I recently came across an old game called Secret of Mana. The game is great.

The beginning the game tells how the world was full of a magical substance called mana. Then a civilization built a weapon called the “Mana Fortress.” This angered the gods, so they sent their beasts against them. But at the last moment a hero appeared and smashed the Mana Fortress. Then it states, “But time is like a river, and history repeats itself.”

Later I was introduced to a boy, a girl, and sprite. The mana sword calls the boy to it. The boy takes it to escape the area he is in. Then the boy must restore the mana seeds. The boy meets with either the girl or the sprite. After he meets the first one he’ll come upon the other. The girl is looking for her friend, and the sprite is looking for his home. Together they set out. But eventually they have a similar goal to restore mana to the world.

The game play is like Zelda. You get a variety of weapons to fight monsters with. There are some useful weapons and some not so useful. You can level up in these skills making you more powerful. When you level up your weapon skill you can power up to unleash devastating attacks.

Later, the sprite and the girl are gifted with the ability to use magic. This makes the game more enjoyable. The game would be boring and impossible without it.

There are also some puzzles in the game. But they are a bit too easy. I guess it’s a child’s game when it comes to puzzles.

There are some cool looking monsters, like the werewolf. Then there is just plain weird ones. The artificial intelligence for monsters is strange. At time the monster can be extremely effective and can actually pose a threat. But sometimes they stop thinking right and become ineffective. Some enemies can block nearly all of the player’s attacks. This can get rather aggravating, especially when one powers up his weapon to the max and misses. There are also monsters that spawn other monsters to fight for them. This can be a hindrance because they will keep spawning them until you kill them. They usually have good evasion skills so you have to use magic to finish them off as fast as possible.

Another one of the features for this game is it’s a multiplayer RPG. Good multiplayer RPG’s are rare. This game is different. You might as well get a friend to play it because your ally’s artificial intelligence is stupid.

I played the game awhile back and nearly finished it. The bosses in the “Mana Fortress” are tough. I got far in there. Then I reached a big enemy who I didn’t stand a chance against.

I don’t know why I like old school games so much. Maybe it’s because I lack the money to buy one of the new game systems. I find old games more enjoyable.

I give this game a nine out of ten.