mana are well depicted and anyone who has seen the detail of previous games will understand what I mean. The art style is always quite charming and unique, and even in this day of 3D graphics and hi-res polygons the vivid, colourful environments and style of the sprites still manages to impress. The only argument I could really draw is that it would have been a lot better to have some more varied areas in the game. Whilst visually stunning, when progressing through multiple levels of a lengthy dungeon looking at the same thing over and over becomes drab and unexciting. In hindsight it doesnt really help tempers either when you want to finish the mother all of dungeons and see that same cliff again, just sitting there mocking you. While great, the graphics could have been so much more varied and unique in certain places, adding to the monotony of some stages of the game rather than relieving it.
Sound
To be honest the sound in the game was a bit of a hit and miss affair. Whilst I loved certain dungeon themes to pieces, there were others that I loathed more than an American rap concert. When the same theme plays for a dungeon which can often take 20 minutes to complete it has to be more than an annoying little jingle looped over and over. For mana veterans some tunes will be instantly recognisable as mana styled classics, while others will leave you hanging. Thankfully the majority are the former rather than the latter so for the greater portion of the game youll be treating to some top quality audio.
Replayability/Lastability
This part is just a little bit tricky, in that while Children of Mana certainly does have its fair share of things to do and quests to complete there will be people who simply wont have the patience and strength of will to finish the entire thing. One aspect that extends the length of the game is the addition of co-op multiplayer with multiple DS game cards. Dungeon trawling doesnt seem quite as monotonous when you have a friend with you and co-op actually removes some of the single player flaws. With multiple party members you can equip different weapons in different combinations to tackle enemies and obstacles. Magic becomes a lot more useful when its used in a support situation and the number of players increases the possible spells at your teams disposal. This is where the gem system works in quite effectively, where you can easily shift the roles of your characters depending on what you equip. In general it lightens the experience and makes it a lot more fun for all players. However, chances are sadly that you wont get to experience the greatness of co-op play so Children of Mana is not really a game youll be coming back to in a years time for a second play through.
Final thoughts
This isnt a traditional Mana game, so dont be fooled into thinking youll like this just because youre a fan of the past titles. With that said, Children of Mana is certainly a solid title, with many gripes simply coming from the fact that its not as good as we expected. In reality its not the shining knight of RPGs but its still a lot better than average and a good buy if youre a fan of the genre. Its a nice fresh take on the Mana series that didnt come off quite perfectly, but to be fair its sufferings are fairly consistent with that of many other dungeon style titles. If you know youll have access to co-op this is a blast, although it would have been much better if there were an online option. The game isnt extremely heavy on RPG elements so its possible to enjoy this without being a real RPG fan, as its simple to pick up and play. Children of Mana is an above average game that will inevitably please those who are patient with it, but for those more inclined to the traditional style of mana adventuring, there is always Heroes of Mana to look forward to next year.
