SECRET OF MANA
Some things are better left alone
How much did I love the first Secret Of Mana? A healthy amount for an eight year old otherwise obsessed with Sonic 3, Earthworm Jim and Mickey Mania. I mean, it was perfectly normal to hug your CRT television before parting ways with Randi, Primm and Popoi while being marched to bed by your mother, right? OK, so perhaps I bordered on obsessed, but can you blame me? I might not have fully understood what a Japanese role-playing game was in 1994, but I do know I’d never played anything like Secret Of Mana on the SNES by that point. With this in mind, I was a wee bit nervous when Square Enix announced the Secret Of Mana’s HD remake last year. On one hand, here was one of my favourite games of all time being reimagined on PS4, PS4 Pro and PS Vita. But on the other, could it really be done it justice, some 24 (25 in Japan and the US) years on? For the sake of context, Secret Of Mana launched in Europe the week before East 17’s Stay Now hit the UK music chart, and the day after the Schwarzenegger/ Devito-starring movie Junior first aired in American cinemas.
A quarter of a century has passed, and I’m a strong believer of things being ‘of their time’, lest we tarnish our most cherished memories by forcing them out of retirement. Don’t get me wrong: when it works, it can be wonderful. Resident Evil’s 2015 HD Remaster and its Zero reimagining the following year are fine examples of the process done right. But for every one of those, there’s a Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror Of Fate waiting to piss in the punch bowl. And Secret Of Mana 2018 unfortunately errs towards the latter.
MANA MIA!
Telling the same reverseKing Arthur tale as its source material, Secret Of Mana kicks off with protagonist Randi freeing a mystical sword from a stone, before being admonished by his village for upsetting the world’s magical balance. Randi, alongside the aforementioned Primm and Popoi, then sets off in search of Mana seeds that let him fight monsters, a corrupt empire and an all-powerful, planet-threatening dragon.
The biggest and most obvious change is the new edition’s complete graphical overhaul, which brings Secret Of Mana in line with Square Enix’s modern Final Fantasy mobile ports, or the likes of I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear.
Going 3D inevitably removes some of the original’s charm – this game’s new mini-map mirrors the SNES bitmap, however – but its equally vibrant colour scheme breathes new life into the game world, with Ice Country, Water Palace and Sprite Forest highlights.
“THE BIGGEST CHANGE IS THE NEW EDITION’S COMPLETE GRAPHICAL OVERHAUL.”
Other changes in Mana HD are less welcome. Esteemed composer Hiroki Kikuta returns to offer a new soundtrack, a less whimsical score that sometimes mixes prog rock, techno and bagpipes. Make of that what you will. Character models are less convincing still – mostly down to the fact that their lips for some reason don’t move while talking. Combine this with cheesy ham-fisted voiceovers, and I found myself compelled to skip entire cutscenes at a time.
In battle, characters are no longer required to attack in cardinal directions as they were 25 years ago, but the modern 360-degree targeting system brings its own problems. Lining up actions, for example, is far less intuitive than previously, which in turn makes projectile weapons far less effective. Your enemies can now attack from multiple angles too, which often turns what should be fairly straightforward bouts into drawn-out, resourcedraining chores.
CH-CH-CH-CHANGES
This remake also reworks the interface to frustrating effect. The options ring menu, where you accessed party member inventories, no longer remembers your last selection; and the original’s Grid System, which let you adjust the aggressiveness of your AI teammates, has also been cut. In its place is a simplified setup that lacks the directness of its forerunner. These aren’t gamebreaking issues, but the fact that they worked so well before makes it hard to understand why they’ve been reworked.
VERDICT
The new Secret Of Mana is ultimately the same game, with the same quest-lines, characters and epic boss battles from 25 years ago, but with some modern, mostly unwelcome, nips and tucks. Joe Donnelly