Seiken Densetsu: Children of Mana (Nintendo DS) Preview

Final Fantasy Adventure, or Mystic Quest as some know it, was the actual humble beginning of the Mana series. In Japan it was a side-story for the Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy Gaiden: Seiken Densetsu, but rather than bring it to the West using that unfamiliar name, Squaresoft and Nintendo chose to change the title completely to Mystic Quest. However, it is this first game that we now all know as Sword of Mana, thanks to Nintendo-owned Brownie Brown remaking the monochrome Game Boy action RPG.

But lucky North American fans were treated to a slightly different styled Legend of Mana on the original PlayStation, a game that was extremely luscious and had a stunning soundtrack, but seemed to lack the charm of the Super Nintendo outing. Many wonder what it would have been like if Seiken Densetsu 3, or Secret of Mana 2, would have managed to squeeze itself out of Japan, but there is no need to dwell on that any more as Square Enix looks to have crafted the finest Mana experience since the first SNES game. Lucky Nintendo DS fans!

Yet are we all to be so lucky? You see, the game is not developed in-house, as people first suspected, and has instead been palmed-off on to the lap of Next Entertainment (formerly Nextech). If that name rings a bell somewhere within the deep, gaping chasm of your mind then it could be because the team ported Resident Evil to the Sega Saturn, Code Veronica for the DreamCast, Time Crisis 3 in the arcade and Sega's shaky Shining Soul on the Game Boy Advance. However, the aim of Square Enix at the moment is to provide gamers with a unique take of the franchise, rather than merely churn out another bland sequel. And it appears that Next Entertainment was pushed as far as it could be in order to win the rights to such an important game.

Maybe we are not being fobbed off then after all? So far reports are positive and the game received a resounding 36/40 from Famitsu magazine, two 10s and two 8s, with the only real criticism coming from one of the reviewers who gave it the perfect score! Thus it is quite refreshing given the disappointment following the hyped-up Sword of Mana remake, which was still a great game, but ridiculously retained ALL the flaws of the Game Boy version.

The setting for Children of Mana is Illusia, a mouth-wateringly beautiful island located at the centre of the world and a place that is home to a tree so large and dominant that it is almost forest-like

Frick is a lively soul who lost his real family in the original devastating events all those years ago and now sees Pop and Tumble as being so close that they are like his only relatives. He is the sword-wielder in Children of Mana. Pop is the brash one of the bunch, always letting his thoughts loose before thinking properly, diving in headfirst without inhibition and never letting people pressure him. Unfortunately for Pop, his father perished in the turmoil as well, whilst his mother passed away during his birth. Finally there is Tumble, the adult of the group, despite being the same age as Frick! She lost her family in a similar way, but tries to overcome the pain by remaining steadfast in her maturity.

Impressively, each character can be controlled by a gamer with a Nintendo DS, in the same way that three controllers could be hooked-up to the Super Nintendo for Secret of Mana. Unfortunately it is not clear how this set-up will work, although the chances of it not being via the wireless transfer process are non-existent. The question is whether you all need separate game disks, which in all likelihood will be 'yes' since the game is too large to transfer large levels across to other DS systems temporarily. If only Square Enix had had enough time to incorporate Wi-Fi Internet compatibility for the multiplayer!

Unlike in Secret of Mana where there was a plethora of weapons to choose from, Children of Mana instead opts to focus on three main ones: bow and arrow, flail and sword, each of which can be assigned to a different character whilst they build up their levels with them. There are standard, special and limit move attacks at your disposal, all of which are activated with the simplest of button presses at the appropriate time.

Just like in the SNES version, the sword can be used to take out multiple enemies with one devastating blow or be as subtle as swiping at blades of grass as you wander round, uncovering items along the way. This time, though, it has a special ability to protect its wielder from attacks and projectiles. As for the bow, it is clearly the long distance choice, and there is the inclusion of a new targeting system to make aiming far easier than its fairly random nature in past titles. Its own special feature is that it causes enemies to have various status abnormalities. Finally there is the flail, which acts as a 'best of both' in that it can be used for close or distant combat. In addition, items and enemies can be pulled toward you, as well as dragging yourself across gaps and up walls. Multipurpose, nice!

In order to unleash other special weapon characteristics you must fill up your Fever Gauge, which simply rises the more enemies you strike rather than you having to hold the attack button to fill it like in Secret of Mana. Limit Moves are what are at hand once completely full, with the sword charging you forward, the flail spinning round like crazy and the bow shooting stacks of arrows in all directions.