Dawn of ManaSquare Enix (PS2)
Secret of Mana for the SNES is easily in the upper echelon of my personal Top 50 Games Ever list. One of my favorite gaming moments happen within the first 15 minutes of the classic adventure/RPG, where the hero plucks a mysterious sword out of a stone with no intension but to fend off a few local rabble-rousers. Of course, the sword was forged in legend, and our young hero got more than he bargained for when he released the blade from its deep slumber.
Hyper-cliched beginning notwithstanding, Secret of Mana contained some of the most inspired moments in any adventure game not named Zelda. Fans have waited over a decade for a true sequel--the Playstation and Nintendo DS entries in the series didn't rekindle that special "something" that made Secret of Mana so memorable--and the time has come for Square Enix to try yet again with Dawn of Mana, the series PS2 debut.
As with every Mana game, the story of Dawn of Mana has no relation to the previous entries. The story of Ritzia and Keldric, two former inhabitants of a tribe known as Treefolk witness the burning of their beloved village--retribution ensues soon thereafter--is ho-hum storytelling at its most mediocre. But the most maddening part of the equation is not the bland story, but the action itself.