Review for Secret of Mana Remake. Game for PlayStation Network, PC, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 15/02/2018
Twenty-five years ago it debuted Secret of Mana, known at home as Seiken Denstsu 2. The game effectively marked the liberation from final Fantasy by Seiken Densetsu (the first chapter was born as a spin-off) and therefore the affirmation of a new series, Mana, which still exists today even if it revived: after the first three episodes, in fact, the saga began to lose its shine. Between 2006 and 2007 everything seemed lost, with the release of the disappointing ones - either for sales, or for quality, or for both - Children of Mana, Dawn of Mana e Heroes of Mana.
Several years later Square Enix timidly tried to revitalize the brand with two minor games and the remake of the progenitor of the series, available for smartphones and Playstation Vita; evidently Adventures of Mana must have met the expectations of the software house, given that two years later it is the turn of the remake of Secret of Mana.
Secret of Mana, the one released in 1993, is a two-dimensional A-JRPG with a bird's eye perspective primarily devoted to cooperation between three human players (which required a very luxurious Super Multitap for SNES), although it is possible to face the pure adventure in single player. It tells the story of Randi, a boy who draws a sword from the stone, causing a lot of trouble.
The remake has remained virtually unchanged from the original: the story is the same (with the addition of some nice scenes at the inn, in the manner of the Tales of skits), the contents as well, as well as the soundtrack and most of the mechanics of the gameplay. The real innovations are recorded in the audiovisual sector, with the transition to three-dimensional graphics - quite similar to that of Adventures of Mana, but better - and the addition of dubbing (a choice between Japanese - decent - and English - of poor quality) and a somewhat questionable rearranged version of the soundtrack, so more than one will select the original OST.
Unfortunately, it is the graphics that are less convincing, due to one much less inspired art direction of the original (needless to dwell on it too much: compare the screenshots or playthroughs on YouTube, which are more eloquent than a thousand words) and a technical sector far from flawless, not only on PlayStation Vita, but also on Playstation 4 and PC. In the test we did not find any particular glitches or freezes, but we were able to read numerous reports to this effect on the web.
On the gameplay side, the speech is less clear, as some improvements have been made, others (which would have been expected) have been omitted and still others may not be considered improvements. The first that catches the eye is theintroduction of the map in the upper left corner: useful, unobtrusive and well done (reproduces the graphics of the ancient Secret of Mana); pity that it is not possible to adjust the zoom level. Also appreciated the new auto-save function.
The original formula has not been overturned since the introduction of moves like parry or dash, and the stamina bar has remained where it was, so the action has remained slow, indeed, perhaps in the transition to three dimensions something has been lost in terms of speed. The problem seems to be related more to the somewhat uncertain hit detection, a defect shared with the predecessor Adventures of Mana.
What might have been expected is a reorganization of the menus, already uncomfortable at the time: just to give an example, if you want to buy equipment, there is no way to know if you already have it in your inventory, if you have even already equipped it and not even what its parameters are. Overall, we would have appreciated a retelling of the cumbersome Ring Command.
The game, in any case, remains funny, above all if used in cooperative mode, available only locally. In the absence of friends, you can always switch characters on the fly and use a non-brilliant AI for the other two. The Action Grid system has been replaced by something simpler, but the problem is not of settings, but of the quality of the artificial intelligence developed by the developers, which discourages the use of too aggressive settings, which could lead to premature death. However, it should be noted that even the original Secret of Mana was not flawless in this respect.
Secret of Mana is an overall disappointing remake: it renews the technical sectors in an unconvincing way, while it does not go to rejuvenate the gameplay in those aspects that would have needed it. It remains an enjoyable game, as the original Secret of Mana is a great title, but at the same time it is a wasted opportunity.
► Secret of Mana Remake is an Action-RPG type game developed and published by Square Enix for PlayStation Network, PC, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 15/02/2018
