Dawn of Mana Review (PS2)

The Secret of Mana was probably one of the top ten all-time RPGs.  The game stuck with a basic ‘good vs. evil’ plot with great characters and game play.  For whatever reason, the Mana series stalled out and it took Square Enix nearly 15 years to come out with the first true sequel to the Mana story.

The Dawn of Mana is very similar to the familiar world we knew back in the days of the SNES, but in more of a 3-d style.  Most game news sites have rated the new game as “average”.  I’d probably give it a 7 out of 10 myself, with a majority of the points coming from the great story.  Targeting enemies is a serious issue in the game and I also think cut scenes eventually need to be a thing of the past in RPG games.  From a technical standpoint, the game maxes out the PS2’s potential in many ways, yet the gameplay simply falls short.  If you really love the Mana series and want to find out about the history behind the Mana tree and things such as that, definitely pick up the game.  Just do not expect this title to go down in history as a great RPG, because it simply will not.  The characters in Dawn of Mana are interesting, yet not all that developed.