Children of Mana (DS)

Reviewed by Kit

So here we go, a nice little DS game that I'm sure some of you were curious about. Children of Mana, the latest in a classic series. Let's see how it turns out.

Story: You're a nice kid who lives in the world's most peaceful village with other kids and some elementals. One day the earth shakes and something goes wrong with the nearby Mana Tree. You go there to dicover time has distorted. Shortly after making your way to the top, a sword falls, and with it you are able to slay a beast. Discovering more of these monsters escaping throughout the world, you go to slay them all. 3/5

Audio: The music is nice, but it's nothing special. There's really not much to say about it. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics a very well done. As with many of the Mana games, there is a fine painted art look to them. Characters also have personalized portraits for when they speak which are very lovely. 4/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is simple. You'll use either A or X to attack, hold down B to cast magic, and hit Y to use whatever item is highlighted. Different weapons have different abilities, and you'll gain more as you progress. You also have armor which you wear, and you must be certain levels before you can wear the stronger weapons or armor. You can choose any of the elementals to be your magic partner in battle. After you've defeated a dungeon, you can take missions that allow you to go back through and do other goals. Usually these give mediocre rewards, but they're great ways to level up some more. At the beginning of the game, you're offered the option of which character you wish to use. Each has strengths and weaknesses. Some are magic heavy (i.e. the girl) and some are more weapon friendly. There is a multiplayer mode, where if you get friends with DSes and the game together you can all play the dungeons. 3/5

Replay: There's no reason to replay. Maybe you want to try the game with a different character, but it's completely unnecessary. 2/5

Overall: Overall, this is basically a dungeon crawler. You start in a town, restock on items, and go to a dungeon, clear it out, rinse and repeat. It might be something fun to do with friends, but other than that I'd pass. 3/5