Friday, Mar 29, 2024 | Last Update : 12:40 AM IST

  Technology   In Other news  07 Mar 2018  Not a classic remake for sure

Not a classic remake for sure

THE ASIAN AGE. | PARTH BAGARIA
Published : Mar 7, 2018, 12:42 am IST
Updated : Mar 7, 2018, 12:42 am IST

Secret of Mana is extremely outdated and has not aged well with time.

The slow combat, convoluted inventory management and poor AI all result in an unpleasant gameplay experience
 The slow combat, convoluted inventory management and poor AI all result in an unpleasant gameplay experience

Secret of Mana is a remake of an SNES classic, originally released in 1993. The game stars a boy named Randi, who is banished from his village after he pulls out a sword which was embedded into a rock. He soon finds out that the weapon is the legendary Mana sword, and had prevented monsters from coming near the village. Exiled from his home, the boy is instructed by a Knight to seek the Mana Temples and re-energise the sword. This remake includes 3D models as well as voice acting and supports auto-save.

Randi is joined by two companions, which can either be controlled by other players or the AI. You can set commands for them to follow, but you will still find yourself constantly switching to make sure they don’t get stuck.  It is best played with at least one more person. 

Combat takes place in real time and relies upon a power gauge which determines how much damage is dealt. Upon swinging the weapon, a percentage appears which goes from 0 to 100 in a second or two. This percentage determines how much damage you do with the next attack. As such, the game falls into a rhythm of attack, back up and attack again. Players must be aware of the timing, as missing also resets the percentage to 0, which can leave them wide open. 

It’s an interesting design choice which punishes button mashing and successive attacks, forcing players to be careful and precise with their attacks. While it can lead to some intense boss fights, it doesn’t quite work for regular enemies. It makes the game unnecessarily slow and tedious and waiting for a percentage to go up every time you swing your sword does not result in fun combat encounters. This isn’t to say the battle system is without its merits, just that it doesnt hold up well at all, nor is it suited for a real time action-rpg.

Secret of Mana is extremely outdated and has not aged well. The remake needed a complete overhaul of several systems and mechanics. The slow combat, convoluted inventory management and poor AI all result in an unpleasant gameplay experience. Additionally, the story is full of tropes. Unless Secret of Mana is one of your favourite games and you want to re-live the memories, I cannot think of enough good reasons to purchase this remake. 

Tags: secret of mana, swinging the weapon