Much like other disappointing, long-awaited sequels like Final Fight Streetwise, Dawn of Mana beats my treasured childhood memories in the face with a crowbar. Rejecting the careful blend of action and role-playing elements that made Secret of Mana one of the best games of 1993, this ill-considered PlayStation 2 follow-up replaces them with frustration and boredom.
The Mana games have always followed the adventures of adorable cartoon urchins who beat up adorable cartoon monsters to save the world. Dawn is the series' first 3D entry and features a unique physics-based gameplay mechanic. Rather than simply providing static window dressing, objects in the game world -- barrels, conch shells, trees -- can be knocked and thrown around the battlefield.
This is actually tightly integrated into the gameplay. You aren't supposed to just run up and start swinging your sword at enemies. You're meant to first knock objects into them, causing them to go into a "panic." Only when enemies are panicking can you earn stat upgrades (extra magic spells, more hit points, etc.) for defeating them.
On paper, it's an interesting concept. For the first few minutes, it's fun. But then the problems set in. The game's camera system requires constant babysitting via the right-hand joystick, and never gives you a good view of the action. This makes it a constant chore to get your character in position to knock an object into enemies. Also, the level design is so haphazard that you spend far too much time wandering around wondering where to go.
Add to that the fact that all those stat upgrades you worked so hard for get erased at the end of every level, and Dawn of Mana is a frustrating, unfulfilling experience.
__—__Chris Kohler
WIRED Beautiful graphics, interesting use of physics
__
TIRED__ Awful camera, amateur level design, imprecise control, no sense of accomplishment
$50, Square Enix
Rating: 
