With so many juicy DS games coming out in 2006, it's hard to choose, for many, what the best one could possibly be. However, it's different for me; I know for sure which game will devour the most hours of my life on the DS this year, and it's quite an uncommon choice. No, boys and girls, it's not Phantom Hourglass, and it's not Final Fantasy III. I invite you into the world of Mana.
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This game could be labeled as a dungeon crawler, but in reality, it's much more.
What's so good about this crap?
There's just so much goodness bursting in a small cartridge. The fantastic art style, coupled with satisfyingly-amazing gameplay, which features an enamored gameplay mechanic called the "Ricochet Reaction", which sets up a chain reaction of sorts if characters bump into each other. The music in Mana games has always been good, so I have high hopes for music here as well.
But this is only the beginning. What sets this title apart from the others is the cooperative multiplayer feature; up to 4 people can experience the singleplayer adventure, together! Once I heard about this feature, I was ecstatic; I am positive this game will provide as good of a singleplayer experience as multiplayer, since it'll virtually be the same thing!
But, not quite! There's also a competitive multiplayer aspect which we don't exactly know about yet... If only some of the Japanese guys that own the game would go in detail and explain the modes, but alas, we don't have that yet. Regardless, I'll go into detail with each aspect of the game that's of interest that I didn't mention earlier -
Story
In the middle of the island of Illusia stands the famous Tree of Mana. Several years ago, a great disaster took place at the base of the tree and many lives were lost, leaving the main characters as orphans. A brave young boy and girl used the Sword of Mana to save the world from disaster. Now, years later, the main characters set out to investigate the details of the event that took so many loved ones away from them.
A beautiful scene in one of the games many locales.
Characters
Ferrik
A fifteen-year-old boy, who is said to be brave, bright and cheerful. He lost his parents and brother in the great disaster. After having his life saved by a knight, he has been honing his skills with the sword.
Ferrik's choice of weapon is the sword. He has an average build stat-wise, as he has decent ratings for each stat but excels at nothing particular.
Tamber
A sixteen-year-old girl, with a sense of truth and justice, and an air of maturity about her. She lost her parents and little brother due to the great disaster.
Tamber's weapon of choice is the bow. She excels with agility, and has higher than avaerage capabilities with magic.
Poppen
A nine-year-old boy, that is stubborn and fears nothing. He lost his mother at birth and his father in the great disaster.
Poppen's weapon of choice is the flail. His physical stats are poor but his magical abilities are superior to all the other characters.
Wanderer
Wanderer is a traveling merchant, a tradition kept throughout the series. He is a member of the Nikita tribe of catpeople.
Wanderer's weapon of choice is the hammer. He is a brute with the highest ratings for physical stats such as attack and defense, but does poorly with magic.
Other Notes
The game will have real-time battles, like all of the games in the Mana series, but for some reason, people label this game as a mere dungeon crawler, and regard it as a bad game without even playing. All they need to do is take a closer look; I admit I didn't know what the heck this game was until reading about it in Nintendo Power, but I now am confident that this game will take the cake and will become THE best DS game of 2006, quite possibly the best DS game ever.
Also, the following is a list of dungeons encountered in the game -
* Tower of Mana
* Lake of Stars
* Desert of Crimson Sands
* Castle of Ice
* Forest of Light
* Desolate Land
* Path of Life
_________________________________________________
That's the game in a nutshell, and this game will be one hell of a ride when it arrives on October 30th, 2006 here in the United States. It's been out in Japan for some time, and has sold amazingly throughout the months. Be sure to pick up this gem once it's out.
_________________________________________________
This game could be labeled as a dungeon crawler, but in reality, it's much more.
What's so good about this crap?
There's just so much goodness bursting in a small cartridge. The fantastic art style, coupled with satisfyingly-amazing gameplay, which features an enamored gameplay mechanic called the "Ricochet Reaction", which sets up a chain reaction of sorts if characters bump into each other. The music in Mana games has always been good, so I have high hopes for music here as well.
But this is only the beginning. What sets this title apart from the others is the cooperative multiplayer feature; up to 4 people can experience the singleplayer adventure, together! Once I heard about this feature, I was ecstatic; I am positive this game will provide as good of a singleplayer experience as multiplayer, since it'll virtually be the same thing!
But, not quite! There's also a competitive multiplayer aspect which we don't exactly know about yet... If only some of the Japanese guys that own the game would go in detail and explain the modes, but alas, we don't have that yet. Regardless, I'll go into detail with each aspect of the game that's of interest that I didn't mention earlier -
Story
In the middle of the island of Illusia stands the famous Tree of Mana. Several years ago, a great disaster took place at the base of the tree and many lives were lost, leaving the main characters as orphans. A brave young boy and girl used the Sword of Mana to save the world from disaster. Now, years later, the main characters set out to investigate the details of the event that took so many loved ones away from them.
A beautiful scene in one of the games many locales.
Characters
Ferrik
A fifteen-year-old boy, who is said to be brave, bright and cheerful. He lost his parents and brother in the great disaster. After having his life saved by a knight, he has been honing his skills with the sword.
Ferrik's choice of weapon is the sword. He has an average build stat-wise, as he has decent ratings for each stat but excels at nothing particular.
Tamber
A sixteen-year-old girl, with a sense of truth and justice, and an air of maturity about her. She lost her parents and little brother due to the great disaster.
Tamber's weapon of choice is the bow. She excels with agility, and has higher than avaerage capabilities with magic.
Poppen
A nine-year-old boy, that is stubborn and fears nothing. He lost his mother at birth and his father in the great disaster.
Poppen's weapon of choice is the flail. His physical stats are poor but his magical abilities are superior to all the other characters.
Wanderer
Wanderer is a traveling merchant, a tradition kept throughout the series. He is a member of the Nikita tribe of catpeople.
Wanderer's weapon of choice is the hammer. He is a brute with the highest ratings for physical stats such as attack and defense, but does poorly with magic.
Other Notes
The game will have real-time battles, like all of the games in the Mana series, but for some reason, people label this game as a mere dungeon crawler, and regard it as a bad game without even playing. All they need to do is take a closer look; I admit I didn't know what the heck this game was until reading about it in Nintendo Power, but I now am confident that this game will take the cake and will become THE best DS game of 2006, quite possibly the best DS game ever.
Also, the following is a list of dungeons encountered in the game -
* Tower of Mana
* Lake of Stars
* Desert of Crimson Sands
* Castle of Ice
* Forest of Light
* Desolate Land
* Path of Life
_________________________________________________
That's the game in a nutshell, and this game will be one hell of a ride when it arrives on October 30th, 2006 here in the United States. It's been out in Japan for some time, and has sold amazingly throughout the months. Be sure to pick up this gem once it's out.
If only it was online 
