'Secret of Mana' Remake Review Roundup: Critics Conflicted Over Wonderful but Flawed Remaster
"Secret of Mana" is now in High Definition 3D for the latest generation of PlayStation consoles, PC, and the PS Vita. Some of the decision made by Square Enix to the game appears to have resulted in conflicting opinions from reviewers, however.
The game just came out this Thursday, Feb. 15, as what was billed as a faithful remake of the top-down action RPG gameplay that made the original game a classic. The first "Secret of Mana" came out in 1993, and this remake re-adapts the graphics to modern 3D, revamps the controls a bit, and adds a re-arranged musical score on top of it all to bring the game to this generation of players.
Some reviewers have little trouble making their minds up about the game, though, and one could count Polygon's Jeremy Parish among them. In a scathing 5.5-out-of-10 review, the author notes that the remake disappoints such that it might have made him appreciate the original game even more.
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The remake may have made the original action, which was convincingly conveyed by simple 2D sprites in the original game, a bit bland by comparison.
Kotaku's Jason Schreier agrees, pointing out that the sprites on the Super NES back in 1993, limited as they were, looked more animated than the 3D renditions in the new remake. There's also some of the smaller things that kept the game from being great, from the new inconsistencies the 3D graphics added, to some missed opportunities for improvements in the remaster.
Metacritic currently does not have enough critic reviews yet to come up with a Metascore in any of the three platforms that "Secret of Mana" launched in, but User Score is currently at 7.5, indicating "Generally favorable reviews."
"Secret of Mana" has been available for the PC via Steam, as well as on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita since Thursday, Feb. 15.
