Review: Secret of Mana

Time is ruthless to many games, and what they played 20-25 years ago, it is very difficult to pass today. The reason for this is an intentionally high level of complexity, lack of control points and other pleasant details. Fortunately there is such a wonderful thing, like a remake: he breathes new life into old games, makes them more beautiful and rich. Our guest today has just undergone such creative processing. Did she do her good?

The plot of Secret of Mana to the point of obscurity is simple. The main character Randy finds in the center of the lake a magic sword and in the best traditions of King Arthur pulls him out of the stone. This, without knowing it, he condemns his village to attacks of monsters. Local residents do not hesitate to expel the guy for a short while, but our hero is not very upset, because he is waiting for a fascinating struggle against the whole evil empire. Fight with the dark forces of Randy will not be alone: almost at once the boy meets impulsive Primm and lost the memory of Popeye. Combat friends do not hesitate to use a variety of weapons and, unlike the protagonist, they can conjure. 

As in any self-respecting action-RPG, the battles here take place in real time. Enemies can be seen on the map, as in some The Legend of Zelda. Opponents here are cute as a selection - round fluffy rabbits, sucking goblins, which are different from goblins, chanterelles archers. But do not let the seeming harmlessness deceive yourself! Enemies painfully punished for mistakes, and you will surely commit them. And if not you, the party members led by artificial intelligence (this, however, can be avoided - you just need to hand controllers to your friends and play in the cooperative). 

Battle system Secret of Manais based on attack and retreat: you make a lunge, and then wait until the scale of attack is filled, to again hit the enemy in full force. If you beat, when the progress has not reached 100%, then either the blow will be very weak, or the hero will generally miss. Since there is no parry in the game, and evasion is automated, all battles are reduced to maneuvering between opponents and striking at the right moments.


With magic, the situation is somewhat different - she does not have a limit scale. When switching to girls, you have the opportunity to cast spells. Primm specializes in support and treatment, and Popeye - on attacking magic. Applying this or that spell, the heroine can not miss, and that's good, but not when it works against you. If any "boss" starts casting powerful magic, you, alas, will not have a chance to dodge it.
The original Secret of Mana was released by SNES in 1993 and was quite good for its time. HD-remake of the game has kept all the charm of the source and added a number of important innovations. In the eye rushes first of all the change in graphics - to replace the two-dimensional landscapes and sprite characters came the three-dimensional expanse of the era of PS2. The game is made simply and tastefully (perhaps even too simple). It is very bright, saturated, but not very detailed. Also, the characters of Secret of Mana arenow spoken by real, human voices, and not by speech clouds. English sound is done on conscience, but lovers of the original can always switch to Japanese menu. Subtitles in Russian, unfortunately, are not provided.

There appeared in the game both the autosave function and the possibility to expand the inventory to accommodate more health-restoring items. Agree, four treats of candy for a group of three heroes - it's criminally small, but twelve - is a completely different conversation. 

No changes left the menu wheel - one of the main features of the original. It is from him that the equipment changes, the choice of weapons and magic, and the statistics of the heroes. In addition, new items have been added to it - for example, a story magazine that tells you where to go next, if you suddenly hear an important conversation.
Secret of Mana is the perfect remake, taking into account the features of the original source and carefully transferring them to the three-dimensional space. All innovations in it are logical and appropriate. However, some of the problems of the original "Mana Secret" remained unresolved, and now, in 2018, they look like a belated greeting from the 90s. Despite this, we hope that modernization of the Japanese classics will not stop there and in addition to the remake of Final Fantasy VII we will have a lot of rethought JRPG.

Rate:7/10