Secret of Mana
Score: 78% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Square Enix Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ RPG
Graphics & Sound: The notion that the Japanese role-playing game was in top form during the 16-bit era is very difficult to argue with. While modern entries of Final Fantasy certainly have no trouble with sales, most gamers would agree that when it comes to JRPGs, the Super Nintendo days are all but untouchable in terms of overall quality. Perhaps that's why Square Enix has decided to release Secret of Mana for Apple's iPhone. When I learned of this release at last year's E3, I believed it was a risky decision. However, I knew that if it was done right, it would be a must-own. Alas, Secret of Mana for iPhone isn't much more than an inferior port of a truly great game. Make of that what you will. When Secret of Mana was first released in late 1993, gamers everywhere fell in love with the world in which it took place. From Potos to Gaia's Navel to the Mana Fortress, the ideas present were still magnificently fresh. Eighteen years later, it's still easy to appreciate, though you may feel a tug of disappointment when you realize that so many role-playing games have taken nearly every visual cue and theme and rendered them stale. So from an artistic standpoint, nothing has changed. Let's get to the technical stuff: the decision to develop Secret of Mana as a straight port is disappointing for several reasons. In-game text has been cleaned up and looks much sharper than it does in the 1993 release, but that's about the only improvement. The emulation tends to stutter; while Randi, Primm, and Popoi look and animate identically to their retro counterparts, some aspects of the animations look unnaturally sped up. My biggest complaints with the visuals have to do with the virtual D-pad and action buttons. The bright blue circles that represent the extensions of your thoughts not only clash wildly with the game's color scheme, but they are obtrusive and immovable. Square Enix's Chaos Rings offered a clean and elegant solution to that problem: a virtual Analog Stick that only showed up when you put your thumb on the screen. Why couldn't they apply that to Secret of Mana? I don't have any complaints with regards to the sound. While it would be nice to hear the original tracks cleaned up and modernized, sound still plays a very important part in delivering nostalgic feelings. Secret of Mana's soundtrack is as lovely as it's ever been. The sound effects also haven't been given any changes, and that's just fine by me. The thwacks of landed hits are still satisfying, even when they are delayed. iPhone speakers can sound tinny at times, resulting in some ugly vibrations for those who like to turn the sound up. Use headphones or earbuds for this one if you want to crank the volume.
Gameplay: Randi's in the middle of a dangerous play date with village dunce Timothy and resident fat boy Elliott when he falls off a log into a pond. He hears a voice and sees a sword buried in a stone, so he does what any kid would do in his situation: he attempts to pull the sword out. It comes out without a struggle, but it ends up attracting a bunch of monsters to his village. Randi makes short work of the big one, but that's not enough for the ungrateful residents of Potos, who subsequently banish (that's right: banish) the kid. But who needs them? Especially when the world needs saving from an empire hellbent on using the force of Mana to power its flying warship! Two spunky and memorable companions join Randi on his quest, and how much help they ultimately are depends on how well you use them. More on that later. Secret of Mana is the happy medium between Final Fantasy (as it used to be) and The Legend of Zelda (as it always was). There's really no better way to describe this game's setup and gameplay. It's a top-down action adventure along the same lines of Nintendo's series, with a pseudo-turn-based combat system that feels at home in a Square Enix game. In between environment traversal, dungeon crawls and boss fights, there's always the option of visiting towns, talking to the locals, and upgrading your equipment. Classic RPG stuff.
Difficulty: When it comes to the actual gameplay, Secret of Mana isn't so much difficult as it is inconsistent and grind-heavy in a select few spots. You'll blast through a number of dungeons and boss battles, only to have your party wipe in a matter of seconds. Managing party members is also kind of a chore at times, as Primm and Popoi are generally stupid (as far as A.I. companions go). More often than not, they are liabilities rather than assets. However, you can manage their tactics with a simple menu, and when they gain the ability to use magic, it's easy to access. What's difficult to forgive on Square Enix's part is in how archaic certain parts of Secret of Mana are. Retro is usually not a bad thing, but when you choose to ignore necessary elements that were mainstays back then, there's a problem. Case in point, the process of buying items. If you're not experienced with this game, you won't be able to tell what an item does until you use it. You also won't be able to tell who can wear what until the armor is bought and paid for. There's an electronic manual shoehorned into this release, but you can only access that from the main menu, which is inconvenient.
Game Mechanics: Secret of Mana's gameplay is hinged on two primary mechanics, one of which is the partially turn-based combat. Melee attacks have brief cooldown periods. You can attack again during a cooldown phase, but your attack won't cause nearly as much damage as a fully charged (or overcharged) attack. As you gain experience with each weapon, you'll be able to charge power for even more devastating attacks. Be careful, though -- timing and precision are difficult to achieve on this iPhone port, and they are crucial to success. Secret of Mana's radial wheel menu remains unchanged with a few exceptions; the touch screen makes things slightly more difficult to navigate. Sometimes the game will interpret a scrolling motion as an intention to move an item to another spot on the wheel. Still, since time remains paused, it's not too big an issue. Spells, items, and options are all stored in this system, and luckily it's still relatively easy to use. Only one of Secret of Mana's noteworthy features are absent from this iPhone release, but it's kind of a big one. I can't count the number of times I and a childhood friend conquered the Mana Fortress in the game's fantastic cooperative mode. To have it missing from a platform that would benefit from that feature is pretty disappointing. So in the end, the iPhone port of Secret of Mana isn't the ideal choice for an aspiring retro adventurer. If you haven't played the game in its original form, I'd recommend doing that, even though the asking price of this release isn't unreasonable. After all, if it's portable Secret of Mana you want, this is most certainly it. Just be aware that with this version, you'll be getting the short end of the stick.
-FenixDown, GameVortex Communications AKA Jon Carlos
echochrome ii Ghost Mania