Snes - Secret of Mana 2 Review

Storyline:

The game deals with 6 different characters with 3 different storylines to

follow, one storyline per two characters. There is a fighter, thief, cleric,

magician, werewolf and amazon, and the games allows you to choose light and dark paths between 2 class changes, meaning that you can be light dark or dark dark or light light.

Each individual class has its own advantages and disadvantages, but some classes are better than others in the long run.

The main plot of the 3 storylines sees you go after a magical weapon called the Mana Sword, but first you have to find 7 elementals. The sword contains the mana energies of 7 mana stones which trap 7 mana beasts which you have to fight because they escape later. The sword then gets snatched by one group of people whom you have to go eliminate, thus saving the world from total destruction.

5 out of 5

Gameplay & Interface:

The gameplay is quite good, allowing you to switch between the 3 people in your party to control each individual, and with the L and R keys allowing you to temporarily control them. Different days belonging to different elementals change the amount of damage a spell does to an enemy. Unfortunately, the controls become quite unresponsive when many things are going on at once, and only one spell, special move or item may be used at any one time (can get quite irritating during difficult battles).

9 out of 10

Graphics:

I've never seen better graphics in any other SNES game; there are different shades for grass, skies, water, and the individual settings are brilliant, especially the map of the world. Characters and enemies are well shown with no jerky or improper places. The difference between day and night can be seen easily with half-shades for dawn and evenings.

5 out of 5

Music & sound:

I think the music is brilliant for an SNES game, and appropriate for most, if not all situations. The sound for each individual move and spell is also very aptly used.

5 out of 5

Level design:

There are actually no "levels" in a role-playing game, but the landscapes are designed nicely with enemies abundantly scattered around. The enemies are not too difficult, but some time should be spent training, as with all other RPGs. The level is divided into screens, which can be quite irritating beacuse there are many many many screens. Basic enemies are relatively easy, and don't really stand much of a chance against a well trained character, but that is IF you bother training.(Tip: The enemies are refreshed every 2 screens you walk away.)

4 out of 5

For: Briliiant graphics, captivating, replayable storyline, great music (for an SNES anyway).

(What can I say, I love this game.)

Against: Some boss-enemies can do special moves in rapid succession, killing you almost instantly.