Heroes of Mana Critic Reviews

Heroes will go down as the game that got me into real-time strategy.

A fun new experience in the Mana series but sadly, bad AI and path finding really drags down the gameplay.

The presentation is great, the fully-animated sequences are simply beautiful, the music is captivating (not as much as something like Final Fantasy, but still pretty impressive), and for the most part the gameplay is intuitive and downright fun.

A great effort, only let down by some confusing battles and some clunky controls.

Only try it if you are a hardcore fan, or if you are willing to master an inefficient and frustrating control system.

A frustratingly slow pace and the sad realisation that a humdinger of a plot is zooming over our heads are the only problems here. Otherwise one of the best RTS games on DS.

Hardcore RTS fans probably won't enjoy Heroes of Mana's simplified design. And fans of more traditional RPGs probably won't appreciate its chaotic, large-scale engagements, either. Taken for what it is, though, Heroes is an enjoyable little excursion.

A surprisingly deep RTS experience in a portable format, with easy to learn controls and lovely visuals. I can’t help wishing it had been turned-based, though.

To have this style of game on a handheld like the DS is unexplored territory and is quite remarkable. However, those looking for an RPG are left out in the dark.

Heroes of Mana shows that it is possible to have an RTS game work on the Nintendo DS and remain fun. The main problem with this game is the dumb AI and very slow-paced gameplay.

The game has an excellent storyline, spanning a lengthy quest set in the Mana realm, and up to 40 bonus maps can be unlocked.

Heroes of Mana could conceivably have the best RTS controls yet on a non-PC RTS game.

Too convoluted and generally annoying to be any real fun - it's a competent effort, but there are genuinely better attempts at the genre on the way if you can wait.

There are a lot of good things to like here, for instance the story, and the overall design behind battle, but there are some nagging issues like the character pathing and balance that keep this from being a winning title.

Shimomura, and a lengthy story campaign make Heroes seem like a home run, and it would be if not for one flaw: Shoddy AI.

If you’re a hardcore Mana fan, desperate for an SRPG on the DS, or want to try something new, Heroes of Mana is a fun game. If you aren’t one of those, you won’t like this.

Geez, how many disappointing "Mana" titles will we have to suffer though before Square Enix puts this once-proud franchise out of its misery?

Overall, Heroes of Mana is a nice enough diversion, but it's hard to see what Square Enix was trying to do with this title.

As is common with games from Square Enix, the story of Heroes of Mana (while maybe not terribly original) is surprisingly deep and emotionally engaging. While that doesn't completely make up for the tragic pacing of the game or the substandard AI, it at least provides something to motivate the long-suffering Mana fan.

Another title that's pretty much what we expect from Mana these days - an average game (irrespective of the genre change) that's nothing compared to series' heyday.